News updates

As Safir published an article  about the Lothan Youth Achievement Center (LoYAC), an organisation which seeks to provide opportunities for young students who wish to upgrade their individual skills so as to increase their chances of entering the job market.  The report notes that LoYAC was set up Kuwait in 2002 by a number of Kuwaiti women to support the youth and challenge stereotypes.  It then opened a branch in Jordan in 2008 and in Lebanon in 2009.  LoYAC seeks to build a safety net to support Arab youth through providing them with opportunities for self-improvement though training before graduation from university and encouraging them to engage in voluntary work so as to create new and young cadres for the future.
LoYAC also encourage young people from various Arab countries to apply under simple conditions namely having a minimum of 17 years, residing in Lebanon, commitment to completing the set programme and capacity to interact with other young people of different cultural backgrounds.  The article presents a number of examples of various young people of different Arab nationalities (Lebanese, Iraqi, Sudanese and others) who benefited from various training workshops offered by the association to help them improve their skills before entering the job market. Onsite job training is facilitated by a network of Lebanese and international organisations who have partnership agreements with LoYAC.  Finally, LoYAC will be organising, next Saturday, a public event to celebrate 31 young people currently enrolled in its programme and in recognition of their participation.
Source: Al-Safir 23 October 2013

The Environmental Sustainable Development Unit (ESDU) at the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Technology at the America University of Beirut (AUB) organised last week a food market at the faculty to sell the products of farmers involved in its development project which aims to support natural and healthy products.  The project was implemented by ESDU with the financial assistance of Waterfront City Cares and aimed at training small farmers and producers on food safety and natural agriculture and related commercial activities.  The project, which started in October 2012, included the organisation of successful markets for farmers held every Wednesday at Zico House, Spears street, in Hamra district of Beirut, and will be concluded at the end of the current month.
The Faculty Dean Nahla Houla stressed the importance of food safety and the importance to build up local skills.  She added that the University will open next spring a special study programme on rural development.  For her part, Salwa Tawk the Knowledge management Officer at ESDU noted that the public should actively take part in decision making concerning its food sources and not leave these decisions to international policy makers and major profit seeking food companies.  She noted that the current way of producing and consuming food are causing sever health and economic problems in addition to environmental damage and the exploitation of labor. For their part, the farmers who took part in the project noted that spaces for natural agriculture are increasing because of initiatives similar to that of AUB, and that differences are clear between the higher quality of naturally produced food and those produced commercially. Finally, the Faculty will be organising a food market on ADD DATE to mark the end of the project.
Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Diyar, 23 October 2013
For more information about the farmers’ market at Ziko house, please refer to the news published on the WEEPortal on 23/8/2013, entitled: “Start up of “Drive to the Market”, a new farmers’ market at Ziko House-Sanaye3 in Beirut”
 

The project entitled "strengthening and marketing of Lebanese marketing products" which was implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoAg) and closed yesterday, was successful in developing a number of guides for farmers and the training of more than 7140 farmers were training in agricultural extension, 265 trainees in agriculture extension, 157 workers in food inspection and 285 workers in various technical agricultural issues.
The Minister of Agriculture noted in his speech that the project extended over three years, was implemented by the Ministry with financial support from Italian aid and under the supervision of the FAO.  He added that the project is one of the largest funded projects as funding reached a total of USD 2.9 million.  He clarified that the project involved both the agriculture and the livestock sectors with an emphasis on the agriculture sector.  Its activities included strengthening the control capacity in agricultural and livestock quarantine as well as improving control over production of processed food. The Minister also indicated that the marketing dimension of the project recorded little progress in addressing the issue of wholesale marketing despite a decision on this matter by the constitutional council.  He indicated that the ministry is now faced up with how to address internal marketing problems which in turn affect external marketing. The coordinator of the project, Hanadi Jaafar, thereafter outlined recommendations for future interventions which will include five new project proposals.
Source: Al-Safir, Al-Nahar 23 October 2013

The Economic and Social Fund for Development issued a bulleting yesterday indicating that the number of projects funded during the third quarter of 2013 has reached new 130 projects and that these projects received a total of 3.2 billion Lebanese Pounds through the ESFD "Creating Job Opportunities" component, thus helping to create 135 new job opportunities.
With the additional new projects, the total number of small and medium enterprises funded by the ESFD since its inception in 2003 reached 7579 by September 2013 with a total lending of 118 billion Lebanese Pounds and a total of 5174 jobs created.
To be noted that the ESFD was created within the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean partnership and through a financing agreement signed in October 2000 by the Lebanese government represented by the Council for Development and Reconstruction.  The main aim of the ESFD is to help combat poverty and mitigate its impact on vulnerable communities through its two components, namely "creation of job opportunities" and "local development".
Source: Al-Diyar 22 October 2013

The Economist 2013 report noted that the support to the micro credit sector in Lebanon remains weak and inefficient as a result of political insecurity and of interest in this sector by the Ministry of Interior and Central Bank. The report which covered 55 countries in total ranked Lebanon 40th in terms of providing an environment conducive to micro lending.
To be noted that the study which only covered Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt, and Yemen from the Arab region, ranked Lebanon in the 11th place within the 15 surveyed countries of the  Middle East and Africa and 12th  among the 17 above average income countries surveyed in the study. Finally, the report estimated the number of micro lending organisations active in Lebanon to be about 20 institutions (mainly NGOs) and most of which are heavily located in major cities.
Source: L’Orient Le Jour
 

