News updates

The International Finance Corporation IFC, the French Agency for Development (AFD) and Goldman Sachs Foundation 10,000 Women Entrepreneurs Program jointly announced their support to the BLC bank’s efforts in helping small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Lebanon, particularly those owned by women. To this effect, the IFC and AFD will allocate, through a risk sharing fund, a sum of USD 5 million in the form of small commerce loans to be dispensed by BLC. The above initiative is expected to extend loans worth of USD 10 million for the SME sector in order to help it expand and create new jobs. To note, the BLC is the first bank to benefit from the risk sharing mechanism designed for the MENA region. In this respect, BLC CEO Maurice Sahnaoui considered SMEs as the catalyst for the Lebanese economy, while the Goldman Sachs international director, Lisa MacDougall warned that access to funds is a main obstacle to the growth of women-owned businesses. She cited studies prepared by Sachs program showing that closing the credit gender-based gap could very well increase per capita income by 12% in the emerging markets by the year 2030. On the other hand, the Bank of Beirut chairman Salim Sfeir kicked off an inclusive scheme that teams up the expertise of Lebanese immigrants with the needs of the qualified and educated youth in the country. This, Sfeir explained, will develop an economic foothold that inspires the young generation to settle in Lebanon and at the same time generates revenues for investors. Sfeir announced his plan in a speech during the opening session of the Lebanese Diaspora Energy 2016 conference held in New York between September 16 and 17. He mentioned the crisis Lebanon is struggling to resolve which is the provision of jobs for some 40 thousand university graduates each year. The participation of Lebanese expatriates, Sfeir concluded, could transform Lebanon into a modern intellectual platform in the region, stressing the need to boost a competitive cost for investment in the country and increase financial and tax incentives to reach the aspired results. (Al Mustaqbal, An Nahar, Al Diyar, September 27, 28, 2016)

 

The issue of international funding to civil society organizations in Lebanon has prompted a wide controversy, particularly regarding the ready-made recipes and pre-conditions set by international donors. In this context, Lebanon Support Center organized last week a series of debates under the heading, ‘Cafe gender’ which concluded that the work of present Lebanese civil society organisations has no clear focus or direction with one particular trend popping up and then quickly disappear according to availability of funding. The focus of work covers a wide-range of issues such as prostitution, early marriage and marriage of non-registered persons as well as most of the current axis of work identified in the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and which also emphasis partnership between the private and public sectors. Bottomline, “Donors enforce their own agendas on organizations.” Discussions reflected on a critical review report prepared by Support Lebanon on the active players in the field of gender and their involvement on the local scene. The report was based on a 2015 survey which targeted some 36 organizations involved with women issues. The study sought to get answers from respondents on 2 basic questions: first, to what extent the funding perspectives contribute to shaping the objectives of the projects, locally? Second, do short-term projects centered on the provision of services contribute to refining social change that organizations tend to create? According to the above report, and with view of the funding structures of local organizations, there are different kinds of donors in the field of women issues and right, primarily, the UN agencies, European embassies, international institutions and non-government organizations, in addition to foreign and Lebanese private sector companies. The report has also indicated that out of 36 organizations which responded to the survey, 27 groups were mainly focused on the rights of women, 13 groups on gender equality, 5 groups on early marriage and four others on gays (from both sexes) and transsexuals. (please note that some organizations are multi-focused). To access the entire report, kindly click following link: http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/265419. (Al Akhbar, September 27, 2016)

 

In collaboration with My Nationality is A Right For Me And My Family Campaign, the Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering (RDFL) organized yesterday a joint seminar in which they presented a summary prepared by HEYA Center for Public Policy about depriving women of the right to grant citizenship to their family members. Outlining the discriminatory system in Lebanon, the paper concluded that women have not been able to reach any progress in this direction, notwithstanding Lebanon’s commitment as a signatory to the many international agreements calling for ending all forms of discrimination and achieving equality in political and civil rights. According to HEYA, only 5 Arab states (namely, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt and lately, Iraq) grant citizenship to children of their women nationals married to foreigners. Lebanon lags behind, it noted. The debate centered around refuting the assumption of naturalization brought up by opposers of women’s rights to nationality (on the pretext that granting nationality to children of a Lebanese mother married to a Palestinian could lead to naturalization). In this respect, My Nationality campaign activist, Karima Chbarro, revealed initial figures disclosed to her which show that the ratio of Lebanese women wed to Palestinians is the lowest compared to Lebanese women wed to foreigners from other nationalities. This, Chabarro maintained, springs from a narrow-minded agenda based on confessional and demographic considerations. While most of the interventions in the symposium came in response to the foreign minister Gebran Bassil’s racist statements recently, former minister Tark Metri, made clear that any right cannot be divided, and any exclusion or exception of the right repudiates the principle embedded in the right itself. “If we as Lebanese suffer from racist attitudes against us, we should not practice the same racism against others, notably, Palestinians or Syrians,” Metri expounded. “What we have heard lately brought backward the debate on women’s rights which has seen a progress,” Metri said, adding, that a “right cannot be conditional, for the case of a woman married to a Syrian does not differ from a woman married to a French citizen.” It should be noted, that this same message has been brought up by the minister during the drafting of the ministerial declaration of 4 former governments he has been part of. (Al Akhbar, As Safir, L’Orient Le Jour, September 28, 2016)

