Dignity for displaced women and girls in Lebanon

Background during and after the implementation of the project; The situation  in Lebanon in general  is  un-stable where demonstrations against the government  has started since a month and still up to now , while the security situation in the Palestinian camps is not good  especially after the fight in Ein El Helwe , but its improving by the time

-          As a result of the continuous and systematic discrimination than jeopardizes Palestinian and Syrian refugees capacity to enjoy an adequate standard of living, the majority of Palestinian refugees and Syrian refugees living in Lebanon are almost entirely dependent on UNRWA and UNHCR respectively for basic assistance.  This situation is leaving them at continuous risk of being excluded even from access to basic assistance.   Refugees who are located in the Palestinian refugee camps has had a negative impact on the Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon and generate more tension and perhaps conflicts between the three types of refugees, because  they all are suffering from poverty, unemployment, rejection from the wider community and they are both in crucial need for a helping hand.

-          Limited job opportunities; Palestinian men are still competing with other refugees from Syria for work opportunities, which have declined due to post-war economic conditions in Lebanon. The restrictions imposed on them by the Lebanese state further worsen their financial conditions by prohibiting them from practicing professional jobs, and from enjoying ownership and inheritance rights because of their refugee status.

-          Social exclusion physically extends to camps, the space inhabited by about two thirds of Palestine refugees. However, the area of the camps had increased with population and many have become cramped slums, offering little privacy to residents and exposing them to health hazards and more even; social problems had increased recently due to cut of UNRWA services towards the PRS and due to the above mentioned reasons related to job opportunities, all these reasons affected the children’s lives; recently noticed an increase in conflicts among the displaced and host communities. 

-          Women are disproportionately affected by the issues that face the Palestinian refugee and marginalized communities in Lebanon; they have lower self-reported physical health and restricted opportunities to work.  Conservative attitudes again compound this isolation, by creating limited chances to socialize or ‘let off steam’, with social interaction between women being largely restricted to each other’s’ homes. The prevalence of self-reported psychological ill-health is therefore high – around 22% according to a recent report by AUB (Chabaan et al, 2010) – though general stress and malaise is likely felt by many more. Furthermore, the labels placed upon women with expressed psychological difficulties (e.g. ‘crazy’, ‘mad’, ‘stress’) depower women. These labels need to be countered, and awareness of psychological issues needs to be raised in the community

Naba’a Achievements;

During the last three months, the most highlighted achievements are as the followings;

-          Implementing Remedial Education for the Palestinian refugees and displaced Syrians those whom are at risk of dropping out of schools and whom are already dropped out of school. Knowing that, 55 out of 300 children returned back to school, where the remaining is still either in preparation of returning back or to be enrolled in a vocational training centers.

-          Establishing girls committee in Naher El Bared Camp, this committee is responsible of tackling the issues related to the violations of women rights and gender discriminations and raised their concerns and problems to the active members and duty bearers.

-          Raising awareness 300 women and 300 adolescent girls about the importance of education, and how much this will protect them from abuse.

-          Providing 800 school children (50% are females) with winter Jackets, children are displaced from Syrian and Palestinian refugees.

-          Conducting two months campaign about breast cancer where more than 2000 women participated in the campaign, knowing that, during the campaign, the women whom are at risk of breast cancer are referred for Mammography to be checked.

-          Aiming to release the stress for the children and their families different outreach and trips were implemented for around 600 children and their parents.  

Case Study for one of the girls who is in need of assistance;

Name; M – T

Marital Status; Married

Family members; 7 children (5 girls – 2 boys)

Nationality; Palestinian Refugee from Syria

Economical Situation;

 The Economical situation is very bad, she was washing dishes in the restaurant, as her husband is not working, in addition she moved to work as a cleaner in one of the shops in the market, where her salary is not satisfied so she left the work, and now they are depending on the NGOs assistance and support.  They live in a very tragic situation where they cannot meet the needs of children or medicines of her husband and son, who suffers from asthma medication he needs to be secured.

Health Status: The woman suffers from anemia and asthma where increased to cough and that the nature of the place in which it is located is full of moisture, as they can live in a comfortable place because of a bad economic situation.

Social situation;

They are living in a very bad situation, where there is no privacy, everyone in the neighborhood knows about the problems that they are suffering from, in addition, due to that their room where they are living doesn’t allow their children to play in a comfortable way this forced the children to play outside the room and in the street and make a lot of problems with their neighbors.

Women's relationship with her husband:

There is no attraction towards him where he became hits and screaming so much they do not like anything because of the dire situation that we have reached. A lot of problems occurred between each other along the day, the husband spent most of his time sleeping, doesn’t care about his children and became uninterested in anything but himself.

Relationship with her children: She started not to take care of her children in a suitable way, everything in her life make her angry and stress, which lead her to beat and hit them, she has a lot of responsibilities and no one beside her. This is badly effected her relation with her children, as the most important issue she is caring of is providing their basic needs and priorities.

The main problem that she is suffering from;

She feels, she lives in a conflict situation, she lost everything she loved suddenly, she always wishing to die and to get rid from this life, but always thinking of her babies and young children.  

The factors that led to worsened the situation:

-          The bad economic situation, which prevents her and her family from buying medicine or meet needs.

-          Marital status that makes them feel depressed all the time and you get problems with her husband and changing in their lives, leading to increasing problems and resort to isolation and escape from reality.

The goal of the case study:

-          Improve women's psychological and make her think more positively

-          Enhance her self-confidence

Steps of intervention:

-          Involving her systematically in parents deal activity

-          Implementation of individual sessions

-          Involving her in awareness sessions

 Recommendations:

-          Continue her involvement of the parent meetings

-          Hold individual sessions for children

-          Continue home visits