EU Madad Innovation Labs III launched in Lebanon
for Women Empowerment
The 35 chosen participants along with local, national and international NGOs working with communities in Lebanon attended the EU Madad Lab III Kick-Off event at Beirut Digital District on April 4th, 2019. Within the framework of the Qudra programme, the Lab III focuses on Women Empowerment with the aim creating innovative and participatory approaches to tackle challenges women are facing in the context of the region's crisis.
The EU Madad Innovation Lab III was opened by Ms. Monique Morrise from the German Embassy, Ms. Sophia Palmes from the GIZ Country Office in Lebanon and Ms. Rebecca Paulus from the Qudra Programme highlighting the importance of innovative approaches for empowerment of women and gender equality. The Labs will take place in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Kurdistan Region of Iraq/KRI. The guiding question of this round is:
How do we foster women empowerment within Syrian refugees, IDP’s and host communities through innovation and dialogue?
Together with their teams, participants will be guided to develop solutions to the challenges they jointly identify in the context of the Syrian crisis. They will be exposed to a variety of experts in the field, and will get to know and share ideas with their partners from the region.
Gender equality and women’s economic empowerment are essential to the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development to achieve inclusive growth leaving no one behind. Gender equality is a matter of basic human rights, and women’s economic empowerment can generate huge gains for human development, economic growth and business. Progress requires local and global action by all parts of society often working in partnerships to achieve scalable and sustainable impact.
With women and girls making up an estimated 50 per cent of the over 65 million forcibly displaced worldwide, it is necessary to ensure that the international community and civil society, not only address their specific needs and aspirations are addressed, but also seek out and utilise their capacity and contributions in a manner that is informed and aimed at facilitating positive transformation and empowerment[1].
Since women and girls consistently face structural barriers and increased risks to doing so in humanitarian contexts, this requires specific efforts and investment. Recognising this fact, Lab III will seek project ideas to be implemented in the region as an innovative response to the current crisis. During a final event of the programme, the Pitching Day, a Jury (consisting of representatives of our commissioning parties, political partners and other relevant stakeholders of the Qudra Programme) will select the most innovative ideas which will be provided EU Madad Innovation Fund -small seed fund- to implement their projects.
[1] Report of the Un Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment (2016)
