J.1b_SOO Annex 2_Lebanon-Gender Assessment.pdf

JANUARY 16, 2019

This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development. It was prepared by Kelsey Simmons, Jennifer Pendleton, Dustin Smith, Abigail Spangler, and Sarah Smith-

Lunsford of EnCompass LLC in collaboration with Najwa Andros of Social Impact, Inc.

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

USAID LEBANON GENDER ASSESSMENT

Report

Performance Management and Support Program for Lebanon (PMSPL II)

PHOTO VIA USAID | LEBANON

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to acknowledge the following people at the United States Agency for International

Development (USAID) in Lebanon for their inputs and support at various stages of the assessment’s design, research, and reporting process: Walter Doetsch, Program Office Director; Christine Sayegh, Gender Focal Point; and Joe Orfaly, Contracting Officer’s Representative. Emily Brown, Jennifer Casto, Maureen Kanayo, and Lyn Messner of EnCompass LLC provided additional data analysis and research-design support. Social Impact’s (SI’s) local research team, led by Rania Daoud, provided field-based monitoring for data quality assurance. Social Impact also supplied additional inputs on research design and was responsible for quality assurance, logistics, and the management of data collection under the guidance of SI’s Senior Gender Specialist, Najwa Andraos, and the supervision of SI’s Chief of Party, Harvey Herr, and Deputy Chief of Party, Carine Khoury. Wassim Katerji of Social Impact provided data mapping input. InfoPro, a subcontractor to Social Impact, was in charge of data collection. Crystal Cason created the data visualizations. The report was edited by Jelena Burgić Simmons of EnCompass and later reviewed by SI editors.

The team is also grateful to the respondents and beneficiaries whose input made this assessment possible, and to the Government of Lebanon.

USAID LEBANON GENDER ASSESSMENT

Report

Performance Management and Support Program for Lebanon (PMSPL II)

Contracted under AID-268-C-15-00001

Performance Management and Support Program for Lebanon (PMSPL II) for USAID/Lebanon

This document is not available in printed or online versions. Documents are also made available through the Development Experience Clearinghouse (dec.usaid.gov). Additional information can be obtained from:

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DISCLAIMER

The authors’ views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.

mailto:info@socialimpact.com i | COUNTRY-LEVEL GENDER ASSESSMENT – REPORT USAID/LEBANON

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT AND SUPPORT PROGRAM FOR LEBANON

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CONTENTS

ACRONYMS ...................................................................................................................................................... II

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................ III USAID/Lebanon Gender Assessment Purpose and Questions ..............................................................................iii Assessment Design, Methods, and Limitations ...........................................................................................................iv Findings and Conclusions ................................................................................................................................................vii

INTRODUCTION

Purpose of USAID/Lebanon Gender Assessment Context

METHODOLOGY

Collaborative Approach to Gender Assessment Research Lines of Inquiry Sample Data Collection Ethics Limitations

2018 GENDER ASSESSMENT FINDINGS

Introduction Governance Livelihoods and Access to Finance Workforce Development Water Management Reforestation

2016–2017 EDUCATION GENDER ANALYSES

Basic Public Education Higher Education Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET)

CONCLUSIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS

Governance Livelihoods and Access to Finance Workforce Development Water Management Reforestation Education Recommendations

ANNEXES

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ACRONYMS

CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

CERD Center for Educational Research and Development

CLA Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting

CMI Center for Mediterranean Integration

CSO Civil Society Organization

DGTVET Directorate General for TVET

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization

FGD Focus Group Discussion

GBV Gender-Based Violence

IM Implementing Mechanism

KII Key Informant Interview

KIP Knowledge Is Power

LGBTI Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex

MEHE Ministry of Education and Higher Education

NCLW National Commission for Lebanese Women

NGO Nongovernmental Organization

PMSPL II Performance Management and Support Program for Lebanon

RACE II Reaching All Children with Education

SRGBV School-Related Gender-Based Violence

TVET Technical and Vocational Education and Training

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund

USAID United States Agency for International Development iii | COUNTRY-LEVEL GENDER ASSESSMENT – REPORT USAID/LEBANON

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

USAID/LEBANON GENDER ASSESSMENT PURPOSE AND

QUESTIONS

In 2017, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Lebanon commissioned the Performance Management and Support Program for Lebanon (PMSPL II) to conduct a country-wide gender assessment to complement the Mission’s strategic direction and inform USAID’s program development. The gender assessment aims to identify opportunities for USAID/Lebanon to address sector-specific gender gaps and integrate gender more intentionally across its portfolio. The ultimate goal is to help advance Lebanon toward achieving more effective and responsive local development and governance and stronger institutions.

