General context

Presentation of Expertise France

Expertise France (EF) is a public agency created on 1st January 2015 and merging 6 French public agencies under the supervision of the French Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Economy and Finance with a strong inter-ministerial vocation. EF offers program engineering and technical assistance by developing and implementing international cooperation actions worldwide. EF operates in various fields of development and institutional cooperation including safety and security reform, post-crisis/ stability, public health, human rights, strengthening of institutions and NGOs and governance. Carrying out large-scale, multi-stakeholder programmes, EF can ensure the cooperation between individuals, teams and institutions with very different statuses, cultures and specialties. Besides, EF has acquired a sound experience in administrative and financial management of large-scale international programmes.

Context

Although the Lebanese constitution guarantees equal rights between all citizens and the country has ratified a number of international treaties that guarantee gender equality, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Lebanon has a Gender Inequality Index  value of 0.638, ranking it 132 out of 155 countries in the 2021 Gender Gap Index.

Even more, the Beirut blast of 04/08/2020 has put an additional burden on Lebanese men and women, increasing social and gender inequalities. Reports on domestic violence have reported the pandemic have led to an increase in gender-based violence.[1] Court closures due to lockdowns have made access to legal protection for survivors difficult and has delayed responses as a result.[2]  In addition the sanitary crisis has added a significant workload on women as main responsible for care, increased restrictions of their mobility, and greatly affected their work opportunities.[3] Women’s rights associations have also highlighted the increased risks faced by domestic workers and members of the LGBTQI+ community. The financial, care and health pressures on women in Lebanon are pushing activists to call for a focus on gender equality in international aid responses.[4] Women empowerment and gender equality are at the top priority of the sustainable development goals agenda: (SDG 5, also mainstreamed in all other 16 SDGs) and are a core value of the European Union (EU). The EU's new Action Plan on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in External Action 2021–2025 (GAP III) aims to accelerate progress on empowering women and girls, and safeguard gains made on gender equality during the 25 years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and its Platform for Action

 Project overview

Provide at least the following information:

• Project title EU4WE – European Union for Women Empowerment
• Implementation dates : October 2019-March 2023
• Location / intervention areas: Lebanon and virtual
• Operational partners : Expertise France
• Project budget: 2.4M Euros
• Project objectives: The EU4WE project Aims to promote gender equality in Lebanon by empowering women economically and enhancing legal mechanisms against gender-based violence.
• Expected results : EH4WE has three main components:
  • Enhance entrepreneurial capacities of Lebanese women
  • Enhance legal mechanisms against gender-based violence
  • Produce and disseminate gender oriented knowledge with relevant stakeholders

Main activities implemented:

• Following the Beirut blast of the 4th of August 2020, EU4WE put in place an emergency fund programme to support 30 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) women-led and/or women-owned in Beirut affected by the blast. The programme provided a €5000 grant per business as well as coaching and training to help their recovery.

• EU4WE also produced a market assessment report, based on a study carried out in Beirut, Mount Lebanon and Tyr/South among women entrepreneurs. The study aimed to assess the challenges, obstacles and needs of women entrepreneurs and propose concrete and targeted recommendations to support women entrepreneurs/business leaders within the framework of the project.

• Based on the study findings and recommendations, the project developed and is currently implementing a sub-granting programme - WEEL - for 18 women owned/led businesses (MSMEs & Start-ups), with an envelope ranging between 15 000 and 40 000 euros per business (total of grants amounts to 595 000 €). The programme also includes technical assistance and capacity building tailored to each beneficiary’s needs.

• A legal study "Enhancing Access to Justice for Survivors of Domestic Violence Before Lebanese Courts – A Practical Approach" was carried out and widely shared as part of the project. This study presents an in-depth analysis of cases of domestic violence before civil and religious courts (judgment analysis). The legal analysis shows the failures and inconsistencies of the courts in relation to the judgments of the cases of violence and the protective measures, which often go against the Law 293 against domestic violence, as well as the international conventions adopted in the matter. of human rights and highlights the existing gaps and offers recommendations on these points.

• 53 practicing lawyers were trained on strategic litigation to adequately represent GVB victims/survivors before criminal, civil and religious courts. The lawyers were trained by different groups according to their religious denomination (in relation to the courts in which they operate, Sunni, Jaafari, Christians and Druze).

• A taskforce of 47 trained lawyers was created. Its mission is to enhance access to justice before Lebanese courts and authorities for survivors of domestic violence as well as other beneficiaries.

• Support to the Lebanon National Gender Observatories by providing technical expertise, developing a two-year action plan, implement several activities under the action plan, and fund the redesign and maintenance of the LNGO website.