The Collective for Research and Training on Development – Action organised the third consultative meeting in Zahleh in the Bekaa region in order to discuss the current situation of women and scenarios for moving forward with women’s economic empowerment. This consultative meeting was attended by 37 participants and was organised within the framework of CRTD.A’s Regional Economic Empowerment for Women Project which is managed by Oxfam Quebec and funded by CIDA. The meeting follows a series of preceding events that were held with members of rural women cooperatives, non-governmental organisations, trade unions and public sector institutions during the course of last year.
The main results of the meeting were as follows:
- Setting up a general assembly including women and practitioners from the Beqaa region to move forward with the local follow-up of this initiative in the Bekaa;
- Forming two working groups the first to focus on follow-up of issues related to rural women cooperatives with public sector institutions and the second to work on issues related to social security for women and families that are currently excluded from the present system of coverage.
The working groups are expected to develop suggestions for discussion by the general assembly within the framework of an action plan that will include practical steps aiming at facilitating women’s economic empowerment and lifting all forms of discrimination in the laws. The suggestions will also seek to engage a wide range of civil society organisations and public sector institutions in its implementation.