Amid Lebanon’s growing political instability, which is causing a severe economic crisis and weakening the population’s access to an adequate standard of living to mere subsistence levels, this Convenio, carried out in partnership with the NGO AIDA, aims, on one hand, to promote the economic empowerment of the Lebanese population and displaced Syrians and, on the other hand, to promote social cohesion between the government, organizations, and people whose rights are being violated in this critical situation. All of this will be done with special attention to gender and environmental issues.
The proposed actions aim to have a threefold impact on the southern region of Lebanon:
- Strengthen the technical capacities and support the productive ventures of individuals, providing appropriate job market training for the most vulnerable populations, particularly promoting job opportunities for women. Solar panels will be installed, contributing to household savings.
- Work with production groups by sectors of activity, ensuring the strengthening of infrastructures and reducing the country’s energy and economic vulnerability to the community. To achieve this, knowledge exchange will be promoted through systematic meetings between entrepreneurs.
- Create Rapid Response Units at the institutional level to reduce risk and increase social cohesion, fostering an appropriate environment for the socio-economic development of the population. To achieve this, the capacities and competencies of local partners, who are close to rural communities, will be reinforced, helping to sustainably reduce social tensions.
Additionally, to achieve a direct impact on gender equality, favoring a comprehensive and inclusive approach, specific activities have been designed to mitigate gender-based violence, establish women’s production groups that will create a safe context for their participation, and support the actions of Lebanese civil associations that promote women’s effective participation and the elimination of discrimination.
Similarly, the environment is integrated into the entire Agreement under the premise of promoting sustainable entrepreneurship that allows for more efficient use of resources, protection and improvement of livelihoods and social well-being, and greater resilience of individuals, communities, and ecosystems. Moreover, the sustainable entrepreneurship models will be based on circular economy methodologies.