The issue of defining and addressing the target group is discussed below with the problems it entails for both research into the subject and designing appropriate intervention. The nature of the intervention will be examined with the aim to ascertain whether they respond to women's survival or empowerment needs. Finally, the way projects are implemented, and the tools used for research and evaluation will also be examined. Examples of projects implemented by NGOs and IGOs will be used to illustrate the analysis.

It was not possible to evaluate the impact or efficacy of these approaches on the ground, since the only data available were policy statements (and documents) which describe what the various organizations "say they do". An assessment of the impact of particular programmes would require in-depth, long-term research. Moreover, an evaluation of the different NGOs would have been necessary prior to the distribution of questionnaires. Many NGOs are no longer active, and although a preselection was made by UNDP offices, the information was outdated. Interviews conducted with beneficiaries will help fill some of the gaps.

The projects listed in this section aim at giving some view of the different activities undertaken in post-war Lebanon and are only singled out for that reason.

7.2.1 Non-governmental organizations

The impact of war on NGOs

First a brief review of developments in the NGO sector since the war.

The collapse of the State, the migration of skilled personnel, the destruction of the existing infrastructure and equipment have heavily affected public social services during the war. At the same time, war casualties and the deteriorating living conditions have put an increased demand and strain on those services.

One of the features of the Lebanese war was the role played by NGOs who took over the collapsed governmental services. Their number increased significantly over the last two decades (figures vary between 1,000 to 2,000 NGOs), and the presence of foreign NGOs doubled in this period.

The quantitative increase of these organizations during the war was not reflected in the diversification of activities. Local NGOs received funding mainly from international NGOs or governments in order to implement relief and emergency programmes. The sectoral distribution indicates that the majority of services delivered are directed towards family welfare. Out of a total of 1,587 NGOs, 93 specialized in the women welfare sector (Social Training Centre, 1978-79, in USAID, 1995); 33 per cent of their programmes for women addressed health issues, mainly providing curative rather than preventive health services. There was also a notable lack of services in specialized fields.

The post-war period

In the aftermath of war, donors decreased their support mainly because the emergency phase was over, and with the rehabilitation of the State, multilateral and bilateral donors preferred to channel funds through governmental agencies. The lack of interaction between the Government and the Lebanese NGOs contributed to the marginalization of the latter from the reconstruction process. As noted in the USAID report (1995), the National Reconstruction Programme designed by the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) has not provided NGOs with a role in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the country.

Considering the damage caused by the war, and the needs of the population, the sidelining of the NGO sector is regrettable. State intervention in the social sector has been dramatically reduced and was non-existent during the war. Now, with structural adjustment policies and considering that the reconstruction process is marginalizing further war-affected groups, it is likely that the need for non-governmental organizations will grow. Costs are rising, cuts in the social sector have been made, subsidies will be removed and safety nets affected. As noted, women will be doubly affected by the transition as they represent a large proportion of the poor and war-affected groups and have no means to cushion the shock.

The geographical distribution of NGOs shows a high concentration in urban areas. In 1980, 74 per cent of those organizations were based in urban settings with a higher concentration, 65 per cent in Beirut and Mount Lebanon (USAID, 1995). Most NGOs, especially small-scale ones, have limited geographical coverage and reach only their immediate surroundings. The location of services excludes rural women in particular. It was noted in the report that women in rural areas were especially affected by war due to the large migratory movement of men to urban areas or abroad. They were often left to fend for themselves and their workload doubled.

The assistance to war-affected groups was far greater during the war than in its aftermath. Although most agencies argue in favour of an increased participation in the social rehabilitation process, their intervention in rural regions, where an important part of the war-affected population lives, is limited given their urban concentration. In the rural areas women often formed the majority of the population and received almost no help from the international and local NGOs who focused their activities in urban areas.

The uneven distribution of non-governmental services and the absence of state structures have opened the space for the development of religious institutions. This is another outcome of the war regarding the provision of services and relief to the poor. Religious organizations acted as parallel venues for distribution. They have helped and are continuing to help absorb part of the social crisis, yet at a very high price. Their consolidation has been achieved at the expense of the unifying role of the State and public institutions (K. Hamdan, 1989).

