The dependence of women organisations on international funding

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)