BALADI CAP commemorated International Women’s Day on March 8 this year with an online campaign featuring three posters highlighting the success stories of two female beneficiaries of Civil Society Organizations (CSO) partners, as well as the achievements of BALADI CAP’s female senior specialists.
Those featured in the campaign were Zainab from the Mosan Center for People with Special Needs in Sour, Bassima from Al Shouf Cedar Reserve, in addition to BALADI CAP’s Chief of Party, Dr. Fares El Zein.
Bassima, a mother of 5 children, participated in the Reserve’s culinary trainings where she mastered her passion and skills for cooking. She now caters for all events organized by the Reserve, enabling her to generate valuable income for her family; something she is extremely proud of.
We drove to the Reserve on a Tuesday morning and were greeted upon our arrival by Mrs. Faten Ghaith, Mrs. Wadad Al Ashkar and Bassima herself. She spoke at length to us about how she began her training, how she loved to cook, how the Reserve had aided her passion to work, which ultimately helped her generate much needed additional income for her family. We were also fortunate enough to taste some of her cooking, which was fantastic!
Bassima is a proud woman who has found her passion in life and has put that passion into good use for her and her family.
The next morning, we made the long drive to the South of Lebanon to meet our next wonder-woman, Zainab.
Zainab joined Mosan Center when she was only 10, where she started learning sewing, cooking and many other skills and crafts. Now 29, not only has she become an assistant teacher at the Center, helping other students improve their communication skills, but she has also been happily married for 6 months.
Upon our arrival to the Center we were welcomed by her husband Hussein, who works as a doorman. The Mosan Center was founded in 1993 and caters to children and young adults with mental disabilities and special learning needs. The Center currently works with 155 individuals of various disabilities, between the ages of 3 and 30.
We met with Mr. Ali Charafeddine, Founder of the Mosan Center, Mrs. Najat Sekmani and the beautiful Zainab who took us on a tour through the facility, where we had the pleasure of watching the students rehearse for a play, cook and bake a cake. Zainab spoke to us about life at the Center, how she first joined, how happy she was for being there, and how happier she was for getting married.
We left Mosan all smiles; Zainab and Hussein’s positive energy and smiles were contagious.
Back at the office, we interviewed Chief of Party, Dr. Fares El Zein, who spoke to us about BALADI CAP’s commitment to empowering female staff to achieve their fullest potential, thus leading our partners’ gender mainstreaming initiatives by example.
BALADI CAP’s Capacity Building team of senior specialists are all women, with exceptional technical know-how in areas of Monitoring and Evaluation, Finance and Organization Development.
Prior to the official launch of the campaign, our staff pledged for parity, in solidarity with the official International Women’s Day theme for 2016, by posing with posters with different messages about women empowerment and gender equality, with the hashtag #PledgeForParity.
See you next year!
BALADICAP 