 

My Nationality is My Dignity Campaign has staged a sit-in on Sunday at the Riad el Solh Square to protest the latest statement by foreign minister Jibran Bassil in the presence of representatives of women associations and civil society groups and activists, in addition to a number of mothers demanding their right to grant citizenship to their children. The Campaign clarified that the rally comes in response to Bassil’s notorious racism reflected in his approval of the nationality law but on condition of “excluding Syrians and Palestinians in order to preserve the nation and land and the fabric of the Lebanese society,” as he claimed. During the demo, the Campaign’s coordinator, Mustafa Chaar, said: “We have become accustomed to the bigoted attitudes of Lebanese politicians, yet it was shocking to us to watch officials spell out their discriminatory viewpoints at international platforms.” “Manipulating demographic dynamics,” Chaar stressed, “has become past, as most Lebanese citizens now dream of emigrating,” noting that those who have been disqualified by Bassil’s indicators have not known but Lebanon as their country. Chaar finally appealed to all political factions to implement the Constitution through the endorsement of the Law which gives Lebanese mothers the right to grant nationality to their children on parity with men. He also called for holding accountable any party or person who dares to promote racism, bigotry and intolerance among citizens. (As Safir, Al Mustaqbal, September 26, 2016)

 

In a special feature last week, Al Mustaqbal daily highlighted the return to traditional food provision (mooneh) in most households in Lebanon as a result of the increasing health hazards that have been exposed by the food safety campaign. The newspaper shed light on the mouneh culture in Rashayya which has supported the livelihoods of hundreds of families relying on agriculture, including the processes of drying, steaming and carefully preserving the products with no added preservatives or artificial flavors. During a tour on a number of villages across Lebanon, Al Mustaqbal noticed glimpses of back to the roots trends. Most housewives, the newspaper wrote, were busy preparing an assortment of conventional home made items, like tomato paste, village koshk (dried yogurt), winter eggplant, cucumber and snake cucumber and all sorts of pickles. Other basic rural foods, include, village cheese and labneh, fruit jams and comfitures (molasses, figs, apples, pumpkins, quince) as well as all kinds of grains and cereals (chickpeas, beans, corn, lentils, soya, burghol). Al Mustaqbal in its feature noted that after relinquishing their celebrated role and developing more and more into folklore decorative items, the job of the old family mishmash of jars and pots has been smartly taken over by a number of productive cooperatives. One of the coops, "Nejmet al Sobeh7" cooperative association located in Mh7aydsseh, has become a hub to households flocking from the cities to buy a variety of homemade delicacies, as said its owner and mayor of the town, Marwan Sharuf. The cooperative, Sharuf boasted, is currently exporting its international standard products to countries in the Arab Gulf and Europe, stressing that the association has distanced itself from the tricks of customary trade. Profits, he maintained, go to support dozens of women working in the coop. At the same time, they help farmers and peasants of the village and neighboring towns who sell their harvest to be processed by the women at the coops. The processing of food, he said, while benefiting from modern technology, yet sustains the traditions in the preparation of pollutant-free end products.(Al Mustaqbal, September 20, 2016)

 

In partnership with the world’s leading accelerator, Techstars, AltCity organized last Thursday the first Launch Summit 2016, an earlystage startup conference, at the Ecole Superieure des Affaires (ESA) in Beirut. The event which hosted over 60 high-profile speakers from across the Middle East and was attended by over 750 participants, aimed at spreading awareness on technology leadership principles, as well as helping the youth make the first critical steps in the world of emerging businesses. The summit gives young entrepreneurs the opportunity to meet technology leaders and learn from them the basics of market research, product development and funding. In addition to express talks on present innovations and future trends, the conference included specialized workshops, speed mentorship activities, group sessions on cross sectoral analysis and networking opportunities at industry specific community tables. On the occasion, AltCity founding partner, David Munir Nabti, pointed out that the ultimate goal from organizing such event was to encourage ambitious persons who wish to set up their own private enterprises in Lebanon, noting that Techstars is willing to merge its pioneers in the MENA region. For his part, Al Mawarid Bank general director, Marwan Khairiddine, while underlining the need for the creation of a 10-year health system that covers startups, said that “in Lebanon, we were able to achieve impressive outcomes in only 3 years as a result of an in-depth study of the environmental system.”, adding that Lebanon is a good example for others, namely the US Silicon Valley, which he claimed, was trying to copy the experience of the country. (Al Mustaqbal, As Safir, September 24, 2016)