In early 2018, the PMSPL II team convened a half-day design meeting with USAID representatives and

PMSPL II staff to collaboratively define the focus and key areas of inquiry for the gender assessment. As a result of this meeting, the overarching question and key research questions were identified. The overarching question was:

What gender gaps and opportunities can USAID/Lebanon programs address to better achieve the Mission’s development objectives?

The team addressed the research questions using two data-collection methods. Exhibit 1 covers questions 1–5, researched during the 2018 data collection, centering on the five sectors that

USAID/Lebanon currently works in and on the focus areas of each research question.

Exhibit 1: Research Questions Focused on in 2018 Data Collection

KEY QUESTIONS FOCUS AREAS

1. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to governance?

• Participation in municipal councils/municipal development committees

• Participation in local and national elections

• Barriers and opportunities for women; youth; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons; and persons with disabilities

2. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to livelihoods and access to finance?

• Priorities and decision making about how to use financial resources

• Types of financial resources and income generation activities desired and available

• Gender gaps in access to loans and ability to save

3. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to water management and governance?

• Water access and use

• Concern related to water management and infrastructure

• Water-management decisions at household, community, and municipal levels

4. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to workforce development?

• How the legal/policy environment supports or hinders workforce participation

• The role of gender stereotypes in determining career path/opportunities

5. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to reforestation?

• Involvement in reforestation and environmental sustainability

• Participation and leadership in environmental committees and reforestation activities iv | COUNTRY-LEVEL GENDER ASSESSMENT – REPORT USAID/LEBANON

The following table shows questions 6–8, researched in 2016 and 2017 as part of three sector-specific gender analyses. The methods used in these gender analyses are different from the data-collection methods used in the 2018 country-wide gender assessment.1

6. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to technical and vocational education and training

(TVET) and higher education?

7. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to value chains and small and medium enterprise ownership and/or management?

8. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to basic education?

ASSESSMENT DESIGN, METHODS, AND LIMITATIONS

ASSESSMENT DESIGN AND APPROACH

This assessment identifies gender gaps in USAID/Lebanon’s technical sectors across USAID’s five gender analysis domains. In line with USAID’s commitment to the Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) approach throughout its program cycle, this gender assessment employed a collaborative methodology that engaged USAID and key stakeholders throughout various stages, including the gender assessment design meeting, the tools adaptation exercise (which took place during a training for data collectors), and a data consultation meeting where findings were validated and conclusions and recommendations developed.

METHODS

Using a mixed-methods approach, the PMSPL II team collected primary and secondary data through document review, key informant interviews (KIIs), and focus group discussions (FGDs) from January

2018 through July 2018.

SAMPLE

All eight governorates and 14 districts were captured in the sample selection. The design enabled the collection of the range of perspectives of gender norms, responsibilities, and roles across the country, permitting relevant key differences in perspectives to be highlighted. The sample also focused on areas where USAID had presence. There was a mix of rural/urban/semi-urban districts, and the PMSPL II team ensured the sample included representation of all 19 sects. The sample size (i.e., total number of focus groups and KIIs) was designed to approximate saturation. Saturation is a term used in qualitative data analysis that describes the threshold where limited or no new information would be obtained from further data collection (see Exhibit 2).

1 For links to full reports, with methodology, go to “2016–2017 Education Gender Analyses.”

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Exhibit 2: Geographic Sample Universe

GOVERNORATE DISTRICT # OF USAID IMPLEMENTING

MECHANISMS

RURAL/URBAN/

SEMI-URBAN

Akkar Akkar 5 Rural

Baalbek-Hermel Baalbek 4 Semi-Urban

Beirut Beirut 4 Urban

Beqaa Rachaiya 3 Rural

West Beqaa 3 Rural

Mount Lebanon Aley 3 Urban

Keserwan 4 Semi-Urban

Nabatieh Marjayoun 2 Rural

Nabatieh 2 Semi-Urban

North Lebanon

Batroun 4 Semi-Urban

Koura 4 Rural

Tripoli 1 Rural

South Lebanon Jezzine 5 Rural

Saida 4 Semi-Urban

DOCUMENT REVIEW

The document review covered 30 documents obtained from a PMSPL II project- and Web-based search of publications and studies, USAID documents and program reports, and other development organizations in Lebanon.

KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEWS AND FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS

The PMSPL II team collected data from 510 individuals: 438 FGD participants and 72 KII respondents.