The office of Civil Affairs at the UNIFIL’s western sector organised in collaboration with UNIDO an exhibition of agricultural, food products and traditional crafts produced by local rural women cooperatives in Lebanon, and in celebration of the international rural women's day.
The representative of UNIDO, Ms, Solange Matta Saadeh noted that the UNIDO project which is implemented by the international agency with funding from the Italian government seeks to support rural women so as to strengthen rural and local communities in several parts of Lebanon and in order to sustain livelihoods and offering technical advice to support and develop local small and medium enterprises.  She highlighted the importance of supporting rural and agricultural cooperatives and their production capacity so as to increase local production level and ensure complementarity with commercial companies in the agriculture production field and, eventually, to support the Lebanese economy.
Source: Al-Diyar 19 October 2013

Al Akhbar published a report about the ways in which General Security deals with the so-called “suicide attempts" by migrant women domestic workers.  The newspaper noted that the GS has a tendency to close the file as soon as death is pronounced and referred to the case of Tegitis Tamar who now lies in the Qarantina hospital as a result of a serious back break which ensued from a failed suicide attempt.  Tegitis still remains in the hospital, and although the hospital has informed the GS twice about this case, the latter has yet to investigate the case after having realised that the victim is an Ethiopian national.
Mohana Isaac, a lawyer working with Kafa association, noted in her interview with Al Akhbar that Kafa has lodged a legal complaint concerning Tegitis case based on a legal close which states that "all those who have instigated suicide shall be punished".  She adds that the “Kafala” sponsorship system which is often believed to be the underlying cause of suicide, in fact overpowers the law, and a glaring proof of that is that no sponsor has ever been jailed for the death of a migrant women worker.
Legal exert Nizar Saghieh noted that this legal case is unprecedented, while stressing the key role that the Ministry of Labour should play in pursuing appropriate action vis-à-vis employers.  Saghieh also referred to the need for the Ministry of Labor to adopt a "blacklist" based on which it can take the appropriate measures such as forbidding certain recruitment offices from brining in other migrant workers in case they are found guilty of crimes and misdemeanor.
Source: Al-Akhbar 19 October 2013

According to the statistics released by the database affiliated to the World Bank, Lebanon counted in 2012 more than one million women in working age (15 to 64).  However, the same sources indicated that women’s participation as active economic actors remains fully or partially stunted.  Indeed, the recent studies undertaken by the IFC (International Finance Cooperation) noted that despite the increased access to university education by Lebanese women, only 3% of bank loans are given to pioneer business women.  These statistics were discussed during a roundtable organised by Endeavour on October 2nd and covered at the time by the Women Economic Empowerment Portal (WEEPortal) in a news flash entitled “Only 22% of the Lebanese workforce is women, & coaching is a key element to women’s integration in technology and business”, on 7/10/2013.

Al Diyar newspaper published last Tuesday a more detailed coverage of this event and of its ensuing recommendations in which participants emphasized the importance of extending additional efforts to support an environment that is conducive to business women in Lebanon.  Participants highlighted the important role that the private sector, banks, policy makers and civil society organisations should play to ensure that this environment becomes indeed more conducive for women.  For instance, they noted that private companies should put in place, as part of their corporate social responsibilities, programmes that empower women.  Banks should also provide wider financial services and facilities for women who own small and medium businesses especially since women have proven to have a higher repayment rate than men.  The government should, for its part, put in place more favorable policies which include tax exemption, a special investment fund for new businesses run by women as well other banking incentives to allow women more access to bank loans.  Finally, participants highlighted the important role that civil society organisations plays in promoting awareness raising on issues facing pioneer business women while  challenging social and cultural barriers and supporting pioneer women leaders especially particularly of the younger generation.
Source: Al-Diyar 18 October 2013

News about migrant women domestic workers fleeing their employers and their abusive practices abound in the local newspapers to the extent that they have become regular and are no longer provoking any legal debate, particularly since the women migrant worker often end up forcibly returning to their employers or being deported to their home countries as per their contractual agreement with the employment offices. Such inhuman practices, regretfully, are in full alignment with the framework of the current “kafala (sponsorship)” system which protects the rights of employers and employment offices, and in the absence of a comprehensive and inclusive labor law.
However, and only two months ago, a woman judge ruled against a Kenyan migrant woman domestic worker and asked for a two months prison sentence and imposing on her a penalty payment of LBP 600,000 after the women worker allegedly fled her employer.  The judge in question created a new felony and named it “fleeing from work” thus creating a legal precedent that largely protects slavery and the current exploitative practices.
The Legal Agenda published in its latest issue an article on this matter entitled: “She left her employer for a few hours and was returned back: what crime? What punishment? What justice?”.  The article is a study of this unprecedented verdict and its technical and legal irregularities whilst pointing out to the violation of the rights of the worker, the contradictions in the different narratives and the resulting distortion of facts. For more on this case please click this link.
Source: Al-Akhbar 14 October 2013