Our actions in Lebanon

Since 2022, the CMA CGM Foundation has been leading an ambitious program to equip schools with photovoltaic solar panels:

• 20 schools have already been equipped, improving learning conditions for 6,000 students through energy self-sufficiency.
• 1,100 students and 550 teachers directly benefit from cost savings generated by reduced energy expenses. These savings help lower tuition fees for struggling families and ensure fair salaries for teachers.

• Constant access to quality education through the “Knowledge Container”: a mobile space providing free, offline access to the Lebanese school curriculum.
• Talent development through the installation of “makers labs” in five schools. Two containers were repurposed and three classrooms rehabilitated, in partnership with the NGO Nafda, to train high school students in coding and teamwork. 
   

To help ease the impact of the economic crisis and support students in pursuing their education, the Foundation has distributed 30,000 school kits across Lebanon since 2022, and has also covered tuition fees for 2,900 students in 22 schools across  the country.

The Foundation expanded its  "Formations d’Avenir"  program to Lebanon, in partnership with:

• The International Maritime Academy (IMA), for the training of 120 young maritime technicians, particularly in electro-technical and mechanical sectors.
• The European Institute for Cooperation and Development (IECD), for the training of 40 young solar power and energy efficiency technicians.
• Arcenciel,  for the training of 25 young agricultural technicians specializing in high value-added crops such as table grapes and avocados.
   

All these courses combine practical training through field workshops with personalized support, helping youth reintegrate into the workforce under the best possible conditions.

• Since 2023, the Foundation has been working in close partnership with La Cuisine de Mariam, supporting the construction and equipment of a new community kitchen  in the disadvantaged Karantina neighborhood of Beirut. This facility now has the capacity to prepare and distribute 3,000 hot meals daily.
• In December 2024, building on this initiative, the Foundation launched the Cuisine de Mariam food truck: a 20-foot container transformed into a mobile kitchen, capable of serving 1,000 hot meals per day.
• The Foundation also supports other community kitchens providing vital assistance to thousands of vulnerable people and, in 2024, distributed 17,250 food parcels in partnership with 30 local associations, the ICRC, and the Lebanese Red Cross.

• In the wake of the tragic Beirut port explosion in 2020, the vessel AKNOUL was mobilized for the exceptional operation  "A Humanitarian Ship for Lebanon", which gathered more than 70 partners (NGOs, companies, public institutions), in cooperation with the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs. In 2021, AKNOUL was mobilized again to deliver 136 tonnes of humanitarian aid free of charge to hospitals and associations, amid worsening socio-economic difficulties.
• In 2024, the CMA CGM Foundation committed support to the Lebanese Red Cross, helping optimize the transportation of more than 75,000 patients. Through its Containers of Hope program, the Foundation backed emergency aid procurement, storage, and distribution, as well as free delivery of essential supplies to Lebanon. CMA CGM Group experts in Lebanon also designed a logistics training program for Lebanese Red Cross staff members to strengthen their logistical capabilities.
• In October 2024, to support displaced populations, the Foundation carried out large-scale operations:
           - 1.5 million hot meals prepared in partnership with four community kitchens in Beirut, the South, Bekaa, and Akkar.

              - 17,250 food parcels distributed nationwide with Lebanese NGOs and the ICRC.

The Foundation also extended exceptional support to leading international humanitarian partners as part of its Containers of Hope program:

• UNICEF – providing education and child protection through school kits and winter clothing.
• World Food Programme – equipping kitchens in schools converted into shelters.
• International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – food parcel distribution in South Lebanon.