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LOYAC ( لوياك ) is an international non-governmental organization specialized in youth empowerment and development through service and career based opportunities. Founded in 2002, in response to the tension and violent extremism that ensued after 9/11, this Kuwait-based organization was established with the purpose of promoting peace, starting within the Middle Eastern region and expanding outwards. This was and continues to be initiated through efforts to provide youth, ages 6 to 30, with access to personal development and community outreach programs locally and internationally. 

Considering its status as a non-governmental organization, LOYAC is supported by other international as well as local organizations and businesses aligned with its values and mission. This is an integral part of LOYAC’s operation to create a partnership between the private sector, the civil society, and the government. 

While LOYAC’s headquarters are in Kuwait, in order to extend the message of peace and prosperity to Arab youth, the organization extended its reach to other countries within the region. This lead to the formation of LOYAC’s chapters in Jordan, Lebanon, and Yemen .

LOYAC

لوياك
Formation	2002
Headquarters	Kuwait
Website	www.loyac.org

Approach 

All LOYAC operations adhere and promote the organization's values. The values are, love, peace, empowerment, contribution, creativity, commitment, and awareness . These values are incorporated into the creation of the programs offered by LOYAC. 

There are three different types of categories that each program falls under. These categories are professional development, personal development, and community service. The programs within these categories are offered for youth between the ages of 6 to 30.

Professional Development 

Professional development programs are centered on introducing the youth to the professional world by providing employment opportunities, job training, and skill development workshops. These programs ease the youth into the workforce in order to become active members in the community.

LOYACs flagship program, coincidentally also its most popular, is the LOYAC Internship Program. The LOYAC Internship Program began in 2002 with more than a hundred youth involved in internships with few companies and business, yet by 2014, LOYAC collaborated with over 100 companies and businesses in Kuwait to provide internships for over 1,000 youth . While this ongoing program was previously run once a year during the summer, it currently has five phases that run at different times throughout the year . In offering youth between the ages 16 to 27 paid internships with an eclectic range of employers within the private and public sector, inclusive of restaurant chains, telecommunication companies, and tourism agencies, this program “bridges the gap between the academic knowledge” received in school and the “competencies [youth] require for a real job” .

Personal Development 

Personal development programs are focused on offering activities, including workshops and community service, that specialize in character and confidence building. These programs aim to create leaders and independent thinkers.

Little Loyacers is a program focused on providing young children between the ages of 5 to 12 with a variety of educational, artistic, athletic, recreational, and volunteer-oriented activities, the program specializes in leadership building . Little Loyacers has four phases that run at different times in the year . While adhering to similar overarching goals, some previous programs have been created with specialized themes, such as the “A Big World In Little Hands” Little Loyacers program run during April 2017. This specific program was a collaboration between LOYAC and the multiple foreign embassies in Kuwait to create cultural days that expose the younger demographic to the cultures of different countries in order to encourage cultural exchange and understanding . With the intent of sculpting cultured and independent youth at an earlier age, the program emphasizes the importance of teamwork, service, responsibility, and discipline.

KON is a program targeted towards the younger generation within Kuwait. In collaboration with Babson college, KON, a 5-week social entrepreneurship program, introduces youth aged twelve to sixteen to the world of business and entrepreneurship . In order to create solutions to existing social, economic, and health-related issues present in the community, the participants are challenged to work alongside each other in creating the framework for businesses that would initiate such solutions. Alongside the Babson team of qualified trainers and mentors from multiple local companies and organizations, participants learn the basic of business development and receive consistent feedback throughout the process.

In addition to the local programs offered, LOYAC offers global development programs, such as the International Leadership Internship Program. Created by WYSE International as an annual 12-day program in Lucca, Italy, the program works to hone leadership and global awareness skills in a selected pool of international participants, from varying socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, in order to provide them with the skills necessary to work towards combating issues within local and global communities . LOYAC chooses a few participants from their extensive pool of volunteers, between the ages of nineteen and twenty-eight, to join the program each year .

Community Service 

Community service introduces the youth to a variety of volunteering programs locally as well as globally. With a multitude of programs available, different age groups, starting at six years old, are involved.

Service Is My Joy is a local community outreach program that provides youth, sixteen and older, with the opportunity to work with various volunteering centers within Kuwait, including elderly homes and recreational centers for individuals with disabilities. The centers in collaboration with this program include but are not limited to Abeer 2, Paradise Institute, Kuwait Association for the Care of Children in Hospital (KACCH), Khorafi Center, and Kuwait Red Crescent Society .

HOMES is a program in which youth repair and rebuild the households of under-privileged families within the community in order to provide the families with safer and sanitary living conditions. This program intends to provide the volunteers with a deeper understanding of teamwork and humility . While this program is local-based, it has also extended its reach internationally through volunteer trips to projects in less-developed regions within Jordan, Lebanon, and Yemen . 

Community Partners

As a non-profit organization, in order to follow through with the creation and  development of programs locally and internationally, LOYAC relies on outside support from partners that range from local to international organizations. This support can be through financial investments, collaborations on different programs, in kind, and barter.

LOYACs community partners include :

• British Industries For Printing & Packaging Co.
• Cinescape
• Tamdeen Group
• Tamdeen Investment
• DOW  
• Sheraton Kuwait
• Kuwait National Council for Culture, Arts, and Letters
• Kout Food Group
• Al Ahleia Insurance
• Zain Telecom
• National Bank of Kuwait (NBK)
• Markaz
• IMCO

Affiliations

L1 Labs is a creative center for youth interested in design development, specifically animation and illustration. The center provides a multitude of workshops introducing and enhancing the usage of different softwares and applications. L1 Labs has also created products for commercial purposes that have been utilized by several companies including Zain Telecom .

AC Milan also known as LOYAC AC Milan Soccer School is one of the few AC Milan Soccer Schools worldwide. Created in 2010 by LOYAC Alumni and equipped with qualified AC Milan trainers, the school provides youth, fives year and older, within Kuwait with opportunities for personalized training as well as competitions worldwide . Such International tournaments include the International Youth Peace Tournament.

LAPPA, also known as LOYAC Academy of Performing Arts, is the first private Arabic academy within Kuwait that specializes in the performing arts. This project was officially established in 2010 based on LOYAC’s belief that the arts, in all their specialized forms, can be utilized as a therapeutic tool . The academy provides youth with opportunities to utilize their passions for the arts and hone their skills for theatre, dance, music, and the fine arts through a multiple of activities including workshops, classes, and live performances.

Al-Shaheed Park is the first and biggest urban park in Kuwait City. The park is created by Al-Diwan Al Amiri and managed by LOYAC. LOYAC works to create recreational and educational activities for the public that showcase the culture, history, and environmental landscape within Kuwait while also managing the park facilities, specifically its maintenance, cleanliness, and security .

Awards & Recognitions

Year	Recognition	Notes
2008	King Abdullah II Award for Innovation	Awarded to LOYAC for the creation of the best youth project in the Arab word.
2010	The Best Practice Certificate by Dubai Municipality and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT)	Awarded to LOYAC for contributions towards progressing the living environment.
2012	Feature in Qatar Foundation publication, Learning a Living: Radical Innovation in Education for Work	Mentions LOYAC for efforts in youth empowerment.
2014	The First Class Medal of Excellence from HH Skeikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah	Awarded to LOYAC for the field of youth development in the Arab region.
2015	The Chaillot Special Mention by the delegation of the European Union in Riyadh	Awarded to LOYAC for efforts taken to promote Humans Rights in 2014.

External links 

LOYAC Website