The report has noted the division of the country along confessional lines and the reinforcement of confessionalism as a war-related phenomenon. It also noted the regression in terms of social and national integration. The consequences on the position of women and on the few opportunities war has opened to them were discussed. The return to patriarchal conceptions of their roles can undermine the few gains (such as more education, acquisition of new skills) while maintaining the imbalance in the division of labour and strengthening the structures of subordination.

The rise of religious fundamentalism is a by-product of the absence of the welfare state and the reinforcement of religious reference. This is another factor whose negative impact on gender relations and on the status of women should be of great concern. In those most neglected and impoverished regions -- Hermel, Bekaa, and the south -- the Party of God (Hezbollah), for instance, was able to create its niche and build a popular grass-root appeal by becoming the major provider of social services.

Today, Hezbollah's social assistance programmes are comprehensive, tightly organized and well-funded. It funds schools and health centres, helps agriculturers and provides them with material and equipment support. The party will still be "able to maintain and expand its network of believers and beneficiaries, because most sectors of society are still suffering from the pinch of Lebanon's post-war economic problems" (Palmer-Harik, 1996).

Community development organizations (CDOs)

In the absence of official policies on the redistribution of resources, parallel systems and institutions were organized around the family and the community (often on a sectarian basis) with the explicit aim to support and to provide relief to family or community members.

At the community level, the redistribution systems were/are mostly organized around the church or the mosque and sometimes around schools, charities and other non-governmental organizations. According to K.Hamdan (1989), militias rarely had their own institutions or collective services. They were largely dependent on their confessional community's organizations with the tacit support of religious leaders.

With the breakdown of social networks, women were in need of support systems which communities can provide. Unquestionably, CDOs were able to provide them with some assistance. Yet, religious leaders or heads of communities who are consulted in times of crisis often direct women towards resignation and the acceptance of patriarchal values which only undermine women's position.

These community-based organizations played a significant role during the war, however their assistance remains limited. Like most local and international NGOs, CDO's services were focused on relief and emergency assistance during the war. Very few organizations carried out developmental programmes targeting war-affected women specifically. Now they are attempting to shift to more developmental perspectives but their resources restrict the range of activities they are able to implement.

The main activities include training, small credit loans, promotion of micro-enterprises to help women of low income. The SIDC (Soins infirmiers et development communautaire) is a CDO who shifted from relief in war time to development. Its aim is to improve the community health status in a specific area of Beirut. It provides health care and training. It trains women as nurses, as health workers for drug addicts, and for AIDS prevention. However, the majority of doctors and the directors are men.

• The Drug Programme was initially started during the war to help militiamen, and was extended to the population in the area which "was in a bad state of stress". The methods used are: sensitization campaigns, mass media, conferences, youth activities, educational meetings to raise awareness, health education club to mobilize the community, mass media campaigns, and other short-term activities. Hence, the programme, while providing limited opportunity for women as employees, does not include a dimension of empowerment
• Community-based programmes are believed to be a very effective way of reducing tension in a group.

Needs assessment

The question asked in this section concerns the extent to which NGOs are able to identify the specific needs of women in post-conflict situations, and whether the modalities used are adequate to assess those needs. On the whole, NGOs are more sensitive than the public sector to the needs of women affected by war. However, the fact remains that few NGOs have developed a specific capacity in gender work and analysis especially in response to conflict.

This is in part due to the fact that women become even less visible during and following conflict for reasons which were discussed earlier in the report such as increased isolation, changing social structures and gender relations, collapse of state institutions and services, male-oriented institutions and organizations with little or no awareness of women's problems and specific needs. The lack of visibility entails restricted access to economic and political resources and inadequate needs assessment by NGOs or CDOs.

Even if they are visible, women are also less able to voice their needs in times when resources are scarce because of cultural restrictions on their behaviour and expression. They do not feel entitled to claim their share, and most were brought up to believe that the needs of the family and community should prevail over their own.

