News updates

L’Orient le Jour newspaper published an interview with 64 year old Yvette whose livelihood depends on a small sewing workshop which she runs along with a relative.  Yvette bitterly acknowledged that the art and craft of sewing is disappearing as most of what she does nowadays is alterations of readymade garments.  She also notes that there was a time when sewing was more prosperous as she used to work up until the wee hours of dawn.  For now, Yvette uses her income to settle her routine bills pertaining to the workshop and is left with an amount of USD 800 to 1000, in addition to USD 350 that her only son sends her, and which are hardly enough to cover rent and basic living expenses.
Source: L’Orient Le Jour 6 March 2014

The Batroon Development and Cultural League (BDCL) inaugurated yesterday a free English Language School located at the Association’s premises in Besbeena in Batroon.  The event was attended by the Association’s President, Joseph Shallita as well as members of the Association and other stakeholders. The School which kicked off with 33 women students who are enrolled in a 6 month English language course, targets only women from the nearby towns and villages and is open three mornings per week. To be noted that the setting up of the school is the outcome of collaboration between BDCL and “Ma3akom” association and of funding by the American Embassy in Beirut.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 5 March 2014

Nine women presented in Byblos yesterday their catering and hospitality projects to a jury of experts in the field.  This event was organized within the framework of a project aiming to provide social and economic support to women in rural areas through the development of tourism, hotels and women entrepreneurship.  The initiative is implemented by Spanish NGO named ONAY and Lebanese PRODES association.  The project’s budget is fixed at some Euros 620,000 of which Euros 510,000 were donated by the European Union.
This presentation came as the culmination of a training workshop that the nine women completed and which focused on starting and running small businesses in rural areas.  The candidates are now expected to be able to develop their ideas into a project through the drawing of business, marketing and action plans.  Furthermore, the program, which will support women in kicking off their projects, targets the areas of Byblos, Batroun highlands and Becharreh and seeks to empower women socially and economically in rural areas, to create jobs through vocational training in hospitality as well as small businesses by facilitating their access to financing.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Safir 5 March 2014

An Nahar newspaper published a report yesterday focusing on a proposed law for the creation of an autonomous Chamber of Agriculture that would be in charge of holding the Agricultural registry.  The report reminds of the history of the proposed law which submitted in 2003 and which was never put into effect.  The report relays the point of view of the president of the association of farmers, Antoine Howayek, who notes that allowing farmers to join the ranks of the other Chambers will lead to a radical change in the geographical and confessional composition of the Chambers.  This, according to Howayek, has prompted many political forces to stand against such change.
Howayek notes that the creation of an autonomous Chamber of Agriculture, in charge of the Agricultural registry, will facilitate farmers' access to their rights as it will allow them to register and subsequently to join the NSSF. It will also enable farmers to register their vehicles as private cars, and will big of great assistance in determining, with much precision, the properties of their holdings. This will subsequently assist farmers in securing an insurance against natural catastrophes. This key step will also enable farmers to have access to agricultural loans, regulate land usage, and improve farmers' productivity through the provision of extension services.
In detailing the project, Howayek noted that the proposal entails creating 7 agricultural chambers in Mount Lebanon, the North, Akkar, Baalbaq & Hermel, the rest of the Beqaa, South, and Nabatieh, thus ll providing an excellent example of economic and development decentralisation.  Financing for these Chambers will be essentially drawn from membership dues as well as from issuing certificates of agricultural origin.  He estimated that total proceeds from some 100,000 farmers will be no less than USD 10 million per year.
Finally, the report notes that proposal to create an autonomous Chambers of Agriculture was supported by a number of MPs when first submitted in 2003.  However, the proposed law was never endorsed. Later on, the Economic and Social Council Forum which was organised by the EU in 2009 discussed this matter again and recommended its endorsement but with no conclusive outcome yet.
Source: Al-Nahar 4 March 2014

Daily Star newspaper published yesterday a report on the achievement of mechanical engineer Rana Chemaitelly, the founder of the " little engineer" company, in the second of a series of interviews to be published by the newspaper on women pioneers in various sectors.
According to the newspaper, Rana Chemaitelly graduated as a mechanical engineer in 1993. In 1997, she founded her first company in Lebanon, a digital imaging business. She then moved to a teaching position at the American University of Beirut where she got the idea for the “little engineer" project.
Chemaitelly told the newspaper that she observed her first year engineering students who left their studies when they realized that this is not the field they would like to specialize in.  She then got the idea to set up an institute which would allow them to understand the field and to decide early on whether this was the specialisation they wanted.  The Little Engineer project initially arose as an attempt to help her young son overcome his isolation. She started her project from home, and then expanded into an orientation centre which operates at two levels.  First, the centre offers entertainment and educational activities for kids between 4 and 14 years of age in order to help them develop their skills in creativity and engineering inventions and to assist teenagers, who are getting ready to enter university, to expand their ideas and to decide on their future professional career
The project now includes four centres with plans to open 5 more centers in Lebanon and later to expand into the Arab region through a franchise that is being created. It is to be noted that Chemaitelly received a number of prizes for her Little Engineer project notably one for the best workplan in the Arab region for 2010, which she won through a competition organised by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT.  She also received the Cartier prize for best pioneer woman. Rana's advice to women pioneer is not to be scared but to insist and persevere to reach their goals.
Source: The Daily Star 4 March 2014

