Small Grants, Big Impact

Not one of us who have worked in international development cannot relate to this impact question.

Public Service Announcement

Developing Lebanon supports programs that further the cause of equality for women. I'd like to pass on this message.

MTV tv station is preparing with Hiyam Abou Chedid a program titled "w ana kamen ..lebnene"...(And I also...Am Lebanese).

If you are a Lebanese mother and facing nationality problems regarding your children and want to appear on tv and defend the cause, please send me a message.

The message must include name, problem description and phone number.

This message is addressed to women living inside Lebanon, in order to make the interviews.

The MTV program admins will chose among the candidates to the program.

Contact Antoine Yammine here.

Don't miss it!

More information is at Taste Kulcha. Also, while you're there, sign the petition "Promises not Politics: Ministry of Labour Must Protect Migrant Workers in Lebanon." And don't forget to follow @simby on Twitter!

Solidarity with migrant workers

In March of this year, the Feminist Collective held a sit-in in solidarity with migrant workers in Lebanon. Here's the video.

Women's Empowerment through IT

Visit WITmena's YouTube channel to find out more about Women in Information Technology.

Modern Slavery Rampant in Lebanon

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Imagine what 26-year-old Zeditu Kebede Matente thought when she traveled from her homeland of Ethopia to Lebanon in search of a better life. If you have any sense of empathy, you can probably feel the hope that she most likely felt as she packed her things. A future could have been in her sights, one in which she did not have to face the tragedy of poverty that she may have faced in her own country.

Alas, there was no future for Zeditu. She hung herself last month.

The list of names grows:

Ram Embwe
Kassaye Atsegenet
Saneet Mariam
Vololona
Mampionona
Tezeta Yalmiya
Sarada Phuyal

Just a sample of names, so many more names. Real people. Too many.

Where is the Lebanese civil society activism regarding this tragic issue? It seems that journalists are driving the awareness campaign, as they are a great part of civil society. Aljazeera, LA Times, Guardian, and Lebanon's own Daily Star have covered this issue recently. International NGO's like Human Rights Watch and Migrant Rights have called attention to the matter.

A Lebanese blogger is writing about this issue at Ethiopian Suicides. (We have added this to our blogroll in the sidebar.) I highly recommend a trip over there.

If you know of an organization in Lebanon that is working towards ending this horrific treatment of human beings, please let us know. Safadi Foundation USA is looking to raise the profile of these NGOs and to raise awareness about the plight of these women in an effort to stop the abuse.

Isn't it time that Lebanon takes a stand against slavery within its borders?

UPDATE: Today, Anget R. from Madagascar took her life. She was 20 years old.

Women's coalition calls on the new government to recognize women's equality

(Click on the photo to read the letter)

The Equality Without Reservation campaign is calling on the new Lebanese government to recognize women's equality. The coalition wants all Arab Governments to withdraw reservations and to ratify the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

You can find the Equality Without Reservation blog here. Information about the CEDAW situation regarding Lebanon can be found here.

Lebanon, isn't it time?

The Power of Language

See Khede Kasra on Facebook.

On a related note, Lina Abou Habib writes about the Age of Stupid regarding women's rights in Lebanon.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the state of New Hampshire becomes the first legislature to reach a majority of women.

Women's Week in Lebanon?

"Why do we need so many men in politics when they have failed?...Women are the first to work toward dialogue...and to build bridges while men build walls.” - Ziyad Baroud

Lots of women's projects going on this week in Lebanon. Yesterday, the Arab Group for Muslim-Christian Dialogue sponsored a forum to encourage greater participation of women in political and religious dialogue. Lebanese Minister of Interior Ziyad Baroud was there along with Ursula Plassnik, Austria’s special representative for women’s affairs and former foreign minister.

The forum comes as the Lebanese Association for Women Researchers (Bahithat) and American University Beirut are holding a conference entitled "Arab Feminisms: A Critical Perspective." Dozens of academics are attending the three-day conference to discuss contemporary schools of feminism in the region.

One perspective on the conference.

The Sanayeh Lebanese Women’s Council also met this week to discuss greater participation by women in government decision-making.

So many great civil society organizations in Lebanon doing great work on women's issues. Don't forget to support their work!

Lebanon org KAFA calling for partnership with women's orgs

The following is a call for partnership from Lebanese organization KAFA, an organization dedicated to ending violence against women:

A call for partnership with women’s organizations from:

Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Iraq and OPT

“Strategies and approaches of working with men and boys for ending violence against women” project


A. General brief of the project:

Oxfam GB and KAFA (enough) Violence & Exploitation have entered into a partnership to demonstrate a model in Lebanon of working with men and boys for ending violence against women. The project aims to help women’s organizations and institutions, working on the issue of Ending Violence against Women (EVAW), to explore ways of working with men and boys to influence attitudes, practices and policy change.