The majority of NGOs interviewed during fieldwork claim they involve groups and small communities for needs assessment and at different stages of the implementation of their projects. They also claim to give special attention to vulnerable groups. The method most NGOs say they are using is the participatory approach. It is argued in this report that the methods of assessing needs by organizing focus groups which bring together community leaders or group representatives (a common approach in Lebanon) are not sufficient to address the problems of war-affected women. Community leaders are usually men and are rarely sensitive to the specific needs and concerns of women.

Despite their claims, a large number of NGOs may not be able to apply this needs assessment tool due to the lack of resources and trained personnel. Thus, difficulties for NGOs involved in the implementation of such methods cannot be overlooked.

Research and training

There is in general little or no in-depth research preceding intervention. The Ecole Libanaise de Formation Sociale training social workers, provides trainees with in-depth research and assessment methods. The internship reports which were consulted during fieldwork reflect an awareness of gender relations. Gender sensitivity nevertheless was not reflected in the policies for intervention -- designed by the students -- for the displaced or the families most affected by war.

Personnel who are not specifically trained and sensitized to these issues will not be automatically able to identify problems that women, made vulnerable by war and further excluded from access to power, may not be able to recognize themselves. NGOs often overlook important issues because they take women's statements at face value. As a result, the specific situation and needs of women are not dealt with in a satisfactory manner. The lack of thoughtful intervention can have the opposite consequence of the desired outcome. For instance, in Akkar, a rural area of the North, an NGO provided poor households with a cow. This ended up overloading the women who had to look after them.

Overall, the problems identified were as follows:

• The lack of training of NGOs personnel on gender issues in general and specifically on the differential impact of war is a major problem.
• There is very little concern and awareness about gender issues in the country as a whole. The lack of resources which would allow NGOs to network with international organizations and train their personnel is debilitating. As Oxfam (Lebanon) put it, "there is a long way to go before both the public and the NGO sector develop a gender analysis, understanding and awareness in the country".
• The country suffers from a lack of research on societal changes due to the war. Planners cannot address those changes in the socio-economic and political reality in the absence of this information.
• The lack of awareness of these issues such as women's increased invisibility and their reluctance or incapacity to voice their needs can have serious repercussions and run the risk of the further marginalization of women.

Examples of interventions

As noted, most NGOs do not target war-affected women who are usually subsumed under larger categories of vulnerable groups. Some organizations, however, have designed special programmes for women directly (widows and other female-headed households, the displaced) or indirectly affected by war (rural women and the poor). These programmes will be grouped into the following categories:

• vocational training and employment;
• credit schemes;
• integrated developmental approach;
• human rights;
• rehabilitation of delinquent youth and prostitutes.

Vocational training/employment

Many NGOs develop women's abilities within the informal sector. Some offer courses to women who can be home-based workers, which mostly promote traditional skills such as sewing, embroidery, and seem to meet the immediate practical needs of women.

• In the rural area of Hermel, Terre des Hommes has a programme of vocational training for women and girls which does not target women affected by war directly but all women who live in a poor area and who are destitute. The aim is to give women who need to work but have no qualifications a skill: sewing and design of clothes. Many produce school uniforms for neighbouring villages. UNDP gave them a loan to buy new equipment for the centre. In a poor quarter of Beirut, they provide classes of painting, embroidery, hairdressing and makeup.