The data collectors conducted semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders who could effectively speak to the technical areas identified in the research questions. These stakeholders included ministry officials, municipal committee members, donors, civil society organizations (CSOs), and USAID implementing mechanisms (IMs). The PMSPL II team used purposive sampling for the selection of key stakeholders for interviews and FGDs. The purposive sample enabled the team to capture the breadth of the stakeholders’ perspectives across those who play different roles within USAID’s programmatic landscape (government officials, donors, community members, etc.).

The data collectors conducted FGDs with community members who, in a group dynamic, would provide the best opportunity to gather information across multiple research questions. In each of the 14 districts sampled, the data collectors conducted four FGDs; one per stakeholder category: female adults (25–45), female youth (18–24), male adults (25–45), and male youth (18–24). The PMSPL II team divided the

FGDs by age and sex to understand the differences in attitudes, perceptions, needs, and experiences by vi | COUNTRY-LEVEL GENDER ASSESSMENT – REPORT USAID/LEBANON

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both age and sex and to increase the participants’ comfort level to share their experiences in a group setting. Each group was composed of 5 to 11 participants.

ANALYSIS

The PMSPL II team conducted an iterative, inductive approach to analysis. The team developed, piloted, and refined a codebook to ensure coding structure relevance to the data and intercoder reliability. The team then conducted thematic coding using Dedoose Version 7.0.23, a Web-based application that allows for analyzing data coded by multiple team members collaboratively. After the thematic coding was finalized, the PMSPL II team conducted an internal data analysis and interpretation meeting. At the meeting, the team members discussed the significance of, and the interrelationships among, the themes, guided by the gender assessment questions, and jointly identified the next steps for further data analysis.

The team used this final round of data analysis to generate draft findings.

The team then conducted a two-day data consultation meeting in Beirut in July 2018, which provided the opportunity for USAID and the KII respondents to validate and interpret the gender assessment’s draft findings and draw conclusions and recommendations. Inputs from this meeting were used to draft this report.

LIMITATIONS

• The primary data sample was limited due to the reliance on the data-collection firm’s recruitment database and PMSPL II’s contacts. Consequently, selection bias could have been a factor.

• Data on barriers for LGBTI individuals within specific sectors were limited. This was due to discriminatory views expressed more broadly toward these individuals and to the limited data collected from LGBTI persons.

• Reforestation data: The data collectors observed that while many participants were able to respond to questions specifically focused on reforestation, some individuals misunderstood these questions as pertaining to agriculture more broadly. However, these instances represent a very small proportion of data collected. In addition, during data consultation meetings in Beirut, USAID and other participants suggested that any confusion of the two sectors among respondents resulted from a broader lack of understanding of reforestation in Lebanon, rather than from the gender assessment design itself. The reforestation findings presented in this report are those that have been validated during the data analysis and stakeholder consultations to ensure responsiveness to the initial design question.

• Data on persons with disabilities: Data on barriers for persons with disabilities in specific sectors in Lebanon were limited to the literature review and the perceptions of FGD

Focus Group Discussions

Adult Female

Community Members

Young Female

Community Members

Young Male Community Members

Adult Male Community Members

Key Informant Interviews

Ministry Officials

Municipal Committee Members

Donors CSOs/ NGOs

Implementing Mechanisms vii | COUNTRY-LEVEL GENDER ASSESSMENT – REPORT USAID/LEBANON

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participants. Furthermore, it appears that respondents perceived and associated disability with mobility impairments, referring less to other disabilities such as visual, hearing, or other impairments. Consequently, primary data on disabilities were limited to mobility impairments.

• Qualitative methods: The purpose of a qualitative approach is not to make generalizable statements that can apply to all of Lebanon, which would require a probability sample where respondents without key insights may be selected for inclusion. Rather, qualitative research provides an in-depth understanding of gender-related issues in the selected sectors. Purposeful sampling facilitated the inclusion of information-rich respondents with critical knowledge of, and experience with, issues of central importance to the assessment.

• Translation: Data were collected in Arabic and transcribed into English. Although PMSPL II monitored the translation to ensure data quality, some details might have been lost in analysis due to nuances.

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

FINDINGS

The following findings reflect rigorous qualitative analysis across research questions 1–5. For a full explanation of the data-analysis approaches that the PMSPL II Team used to generate findings, please see

Methods on pages iv–vi. The findings reflect the perceptions and attitudes of multiple respondents across data sources. They are organized, to the extent relevant, around how gender norms and dynamics are experienced differently at policy/institutional, community, household, and individual levels.

FINDINGS FROM 2018 COUNTRY-WIDE GENDER ASSESSMENT (QUESTIONS 1–5)

Governance

1 | The legal environment in Lebanon—particularly, personal-status laws and the new electoral law—is a barrier to women’s successful pursuit of political office.