 

The health minister, Wael Abu Fa3ur, underlined a pressing need for the discipline of nursing in the country in order to meet the increasing demands of hospitals and of the medical sector across Lebanon in addition to its vitality in the labor market. Abu Fa3ur was speaking last Friday during the opening of the premises of the state-run Lebanese University in Rashayya  projected to serve as a branch for the 'nursing sciences department' affiliated with the school of health for the cazas of Rashayya and West Beqaa. The minister disclosed that the academic year will start as of next year after completion of the necessary installations and appointment of staff and faculty.  He also underscored the importance of training, orientation and rehabilitation of the nursing cadres for better provision of health care services. (L'Orient Le jour, September 24, 2016)  

 

The American Association of University Women published a report yesterday entitled "the simple truth about the gender wage gap".  The report talks about the very slow progress in closing the gender wage gap in the USA  since 2001.  According to the report, at this pace, American women will not be able to receive equal pay for equal work till 2152 or in 136 years!  This report and several others have confirmed that women are paid 78 cents for every dollar earned by men.  According to Catherine Hill, the vice-president of AAUW, this is not only the by-product of discrimination but other causes are at play.  According to her, there is currently a debate on how to close this gap which is not only about monetary income but also about hours worked, employment levels as well as family responsibilities bestowed on women. )Daily Star, September 23, 2016)

 

The UNDP programme in Lebanon organize last Tuesday a summit for decent work in Lebanon.  This event is done simultaneously in New York and in 24 other countries where discussions are taking place on meeting the SDGs by the year 2030.  In Beirut, the event was held in Teatro Verdun with the participation of around 200 concerned individuals, activists and NGOs practitioners in additions to media representatives.  The two hour long discussions focused on corruption, violence against women and women's rights.  The UNDP resident representative in Lebanon, Luca Randa, noted that this meeting allows countries to participate in drawing the global agenda.  During the meeting, lawyer Manar Zeaiter from RDFL  highlighted the problem of violence against women and insisted that this has become a complex problem requiring legal protection of the rights of women.  Participants agreed on the key role of the media as well as social networks in raising awareness about this issue.  Corruption was also discussed by Arkan Siblani, director of UNDP’s anti-corruption and integrity development in the Arab world project, who noted the rampant corruption in Lebanon and the absence of peaceful accountability mechanisms. (L'Orient le Jour, September 22, 2016)

 

This year 10 Lebanese women were included on the list of the most prominent Arab business women published by Forbes-Middle East.  Lebanon thus occupied the third rank, according to nationality, after Egypt, Kuwait (18 women each) and the UAE (17 women). The Lebanese women in question include:  in 55th place, figures Sana Khater, Waha Capital's Chief Financial Manager, an investment company based in Abu Dhabi, followed by Randa el Assaad, the Arif & Bintoak consultancy firm manager in Dubai to rank the 57 place, while Mona Bawarshi, Head of the Turkish transport company Gezairi in 58th place. Both partners Leap Ventures investment fund, Hala Fadel and Noor Sweid, were ranked 60th and 61st respectively, followed closely by Ingie Shalhub, president of the group specialized in luxury Star in 66th, and Christine Sfeir, CEO Treats Holding (69th). The founder and director of international ClinServ - a medical research company based in Beirut- Nadia Sh3ayb, and Vice President of the Lebanese group distribution Fattal, Caroline Fattal Fakhury, were respectively ranked 82nd and 83rd. Further down the ranking, figures Myrna Sufan, Director of Bank Bemo in 92nd place and Jinan Zoya, Executive Director of Family Business Council, an organization based in Dubai in 97th place. At the Arab world level, President of the Saudi company, "Olayan Financing", Saudi Lubna Olayan, was ranked first, followed by the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt, the Egyptian Lubna Helal seconds, and director of the "Gurg, UAE group, Raja Easa Al Gurg, from UAE third. To be noted that this classification which has been adopted by Forbes since 2012 takes into consideration the positions of the business women, the size of t heir companies as well as the level of their impact. (L'Orient le Jour, 20 September 2016)