• UNCHS-Habitat/Save the Children joint project: An emergency reconstruction project in the south of the country in 1993. Widows were trained by a team, and learned to design and build their own houses. The women encouraged by their experience requested more training in accountability and feasibility studies.
• Association Najdeh:The association has an integrated and comprehensive approach to helping the socio-economic integration of poor people. The vocational training programme offers courses in hairdressing, typing and word-processing, general electricity, carpentry, small-enterprise management, accounting, interior decoration and technical drawing. The courses benefit both men and women who are particularly encouraged to engage in non-traditional activities such as carpentry. The vocational training is followed up by a job placement. The job placement and course evaluation covering the past five years shows that 29 per cent of the graduates had found a job. The aim is, however, to reach 40 per cent. The follow-up of beneficiaries includes their family members who receive assistance from the Social Affairs Committee. The association also organizes income-generating activities and a credit programme which is meant to benefit a large proportion of women (an assessment of loan disbursement during the last six months showed that 50 per cent of women had access to loans).
• Basic Living Skills (BLS)-BUC is a project designed to help single women-headed households from the lower socio-economic strata not receiving help from the Government or the militias (during the war). A pilot project started in the 1980s. Social workers were sent to assess the basic needs of the women (such as health or hygiene) and identify skills that could be developed. Field research was carried out to ensure that the needs of women were covered in the project. As many as 860 women were thus helped through the programme. Each year, 200 women were helped, and 80 per cent of them were employed; the other 20 per cent were working from home, and became self-supporting. Some also became trainers and leaders of the succeeding groups.
• One of the major problems the BUC faced concerned newborns or children 2 to 3 years old when the war had started. They were now illiterate and had not developed any skills. An emergency programme was set up which provided a literacy course with special books designed for those children.

Credit schemes

In Lebanese law, women have full rights to take out loans in their names and are entitled to banking, savings and credit facilities. But no governmental institutions granted priority to women or even had them as a target group.

In the 1970s some governmental institutions offered credit facilities in rural areas to micro- enterprises (the Bank of Agriculture and the National Agricultural Development Bank). Women lacked access to those credit and saving facilities. NGOs offered loans to farmers, but even these organizations did not prioritize women as the primary beneficiaries.

During war, most public institutions ceased to function. Access to credit since has been very limited for men, and almost impossible for women.

Cooperatives[67]

Most members of cooperatives are men and it was men who benefited mainly from them. Small farmers, especially women, were denied access. Women were also denied credit in kind usually provided by input suppliers (at very high rates). Moneylenders such as parents, relatives and village leaders were the only source of credit to women. In most cases this led to an increased dependency on the family and resulted in wider gender subordination.

Some local NGOs (Association Najdeh, Rene Moawad Foundation) and some international organizations, do offer loans to marginalized groups such as women, especially in rural areas. Their aim is to empower women and to encourage them to apply for credit and be self-reliant. Credit facilities have been provided for both men and women. Some give cows, knitting machines, and instruments for labourers and others provide cash.

• A micro-credit scheme was recently implemented by Caritas in collaboration with the Catholic Relief Services and financed by USAID. This projects was designed with a view to help destitute women in rural areas. The aim was to give these women confidence and experience in financial matters. The saving and credit rural banks are managed by their beneficiaries and thus are adapted to the real needs of the women concerned.
• Save the Children Federation and Co-operation for Development provided loans for small- scale enterprises, with special consideration for women. Loans varied in size. Women beneficiaries constituted 20 to 35 per cent of the total (MOA, 1994). SCF/US has a project which allocates credit to women farmers as direct beneficiaries.
• The Middle East Council of Churches has provided small-scale farmers with credit. However, women were not prioritized as primary beneficiaries. These schemes are said to have enhanced the possibility of obtaining credit for women.
• Save the Children has given small loans ($200) to Palestinian and Lebanese destitute women to strengthen their existing activities/support. The credit scheme was modelled on the Grameen Bank (sic). In three months, over 500 women received loans.

An integrated developmental approach

Rene Moawad Foundation (RMF)

RMF is a woman-headed NGO which runs social development and educational training programmes in Akkar and Dannieh, and other neglected rural regions in Lebanon where living conditions are dire and the basic foundations of a sound society are absent. The NGO's rationale is that families are large and patriarchal; although often absent, the father represents the supreme authority. Consequently, women are treated with disdain, viewed as inferior, insignificant and non-productive.

These training programmes aim to empower women, indirectly affected by war, to fulfil their potential and gain the esteem of the men through independence and productivity. The assumption is that if women worked and earned a good income, it would impact on gender relations and modify their traditional position in society.

As the majority of the women in these areas are illiterate, manual and life skills are emphasized in the training courses. The workshops are for literacy trainers, vocational training (sewing and agriculture), and training in life skills. The foundation recognizes the importance of women in agriculture and has devised an integrated strategy.