Arabian Business magazine published the list of the 100 most powerful women in the Arab region, which is an annual list of women who are the most influential in many sectors such as art, media, politics, science and economics.
The list includes 17 Lebanese women with the top place going to Naila Howayek (6th), the CEO of Swatch group, whose fortune is estimated at USD 3.9 billions.  Former Minister Leila al Solh, vice president of Alwaleed Bin Talal Foundation remained 14th on the list. Other Lebanese names include Aya Bdeir, the founder of Karaj, the first Lebanese workshop for experimental arts and science, ranked 39th  whilst Grace Hajjar, management consultant for the private and public sector ranked 45th .  The writer Anissah Helou held the 46th rank ; followed by movie director Nadine Labaki (49nd), Fairuz (58th), the journalists Hanan Al-Sheikh (59th) and Joumana Haddad (62nd), Hind Hobeika inventor of Instabeat, a revolutionary swimming device (76th), social and human rights activist and philanthropist, Rabab Sadr ranked 79th, Mona Bawershi, the CEO of Ghzeiri Transportation (83rd), and finally the founder of Semsom channel, Christine Sfeir at 87th.  For the full list please click on the following link.

Source: Al-Nahar, L’Orient Le Jour 4 March 2014

As Safir newspaper published last week a report on the beekeeping sector in Lebanon, which is presently facing major challenges that will be difficult to overcome as it estimated losses of beekeepers between 30 to 40% of total production.  The newspaper added that these losses will not affect this season only but will extend, according to the beekeepers, to the next summer season with the areas of Aley and Metn expected to be particularly affected by the decline in production.
The report also noted that the sustainability of the beekeeping sector is directly depended on the citrus season which largely determines the size and quality of honey production.  The low rainfall this year caused an unprecedented decline in the number of bee workers per beehive, and forced citrus growers to use pesticides during this season to combat the dangerous insects that might jeopardize the production. These unfavorable circumstances are likely to affect the income of hundreds of families which will cause a major social and economic disaster.  The report relayed the demands of beekeepers that the state and its institutions financially mitigate the impact of this crisis.
Source: Al-Safir 4 March 2014

CSOs and human rights organizations organized last week a meeting within the framework of the project entitled “Reinforcing policies and the practices of human rights in women prisons in Lebanon”, aimed at addressing a number of issues related to human rights within women prisons notably in relation to the situation of pregnant and lactating women as well as the right to comprehensive health care.
The meeting was convened at the premises of the prisons directorate and in collaboration with the directorate for prisons within the Ministry of Justice which was represented by Judge Raja Abi Nader.  Discussions revolved around women prisoners’ right to education, work and rehabilitation as well as to benefits from legal stipulations for diminished sentences as well as to communication with their families.
Judge Abi Nader shared the official strategy adopted by the directorate for prisons and highlighted actions carried out now and in pipeline for the future.  Representatives of participating organizations proposed various forms of collaboration with the directorate so as to help the state as well as the prison authorities in meeting international human rights standards.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal 3 March 2014

The commander of the East sector at the UNIFIL, Brigadier General Francisco Dakoba inaugurated last week a vocational training centre for women affiliated to the agricultural cooperative in the village of Taybeh, in cooperation with the union of municipalities of Jabal Amel.  The centre includes a pastry and bakery workshop and was made possible via a donation of USD 25,000 from UNIFIL.  In his opening address, Dakoba noted that this project reflects UNIFIL commitment to improving women’s livelihoods as well as reinforcing their community role, adding that it comes as the culmination of cooperation with the union of municipalities in Jabal Amel.  Other new projects will also be implemented this year including one sewing and embroidery training center to be located in Majdal Selem, a dairy production unit in Hula and a carob press in Kabreekha.
Source: Al-Nahar 3 March 2014

The new Minister of Industry, Dr. Hajj Hassan, spoke during a dinner convened in his honor by former Minister of Tourism, Fadi Abboud, earlier this week, outlining a number of measures which if adopted by his Ministry will result in raising exports and the share of industry in GDP from 11% to 17%.  Hajj Hassan detailed some of these measures which include making sure that the proposed  50% tax waivers on profits of domestic industries is endorsed by the current parliament, following up with the Minister of Finance the discussions on the issue of the recovery of the Value Added Tax on industrial machineries.  Other proposed measures include creating a credit line to finance exports with low interest rates, addressing the current imbalance in foreign trade, doubling exports. Hajj Hassan also mentioned the need to address those issues related to transportation with the Minister of Public Works and the heads of the seaport authority, and transportation companies, while focusing on other important issues such as lowering the high production costs, the setting up of industrial zones, guaranteeing sufficient energy supply, addressing problems related to the work force and social security, etc...  Hajj Hassan also noted that he will aim to develop the Ministry of Industry at the organisational, structural, human resource-related and material levels despite the short lifespan of his Ministry.
Finally, Hajj Hassan expressed his support to the idea of creating industrial zones run by the private sector whilst ensuring that education and research are linked to industry. He also emphasized the importance of strengthening industrial research centres so as to allow the sector to regain its creativity and help industrialists to develop their companies through finding ways to help them decrease the cost of production and to adopt new technologies.
For his part, former Minister Abbood hoped that the Lebanese industry can make a quantum leap in the near future and highlighted the importance of collaboration that seeks to increase productivity in the sector. He spoke of the various challenges and prohibitive costs that burden the industrialists in the face of stiff competition from neighboring countries where production costs are lower than in Lebanon.  Finally, Abbood also criticised the previous government decisions to abolish protection taxes in compliance with demands of the World Trade Organisation.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Diyar, Al-Safir 27 February 2014