The main outcomes of the project are:

Outcome 1:
Women’s organizations in Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, and Syria[1] , are equipped with knowledge and skills on working with men for ending DV, have conveyed these skills to other women’s organizations, and applied skills that influenced positive change

Outcome 2:
For members of parliament in Lebanon to endorse the” Protection of Women from Family Violence” bill (for which KAFA has an advocacy campaign) by 2011

Outcome 3:
Enhanced regional and global linkages, learning and community of practice among organizations promoting working with men and boys by 2011

Project strategic components and activities are:

Capacity Building:
• Development, printing, and dissemination of a training of trainers (TOT) manual on strategies and approaches of working with men and boys for ending VAW.
• TOT targeting 4 organizations in Lebanon and 12 from the region.
• Technical assistance to 4 identified NGOs in the region.
• Participant woman’s organizations/trainees develop an action plan for providing training to at least three NGOs in their countries.

Research:
• Base line data on VAW – using data available from NGOs working on EVAW (national report) in Lebanon. The aim of the study is to further understand the state and prevalence of reported domestic violence in Lebanon.

• Pioneer research on gender and masculinity in Baalbeck (Better understanding of men’s gender roles and more efficient planning of strategies and approaches for engaging them in ending VAW).

Campaigns:

• Integrate working with men and boys in the DV bill campaign’s strategy.
• Men forums: KAFA and Oxfam GB will consolidate its relationship with different men as community leaders, doctors, and lawyers to form the local men’s forum who will support their projects on the ground. Men at national and local levels will have a series of seminars (at least 15) to reflect on the negative impact of DV on women and society in large
• Celebrating the 16 days of activism through a White Ribbon campaign, a globally recognized campaign where men wear a white ribbon showing their commitment to EVAW. The campaign will be launched with young men in 4 private and public universities in Lebanon to demand the endorsement of “Protection of Women from Family Violence Bill”.

Learning and knowledge sharing:
• Website: KAFA will develop a website of “Community of Practice of Working with Men and Boys in the Arab World”. The website will include various sections and pages such as the training manual, the research prepared, the experiences of working with men, stories from men in the men’s forums, the white ribbon campaign etc..
• Oxfam GB will arrange for a study tour for a group of five to benefit and learn from South Asia Regional Campaign on EVAW.
• Learning from White Ribbon campaigns

B. Eligibility for the partnership:

Oxfam GB and KAFA are seeking now partners from the identified countries who are interested to benefit from the project and to benefit other organizations in their respective countries. At this stage, selected partners will benefit from:

- Participation in the Training of Trainers that will be held in Lebanon in 2009.
- Technical backstopping: two visits to each of the identified women’s organizations to provide technical assistance and support on mainstreaming work with men and boys.
- Organizations will also be able to share their experiences and knowledge on working with men, and can place their publications on project’s website.

Eligibility of organizations:

All NGOs, CBOs, networks and government women’s machineries, research institutions entities that promote ending violence against women are eligible to apply for the partnership. The specific criteria include:

- Organizations be registered in their respective country of work,
- Have a long history and commitment to gender equality and ending violence against women in specific,
- Have competent staff that are willing to commit and follow up the TOT on the manual, and have the capacity to deliver to others,
- Willing to sign a Memorandum of understanding with Oxfam GB and KAFA to deliver training on: working with men and boys to end VAW in their respective countries ( 3 training workshop), and to send periodic reports of the training, documenting lessons learnt and good practices to be shared with others.
- To ensure sending trainees on the manual based on specific criteria to be shared with Oxfam GB and KAFA.

C. Application procedure:

Interested organizations should send maximum two pages that include the following:

- Name of the organization,
- Location,
- Name of the contact person (s)
- Mandate of the organization
- Brief history of the organization and its membership
- Project and programme on ending VAW (types of support)
- Scope of interventions on ending VAW (national, local, regional)
- Reasons the organization are interested in this partnership (motivation),
- Previous learning experiences from working with men (if any – brief),
- What can the organization bring to this work?
- Capacity to deliver the training by the trained staff, without project resources.
- References for the work and leadership of the organization.

Please send the 2 – 3 pages of the application for partnership to:

Magda El Sanousi – Regional Partnership Programme Manager – Middle East, Oxfam GB at: melsanousi@oxfam.org.uk
And
Ghida Anani, Project Co-ordinator, KAFA, at: ghida.anani@kafa.org.lb


Application Deadline: August 31, 2009

D. Dissemination of the partnership call:

Oxfam GB and KAFA will disseminate the call for partnership widely through the members of the Steering Committee of the project and through recognized women’s networks in the region (i.e CAWTAR/ANGAD; KARAMA), in addition to using UNIFEM list of partners to send this call.

E. Selection process:

Oxfam GB and KAFA will select the potential candidates. Oxfam GB and KAFA will invite members from the project Steering Committee for the final selection from the long potential lists.

Oxfam GB and KAFA, acknowledges the capacity at this stage to reach more than 12 organizations in the region due to limited resources. If opportunity arises, more organizations will be included to benefit from this partnership.

F. Note:

Despite the project covers four countries apart from Lebanon, Iraq and OPT will be covered from other sources of funding.
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