This approach is unusual in comparison with the majority of NGOs' understanding of women's empowerment. The foundation has a family-integrated perspective and thus addresses the needs of women both in relation to men and to society. It also addresses the issue of men's negative attitudes towards women by including them in participatory development projects. These projects are also based on needs assessments carried out by the individual participants the foundation has, and respond successfully to those needs. This NGO's approach is comprehensive and could provide a sound basis for societal change.

Human rights

At the governmental level, little is being done to increase women's awareness of their legal rights and to change discriminatory laws against them. At the non-governmental level, some organizations are playing an important role in enhancing anti-discrimination measures against women.

• The Lebanese Association for Human Rights, a woman-headed NGO, has launched several important projects in the last few years. It has published a series of books on issues related to women's legal and political rights. A first guide published in 1994, "Your rights at work", was distributed free of charge throughout the country to ensure maximum public dissemination. It has launched a campaign entitled "know your rights" for women and organized legal training for women working in women's organizations.

Rehabilitation of delinquent youth and prostitutes

Some social centres have been in charge of rehabilitating young drug addicts and prostitutes and try to do preventive work in the poorer quarters for girls and boys alike. Their approach however is not based on modern sociological research; it is old fashioned, insufficient and can hardly provide a long-term solution for those vulnerable children. Other NGOs are trying to train their staff more adequately and to attempt to implement integrated rehabilitation projects.

• DAR al Amal is a centre for the rehabilitation of women prostitutes and the prevention of delinquency in young women or teenagers. It tries to help mainly underage girls who often come from displaced families with a very poor background. The problem of these young girls is accentuated by the absence of parental protection and authority. The organization provides some training and education.
• Regroupement mère lumière. This organization deals with the treatment and rehabilitation of young people addicted to drugs and alcohol. The target group includes young ex-combatants, demobilized soldiers and displaced people. Four centres have been created so far: three of them receive only male patients and one receives women. The approach is family-oriented; family members are included in order to inform them and help them form the support group necessary for the rehabilitation and reinsertion of the young in society. The rehabilitation programme includes some vocational training; "reintegration starts with opportunities for economic self-sufficiency". The first phase of the rehabilitation programme focuses on physical recovery based on health and nutritional education, preventative and curative medicine; the second phase concentrates on the psychological well-being; the third phase develops the socio-economic reintegration through skills-training aiming to create economically independent and functioning members in society.

Interviews were only conducted with persons in charge of the patients to maintain the anonymity of the patients. There was no recognition of the different psycho-social needs of women. It was also noted that male patients form the majority of the drug addicts.

Constraints

Despite the varying approaches and strategies, some common constraints are discernible.

• In all cases, local NGOs suffer from a lack of funding and could not undertake internal structural changes. Funding problems were also limiting access to information resources. The organizations which can introduce more modern and gender-sensitive approaches are relatively affluent and benefit from international networking and support.
• As the Executive Director of the YWCA stated, "Most of the recommendations and forward looking strategies for the advancement of women are still bound in good reports"[68] i.e. they never get beyond the proposal stage. This was generally the problem facing NGOs and more specifically, women's associations. Thus the proliferation of projects will remain on the planning stage with no prospects of implementation.
• The lack of co-ordination and networking (at the local level and between international and local NGOs), resulting in duplication of activities, was also identified as a major obstacle.
• Sustainability is also a major issue identified by NGOs, due to the lack of resources to follow up on the projects they implement.

Conclusion

The fundamental issue regarding intervention towards war-affected groups in the country is the lack of a clear, defined strategy. Governmental and non-governmental interventions can be characterized by an atomized approach that does not address the problems at their roots.

The goal of intervention: Survival or empowerment

There seems to be a general confusion about the purpose of intervention. All NGOs with women specific projects speak of "empowerment" as being their goal. This concept is used very widely and frequently by organizations as long as they are "doing something" for women.

Most NGOs do take account of women's practical needs. They are often able to address the immediate, perceived needs of war-affected women such as acute inadequacies of the living conditions and material goods especially of poor women. NGOs also address more long-term needs such as employment and training for the formal and informal sector.

