SÛZAN EBÛ SAÎD

Beirut –Empowering women is not limited to supporting them by providing a job opportunity for them or teaching them a profession. The main issue is to raise awareness of women about the problems they face in their lives. Feryal Moghrabi, Secretary of Economic and Development Affairs of the foundation, spoke to JINHA about their activities to empower women.

They provide support to 30 health centers

Stating that their foundation was founded in 1988, Feryal Moghrabi said, “The foundation has carried out work in five areas; humanitarian aid, health and social care, agricultural and rural development, women and youth empowerment, and education and human development. We have provided medicines and other materials to 30 health centers and hospitals across Lebanon. We have provided support to farmers by organizing vocational agriculture education and to the youth and women.”

They distribute seeds free of charge to farmers

Stating that their agricultural department has carried out four projects in the agricultural nurseries of Chouf District (Mount Lebanon), Feryal Moghrabi said, “These nurseries are managed by individuals with special needs. Job opportunities have been provided for these people in nurseries located in Aley, Chouf, Baabda, Hasbaya, Rashaya, and Tripoli districts. We have worked to distribute seed free of charge to farmers.”

They support women

Speaking about how the foundation supports the youth and women, Feryal Moghrabi said, “We are interested in the entrepreneurial projects. We call on everyone to develop a project if they have an idea. We have a team consisting of 20-24 people. We choose three persons from the team to carry out a project. We have raised funds for women to support their projects. We have funded many projects. One of the projects has been funded by the US Embassy. We distributed food to women in need during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

They carried out a survey on increasing domestic violence during the pandemic

The foundation carried out a survey on the increasing domestic violence during the pandemic. “We carried out a survey in Chouf and Aley (Mount Lebanon) and Tripoli (Northern Lebanon) because domestic violence has increased in these regions. The project advisor Dr. Nada Khaddaj Sobh asked questions to women in the regions. We will release the results of the survey. We also carried out an online survey with the participation of 400 women. We try to find out how women can overcome violence before getting in contact with relevant authorities. We wanted to reveal the consequences of violence by talking with young and old women. The results of this survey will be published on our website.” Feryal Moghrabi told us.