Lebanon's gender inequality remains a serious obstacle to human development. It fares third to last in the MENA region on the gender gap issue especially in host and displaced communities where women suffer from lack ofempowerment and discrimination. Despite this, women can be effective agents for change, and their increased political participation, control of resources including land, access to employment and education are crucial for promoting sustainable development. With this in mind, Jana Al Khatib, Haneen Merhi and Hanin Abi Ghannam,representatives from the National Wellness Network (NWN) - an NGO established by the Modern University for Business & Science (MUBS) - teamed up with public health students at MUBS and Diana Maddah, project director and public health instructor at MUBS,to launch a program entitled “Em-Power”.

The Program aims to empower women in Lebanon on an individual level and to equip them with the knowledge, skills and attitude needed to influence other women in their community. Moreover, its purpose is to work on cultivating the new generation of women with the knowledge, skills and attitude towards ending violence and gender inequity within their families and their communities.

“Em-Power” was implemented on October 30, 2019 and since then has empowered twenty mothers and twenty children of both sexes aged between 12-20 years old of Syrian and Lebanese nationalities living in the village of Baalechamy, Mount Lebanon.The Program has affected individual and collective transformation towards gender equality by raising awareness about their rights and encouraging learning, knowledge-building and skills development. Moreover, it has helped participants to understand the role gender plays and to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for advancing gender equality in their daily lives and deliver commitments to equal human rights for all. Therefore, “Em-Power” was able to mobilize the community and inspire other women and youth living in their communities.

The choice of this age group (12-20 years old) was based on the fact that at this age girls in Lebanon are exposed to marriage or/and to violence. The involvement of males was also crucial to be the advocates for gender mainstreaming. Therefore, a series of training workshops were designed and delivered in Baalachmay in cooperation with the organizations  such as MADDAD for Women, RDFL, Euro Med Feminist Initiative, and Cultural Forum Baalachmay. Mount Lebanon was the chosen region as the role of the mothers in this community is restricted to raising children and doing household work. In addition, there is a large number of Syrian refugees settled in this region. Currently, conflicts are being detected between the host community and the Syrian refugees which required sedimentation of a project to decrease the tension between both communities. Therefore, “Em-Power” targeted Syrian and Lebanese of low socio-economic backgrounds. 

Sixteen training sessions were conducted separately for mothers and their children at Montada Baalachmay by certified trainers Lama Aridi and Layal Al Danaf; eight sessions for students/youth and eight sessions for mothers. Both student and mother sessions were held once per week after school time; every Friday from 5:30-7:30 pm, in different rooms at Montada Baalachmay. Youth (in this case students) were trained on gender equality strategies to enhance the leadership of youth women in all spheres: action on ending violence, education, improved knowledge, attitudes and advocacy. By the end of the sessions, three “Em-Power” Fellows were selected based on their dedication, commitment, and their communication skills from both the children and the mothers. In turn, three Fellow mothers and the three Fellow children replicated the same trainings by choosing ten new participants, each from their community, ensuring that the message of “Em-Power” is spread out. These replicated sessions included different topics on gender equality and human rights, where the mothers conducted sessions on gender differences, violence, and children’s rights and the children conducted sessions on bullying, self-control, and the difference between gender roles.

To conclude the Program, a closing ceremony was held at MUBS on February 7, 2020 to celebrate its success in the presence of MUBS instructors,the Maddad project officer and trainers, the Cultural Club Officer at Montada Baalechmay and the participants. The “Em-Power”team expressed their gratitude to everyone who contributed towards the success of the Program and certificates were distributed  to participants.  The“Em-Power” team deemed the Program to have been successful according to their monitoring and evaluation measures and aim to expand the Program to reach more locations in other regions to raise a new generation which is anti- violence and discrimination. All the beneficiaries, mothers and children, were equipped with lifelong skills to combat gender violence and work towards empowering other women.

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