Provided by very few NGOs, however, is the support that builds on the changes wrought by war in the division of labour, in the household structure and in marital relations. Some NGOs, mostly those headed by women, are sensitive to the new opportunities the war has created. They fight the subordinate position of women in society. Their intervention relates to gender division of labour, and include issues such as legal rights, domestic violence and equal wages. They also aim at modifying gender relations whereby women weakened by war can reclaim better treatment and social status. Therefore, programmes for women heads of household, widows, or displaced are designed to make them socially and financially independent.

Involvement

One of the key challenges facing grass-root organizations and other indigenous NGOs working in post-war Lebanon is to enable and help women to identify their own needs and to incorporate their perspectives in the design and implementation of projects. It was argued here that the "participatory approach" commonly used in Lebanon and based on the inclusion of community leaders and group representatives is not sufficient to assess women's needs in times of war.

A well-trained, gender conscious team with knowledge on the differential impact of war on women is fundamental to the success of interventions in post-war Lebanon. The commitment of IGOs and donors to help change policies, fund and support these changes is also paramount.

As mentioned earlier, the geographical concentration of NGOs in urban areas restricts their efficacy in responding to the needs of war-affected groups. Due to the fragmentation of the country during the war, a balanced regional distribution of NGOs was difficult, but should be a priority now. Intervention in rural areas is essential considering that almost 800,000 displaced persons are to be returned to their villages.

There is lack of coordination and cooperation between NGOs -- despite some attempts at creating umbrella organizations. The absence of coordination is reflected in the fact that voluntary efforts are not necessarily directed to areas of need and to priority groups. A coordinating body could avoid the widespread duplication of projects. In Akkar, for instance, at least three NGOs were undertaking literacy courses for rural women in the same area.

Another factor undermining concerted efforts is the rivalries between agencies and the lack of transparency, accountability or circulation of information. The competition for funds from development projects is a real obstacle to collaboration.

7.2.2 United Nations organizations

• the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in all policy-planning, programming, implementation and evaluation activities;
• the promotion of the active and broad participation of women at all levels and fields of activity with particular attention to women's priorities, perspectives and contributions to the goals and means of development;
• the development of specific programmes, projects and activities for the benefit of girls and women geared towards promoting equality, endogenous capacity-building and women's full citizenship.

The Unit's main task is to facilitate the implementation of UNESCO's activities in favour of women bearing in mind that the implementation itself takes place in member States, and is therefore a responsibility of respective field offices and the sectors concerned. The UNESCO office for the Arab countries in Beirut does not place any great emphasis on gender, in fact it is not mentioned as a priority in its 1995 Activity Report.

UNFPA Lebanon has no population country strategy programme. UNFPA has recently (August 1996) undertaken a programme review and strategy development exercise. The agency's mandate is to build the capacity and knowledge to respond to the needs of population and family planning. It has taken new directions in which it proposes to concentrate its core funding: (1) reproductive health, (2) population development strategies, and (3) advocacy. Similar to other UN agencies, it recognizes that there can be no sustainable development without the full participation of women. It will emphasize gender equity and gender empowerment of women in all the areas. The projects and activities funded by UNFPA concern maternal and child health/family planning; information, education and communication; and policy development and data.

The ILO is in the process of organizing a national tripartite conference on social development with its three constituents (government, employers and workers' organizations). This conference is expected to produce a framework for a country strategy in human resource development that will encompass employment, training, small business development, vocational rehabilitation, occupational safety and health, social security, women workers and other relevant issues.

Programmes implemented in specific sectors

Displaced

UNRSD-Aidoun Programme with IPRA (International Peace Research Association) have organized a workshop under the auspices of UNESCO. This partnership was conceived to design a specific task for a limited period of time in an attempt to strengthen reconciliation and peace-building efforts in Lebanon. The target population was the displaced people in the Chouf region in Lebanon.

