Our History
Tahaddi’s story began in 1993, when co-founders Agnès Sanders, a French medical doctor, and Catherine Mourtada, a Swiss-Syrian educator, first visited the informal settlement of Hay El Gharbeh in southern Beirut.
Deeply moved by the harsh living conditions and urgent health and education needs they witnessed, they began to offer basic healthcare and later literacy courses with a small team of volunteers.
As relationships of trust slowly grew and deepened with the community, the initiative expanded, eventually becoming Tahaddi, officially registered as a Lebanese NGO, in 2008.
Since then, Tahaddi has grown into a holistic space that, through its different centers, provides education, healthcare, mental health and psychosocial support, and livelihood opportunities reaching thousands of families in vulnerable situations each year.
From the very beginning, Tahaddi has been guided by a philosophy of “being with and walking alongside” the community, an approach that continues to shape its work today. The co-founders remain actively involved, ensuring that the spirit of Tahaddi’s early years continues to inspire its vision for the future.
