Management Response

: Lebanon
: 2022 - 2022 , Lebanon (PP)
: End-term Evaluation of the Protection Component of of “Women’s Economic Empowerment” (WEE) Interventions
:
: Lebanon
:

The management accepts five out of eight recommendations. Three recommendations are partially accepted.

: Approved
Recommendation: Include a cash component – unconditional cash or cash for work – in all current and near-future protection projects, to accommodate beneficiaries’ urgent financial needs. The cash component can last as long as the economic crisis persists or until UN Women might deem appropriate.
Management Response: Provision of recurrent and emergency cash assistance is a practice within the humanitarian sector in Lebanon. However, the ability to provide such cash assistance is highly dependent on the availability of funding from donors willing to incorporate cash assistance in its projects. (e.g. Donors such as the Government of Japan would not allow this). UN Women has sought to build linkages between its protection partners and livelihood partners to enable the linkage of protection and livelihoods work. For example, under the "Multi sectoral Response to the humanitarian crisis in the North of Lebanon through the human security approach", UN Women's partner RDFL is providing cash-for-work opportunities for women in the community, who are GBV survivors, or are at risk of GBV. However, cash-for-work opportunities for women are dependent on the willingness and readiness of GBV survivors to participate in cash for-work opportunities and the WEE team is also trying to prioritize women survivors of GBV in its livelihood programmes. Privacy/protection of GBV survivors' identities also has been a concern voiced by protection partners for direct referrals of GBV survivors to livelihood programmes.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018), Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Capacity development
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Consider a cash assistance component in future protection projects, and strengthen linkages between protection and livelihood partners to provide opportunities for GBV survivors to participate in cash-for-work opportunities. UN Women LCO WEE and protection partners, subject to availability of donor funding to support protection cash 2023/12 Ongoing Q2 update - no additional protection projects, so there are no further updates.
Recommendation: Integrate psychiatrists in protection projects and/or in the staff of organizations working on GBV in general to respond to the needs of beneficiaries having dire mental health problems.
Management Response: Mental healthcare for survivors of GBV is an essential need. However, not all cases require referral to psychiatrists, and other psychosocial supports may include psychological counselling and focused psychosocial support interventions. Many organizations are also unable to hire psychiatrists as full-time staff, and hence the recommendation to integrate psychiatrists as staff is not realistic. However, some protection organizations provide referrals to psychiatrists and some cases provide financial support to access psychiatric services (e.g. transportation and/or coverage of fees), including one of our partners Kafa. Where project funding allows, UN Women will recommend protection partners to incorporate psychiatric support as part of their psychosocial support for protection services.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018), Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Incorporate access to psychiatric services in protection services provided by UN Women protection programming, in parallel to other psychosocial supports, such as psychological counseling, focused psychosocial support interventions. UN Women LCO WEE and protection partners, subject to availability of donor funding to support access to psychiatric support. 2023/12 Ongoing No new protection projects, therefore the key action has not yet been implemented.
Recommendation: Work on the interpersonal level of the gender socio-ecological model, by raising the awareness of and empowering the beneficiaries’ direct environment. This applies to the beneficiaries’ children, but especially to the male figures in their family – husband, brother, etc. The work on the interpersonal level can happen by devising specific activities for members of women’s direct environment in the protection projects – i.e. for men, stress management sessions or awareness sessions about women’s rights – to be implemented in parallel to the activities targeting women.
Management Response: Engagement with men (adults and youth) also will be taken into consideration in future protection programming, subject to availability of funding. Approaches will be adapted to the local sociocultural context. A pilot was implemented 2 years ago and based on the lessons learned from this pilot future programmes will be designed
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018), Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality, Human Rights
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Incorporate men and boys in awareness raising on gender and GBV issues UN Women LCO WEE and partners 2023/12 Overdue-Initiated No new projects have started, however, UN Women Lebanon is considering the key action for furture projects/ concept notes
Recommendation: Continue the advocacy for the change of the legal framework to render it in line with gender equality principles, and pressure for the application or reinforcement of laws and policies that protect women and girls from GBV.
Management Response: UN Women has been engaging in and will continue efforts to advocate for legal frameworks that will promote gender equality and improve legal frameworks to improve the protection of women and girls from GBV. However, the ability to do so is constrained by the current economic crisis and political situation in Lebanon (presidential vacuum, caretaker government), where the capacities of ministry/public sector and the legislative capacities of both the parliament and government are put at a halt.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018), Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Normative Support
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Continue advocacy to improve the legal framework to render it in line with gender equality principles and improve protection of women and girls from GBV. UN Women LCO WEE and partners 2023/12 Ongoing UN Women Lebanon continues to advocate to improve the legal framework. However, the current political situation makes it difficult to push for policy change.