The general objectives of the workshop were threefold: identify techniques and steps that may enhance coexistence; encourage the role of civil society through NGO participation; draw up an overall strategy that may consolidate the return of the displaced. The specific objective was to examine the obstacles facing the return of the displaced and the means to eliminate these obstacles by introducing conflict resolution, reconciliation and mediation mechanisms.

The workshop has recognized the important role of women in the return of the displaced and the necessity to see them participate in the decision-making process of the return especially on the family level. It also recognized the specific problems of youth and noted that the majority of children imprisoned for delinquency came from displaced families

In Mount Lebanon, the UNDP funded a project for the reintegration and socio-economic rehabilitation of the displaced which aims at assisting the Ministry of the Displaced in establishing viable socio-economic activities in villages to which the displaced are returning. Their activities include promoting employment opportunities such as on- and off-farm income-generating activities and the protection of the environment. In southern Lebanon, an olive development project allowing growers on small and medium groves to increase their output using improved techniques has been established to create jobs and alleviate poverty.

Special attention is said to be given to gender issues in these programmes. The activity report makes reference to women targeted through development projects for creating women's enterprises, and other programmes supported jointly by UNIFEM. These projects will be described in the following sections.

Rural areas

The UNDP is supporting three "Integrated Area Development Schemes" in Baalbech and Hermel in collaboration with FAO, UNDCP and the Ministry of Agriculture. It has a comprehensive approach to assist the population of the area after incomes from illegal crops have ceased.

In the same area, UNDP deals with non-farm income-generating activities and aims at improving health and educational services. An initiative which has been particularly successful is the extension of credit to farmers affected at the end of drug production. The project document states that rural women are marginalized and under-served. The role of women in the project could be developed through accessibility to credit for household projects, the provision of specialized training for women to promote cottage industries, and the appointment of a woman as a development specialist to facilitate the implementation of projects for women. The project started in 1994.

A project started in 1994 entitled "the Small Holder Livestock Rehabilitation Project" is funded by IFAD and the OPEC Fund for International Development and the Lebanese Government. It aims at improving livestock production, rehabilitating extension services, and increasing income of poor farm families including women who derive most of their income from livestock and livestock-related activities.

UNICEF has been addressing needs for health, water and sanitation in rural areas.

Youth

A UNICEF project (Education For Peace EFP) was launched on the theme "war, peace and children" to address the post-conflict needs of youth. The project later involved the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Youth and Sports and many NGOs. The rationale of UNICEF was to end the transmission of violence from generation to generation by investing in children's education for peace. University graduates joined the training sessions to be accredited leaders in socio-cultural animation and to mobilize adolescents who would "spread the spirit of EFP". Ties that were thus established were meant to help overcome the demographic segregation resulting from war.

Community mobilization was conceived as a mutually supportive process generating output beneficial to all parties concerned. It was to be used as:

• a process of empowerment for NGOs: by training them and delivering basic supplies to them, and organizing regional seminars.
• a process of empowerment of youth who organized themselves into groups and established their own associations. Several of these associations were founded in the country initiating activities for children and volunteering to assist local NGOs in implementing their own activities.
• a process compelling NGOs to coordinate by establishing committees to coordinate activities in order to bring different groups of children together. These activities would thus break the homogeneity of groups in order to foster reconciliation.

Health care

UNICEF has a programme of "Primary Health Care" with a project addressing maternal and child health. Five projects aim at establishing a national system for the sustainable delivery of primary health care services with special emphasis on increasing access to primary healthcare in under-served regions. They aim at reducing maternal, neo-natal and post-natal mortality by improving the awareness and knowledge of mothers.

Training and employment

The Council for Development and Reconstruction has launched, with the support of UNDP, a project aimed at improving the socio-economic condition of low-income women. The project consists mainly of institutional support to the Ministry of Social Affairs in order to monitor the programme.

UNIFEM has a project entitled "Strengthening Institutions for the Development of Women's Enterprises". It is implemented by the Ministry of Social Affairs (MOSA) in coordination with UNDP, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and ESCWA. It targets low-income women. The project aims at building the capacity of the Government and NGOs to support the growth and development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) owned by women. The project was initially conceptualized as a programme for economic empowerment and became focused on strengthening the institutions for developing women's enterprises. Its objective is to promote and assist women's entrepreneurial activities. Another aim is to develop the national capacity in training trainers. Most participants were young women displaced by war.

