GEOGRAPHIC AREA: MENA (Middle East and North Africa), Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon
FIELD OF INTERVENTION: Gender Empowerment, Socio-economic Development, Microcredit
SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT:
The project aims to contribute to the improvement of living conditions for Syrian refugee women and girls, and for women and girls at risk of social marginality and fragility in the host communities in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. To this end, the recipients are provided, by means of specialized training activities, with the necessary resources to embark on a path of empowerment and socio-economic emancipation, through support and creation of real job opportunities, income generation for the medium-long term and, in the specific case of Syrian women, of instruments for facilitating their participation in the reconstruction process in Syria.
OBJECTIVES: ● Promoting, through activities which enhance income generation and sustainable forms of association for the medium-long term, the social and economic empowerment of Syrian refugee female population and of women and girls in vulnerable situations in the host communities. ● Supporting the creation of small/medium social enterprises and/or women-led cooperatives. ● Providing Syrian refugee women with skills expendable in the host country but useful also with the prospect of a return to Syria. ● Strengthening women’s independence by means of a gender-based approach which promotes equal opportunities and positive and sustainable gender relations.
ACTIVITIES:
- Undertake training activities for the creation and management of microenterprises and for the use of microcredit.
- Organize training programs for making the products increasingly competitive on the market.
- Define training and information programs dealing with topics such as rights at work, good practices in the area of employment and self-entrepreneurship, social dialogue.
- Implement a tutoring service to follow the women in formulating and implementing their projects, to facilitate experience sharing and to provide mutual support.
- Identify instruments and strategies for the access to financial services and products which meet the beneficiaries’ needs: provision of credit (Egypt), loans (Jordan) and endowment funds/equipment/materials (Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt).
- Organize awareness-building/promotion sessions on issues related to the regulation of work permits.
- Pathways of legal assistance to refugees for obtaining the necessary documentation for the access to a valid work permit.
RESULTS:
- Improvement of the socio-economic situation of the Syrian refugee women and of those in vulnerable situations in the three beneficiary countries.
- Reduction in the number of families living in poverty.
- Decrease in the unemployment rate in the concerned areas.
- Creation of women-led activities and reinforcement of existing ones.
- Increase in the number of women accessing sources of income.
PARTNERSHIP: Lead applicant: ARCS – Arci Culture Solidali. Partners: Caritas Egypt, Mada Association, Noor al-Hussein Foundation (NHF), ARDD-Legal Aid, Un Ponte Per… (UPP), Associazione Italiana Donne per lo Sviluppo (AIDOS), Ricerca e Cooperazione (RC), Progetto Sud.
DURATION: 2019 – 2021 (30 months)
DONOR: AICS (Italian Agency for Development Cooperation) – Project No. AID 11528