Recommendation: Design longer-term projects to allow for more time to fully respond to beneficiaries’ protection needs, and better shape the recovery and sustainability aspects.
Management Response: Ability to fund longer-term projects is constrained by the limited availability of multi-year funding in the context of Lebanon. UN Women is seeking donor funding for longer-term projects.
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Not applicable
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Efficiency, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Seek mobilization of resources to enable longer-term protection projects UN Women LCO WEE 2023/12 Overdue-Initiated UN Women Lebanon is trying to mobilize longer-term funding. However, in the current context, donors are less likely to provide long-term funding.
Recommendation: In compliance with the TOC, 1) using soft advocacy to mainstream GBV aspects into the projects of partners working in the livelihood sector, and 2) continue working on prevention of GBV at all levels of the socio-ecological model, without limiting the projects to a response modality (higher focus on awareness sessions for women at the individual level, children, adolescent girls and boys, and men at the interpersonal and community levels, in addition to an intensified work with the government at the institutions and legislative levels to adopt GBV preventive policies) Then there will be a more protective and enabling environment for women’s economic participation.
Management Response: Linkages between livelihood and protection projects have been initiated through partner training, networking, and informing partners of protection partner referral mechanisms. UN Women takes a lead role in mainstreaming gender in various coordination fora and working groups, including on GBV. For example, the Gender Working Group, which UN Women chairs, will be supporting the Lebanon Reform, Recovery, and Reconstruction Framework (3RF) and the Lebanese Crisis Response Plan (LCRP) to advocate for reforms on women's rights and gender equality. UN Women will continue to work at all levels of the socio-ecological models in its interventions, from individualized GBV support and awareness to community and societal level advocacy. UN Women will take further considerations to tailored outreach to children, youth, boys, men, and families for the prevention of GBV. UN Women has engaged in advocacy efforts for GBV-responsive policies, and will continue its efforts, but the function of government ministries and legislative functions are at a de facto standstill due to the economic and political crisis in Lebanon (presidential vacuum, caretaker government)
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Advocacy
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality, Human Rights, Effectiveness
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Incorporate GBV/protection referral mechanisms into projects with all livelihood partners. UN Women LCO WEE and partners 2023/12 Completed
Lead advocacy to mainstream GBV aspects into the project of partners in the livelihoods sector. UN Women LCO WEE and livelihoods sector 2023/12 Completed For example, UN Women Lebanon signed an agreement with WFP to support their livelihoods department. The interventions are going to be implemented in Q3 and 4.
Continue working on prevention of GBV at all levels of the socio-ecological model UN Women LCO WEE and partners 2023/12 Ongoing
Intensify work with the state at institution and legislative levels to adopt GBV-responsive laws and policies UN Women LCO WEE and partners 2023/12 Overdue-Initiated In the current context it is challenging to work on institutional and policy level. However, UN Women Lebanon is trying to support instiutions and push for policy change whereever possible.
Recommendation: Include beneficiaries in the design of the project, through consultations with women from the targeted communities, to include community perspectives and increase community ownership of the projects. The community involvement can be extended for the duration of the project by having volunteers or remunerated women form a community-based steering committee whose task would be to meet at regular intervals for the duration of the project, monitor its status and give advice from the community perspective to include in the implementation.
Management Response: A community-based steering committee engaged in the implementation of the project was incorporated in the project "Emergency Livelihoods for Affected Populations in the Beirut Explosion Area (The Lebanon Reform, Reconstruction and Recovery framework (3RF)" funded by Austria and also will be replicated in the project "Humanitarian Assistance to Women by Women: Women at work to reduce to period poverty and food insecurity in the Lebanon Crisis" funded by Australia for the protection component
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Description:
Management Response Category: Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018), Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Partnership, Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Effectiveness, Human Rights, Gender equality
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Community-based women's committees to be formed to provide their input and participate in the project implementation UN Women Lebanon WEE 2023/12 Completed
Recommendation: Following the experience acquired from the implementation of remote delivery due to the COVID-19 pandemic, use online interventions in parallel to face-to-face interventions to extend protection projects to harder-to-reach categories, such as women living in remote areas or adolescent girls confined at home and in need of awareness sessions.
Management Response: Building upon experience during the COVID19 pandemic, UN Women has supported Kafa's efforts to build and launch the "Nafas" application, which enables people to contact Kafa and access services using an online interface. However, not all protection partners have the capacity to provide online services
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Description:
Management Response Category: Partially Accepted
Thematic Area: Ending violence against women (SPs before 2018), Women economic empowerment (SPs before 2018)
Operating Principles: Promoting inclusiveness/Leaving no one behind
Organizational Priorities: Operational activities
UNEG Criteria: Gender equality, Human Rights
Key Actions
Responsible Deadline Status Comments
Recommend partners to incorporate online modalities as an option in their protection services UN Women LCO WEE and partners 2023/12 Completed no updates