As seen above, this project trains low-income women to set up micro-enterprises and trains trainers. However, it lacks a follow-up component which would provide access to credit, allow participants to put the skills learned into practice and execute their project. UNIFEM recognizes the need to set up mechanisms for proper follow-up of the course graduates by the trainers and staff and to organize a club for business women which would also facilitate the follow-up mechanisms. This would also attract more donors in the promotion and expansion of the small and medium-sized enterprise sector owned and operated by women.

The ILO regional office for Arab States, through its multidisciplinary advisory team, is presently supporting "gender issues in the world of work" with the Government and other social partners. This project on gender issues is based on the platform of action of the FWCW. It is supported by the commitment of the ILO to "More and Better Jobs for Women". The project will focus on mainstreaming women's contribution to the socio-economic development of the country. It will enable them to identify and address their problems in the world of work through training and raising awareness of their rights as workers. It will benefit from coordination with all UN agencies in Lebanon concerned with poverty alleviation, advancement of women and sustainable livelihood.

Research and surveys

UNFPA has funded a number of projects such as the Pan Arab Programme (PAP) Child and Mother Survey undertaken by the Ministry of Health and six other projects in the area of population policy development, maternal and child health/family planning and advocacy. The population and housing database (Ministry of Social Affairs, MOSA) provided the first representative survey undertaken since 1932 in the country. The Maternal and Child Health/Family Planning aims at strengthening capacity building of health care providers and to establish MCH/FP services within the primary health care system.

Conclusion

UN agencies are generally much more aware of gender issues and the need to promote gender-sensitive projects. However there does not seem to be a concerted effort to define a strategy in order to raise awareness at the government level and especially at the non-governmental level.

It should be noted that UNDP works jointly with UNIFEM on projects, as described above. The first, in the planning stage, will attempt to bring gender concerns onto the national development agenda and in so doing, may prove useful to long-term change in a manner that will improve the well-being of both women and men.

The activities of IGOs suffer from the same lack of clear strategy concerning war-affected people. Despite the fact that poverty alleviation and developmental strategies are formulated, there seems to be a rather fragmented approach.

Another problem concerns the lack of a strategy for collaboration with/and empowerment of the NGO sector. Mechanisms are set up in an ad hoc manner in response to a specific situation. These mechanisms are precarious and will be removed once the project is over. This also raises the issue of the sustainability of such projects.

The lack of inter-agency collaboration was underlined by many informants. Despite the explicit aim of "further promoting and achieving collaborative programming and joint implementation of United Nations activities in the country", agency rivalries undermine the creation of a joint strategy.

7.3.1 Bilateral donors

7.3.2 Multilateral donors

The World Bank

The view of the World Bank is that economic development is based on the liberalization of trade and on foreign investment thus attracting international capital to the country. Loans are conditional on basic structural change in the economy. The recipient country has to be willing to undertake "structural adjustment programmes" as prescribed by the International Monetary Fund.

The report has noted the impact of the Government's economic policy and the strategy proposed by the World Bank on war-affected people. It also argued that the policies do not promote human development and can affect men and women differently. The report argued that the effect of liberalization and privatization can affect women negatively since they represent a high proportion of the poor and have little means to minimize the shock of transition. Women are also affected because of the traditional sexual division of labour.

It was also argued that women's burdens during the war had increased and that structural adjustment policies are bound to weaken them further. An increased number of women are in charge of feeding their families by themselves since the war and will suffer from rising costs and reduced income; economic hardship has forced women to take on paid work which increases their workload; the reduction of government social services will affect them more since they have less access to those resources in the first place.

Lately, however, the World Bank has recommended that the Lebanese Government put more emphasis on the social sector especially in light of the increasing impoverishment and growing dissatisfaction of the Government's reconstruction policy. According to the World Bank's Country Assistance Strategy Report (1994-96), the Bank's future lending would concentrate heavily on the social sector.

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