2 | There are mixed opinions, particularly among male and female government officials at national and local levels, on using gender quotas to address the current gender gaps in political office.

3 | There is a perception across regions and stakeholders that the number of women running for office, and participating in elections more broadly, is increasing.

4 | “Patriarchal”2 social norms viewing men as better suited for politics continue to limit women’s success in running for and effectively participating in political office.

5 | Women are disproportionately affected by social norms and the lack of resources, which influences the likelihood of them getting elected to municipal committees.

2 Translated from Arabic, respondents used the term “patriarchy” broadly when describing a society that views men in positions of greater power, leadership, and importance in public relationships and in defining household roles and norms.

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6 | Women’s perceived self-confidence was reported to influence their successful election to, and participation in, municipal committees.

7 | Although the respondents recognized that men and women traditionally vote based on social norms and influences rather than on qualifications, this trend could be changing.

8 | The respondents perceived the lack of proper infrastructure as the main barrier to political participation for citizens with impaired mobility.

9 | Individuals identifying as LGBTI face widespread discrimination but are able to participate in elections or political office when their gender identity or sexual orientation is unknown.

Livelihoods and Access to Finance

10 | Personal-status and property laws disproportionately affect women’s access to the resources needed to obtain loans.

11 | Although both male and female community members reported similar barriers in access to, and ambitions for the use of, loans, women face additional deterrents due to stereotypes about their ability to manage loans.

12 | Although men typically control the distribution of finances to manage household activities, more equitable decision making is occurring in some households, depending on who earns the income. Women were more frequently referenced as relying on their families for income.

Workforce Development

13 | The absence of a supportive legal environment—including the lack of sexual-harassment policies/laws, poorly-defined or -enforced labor-law protections, and inequitable social-security provisions—hinders women’s participation in the workforce.

14 | All stakeholder groups highlighted that traditional social norms, such as the perception that women should not work outside the home or are only suited for certain types of work, hinder women’s ability to enter the workforce and affect how they participate in it.

15 | More women are perceived to be entering and adding to the competition in the formal job market as a result of economic strain and the need for additional household income.

16 | LGBTI individuals face significant discrimination in the workforce.

17 | Legal protections for preventing employment discrimination against persons with disabilities exist but are not widely understood, and many workplaces are not designed to accommodate individuals with mobility impairments.

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Water Management

18 | At the household level, women are responsible for managing water resources and making decisions about water consumption. Men are responsible for providing water to the household.

19 | In community-level water infrastructure projects, men are perceived as better suited for physical tasks, whereas women are seen to be better suited for administrative work, management, and marketing.

20 | Female participation in municipal water committees, particularly in rural areas, is limited by gender norms.

21 | Consistent access to water was reported as a high priority for both men and women. Men focused on barriers related to infrastructure and corruption, while women focused on the need for clean water.

Reforestation

22 | Men are presumed to be better suited for, and more interested in, reforestation activities due to the perceived physical demands. Women are seen as less engaged, although there are signs of change among younger women in select districts.

23 | In environmental committees, men are more likely to be perceived as holding leadership positions, whereas women are seen as fulfilling roles in planning and administration.

24 | Community members expressed a need for increased financial incentives, awareness, education, and job opportunities to boost participation in reforestation activities.

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FINDINGS OF THE 2016–2017 EDUCATION GENDER ANALYSES (QUESTION 6–8)

Basic Education

1 | The Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) has no specific policy on gender equality.

2 | MEHE’s curricula and teaching and learning materials are gender-biased.

3 | Teachers are not adequately trained to promote gender equality and inclusive approaches and practices.

4 | Schools are ill-equipped to support students with special needs.

5 | Early and forced marriage leads to early dropout among girls.

6 | Refugee students are channeled into a second-stream system, which might limit opportunities for both girls and boys.

7 | Boys participate at lower rates in school leadership roles and responsibilities than girls, attend school at lower rates than girls, and are at higher risk of dropping out in search of economic opportunity.

8 | Syrian refugee students, especially girls, have limited access to extracurricular activities.

Higher Education

1 | Male enrollment rates in higher education are slightly lower than female enrollment rates.

2 | Education policies are gender-blind.

3 | Sexual harassment is underreported in schools.

4 | There are limited opportunities for refugees to access higher education.

TVET

1 | The TVET sector is predominantly male-oriented.

2 | There is a lack of specific antiharassment or antidiscrimination provisions.

3 | There is no official MEHE guidance on how TVET programs can help increase gender equality within specializations.

4 | There are limited safe transportation options for females.

5 | There are limited extracurricular activities for females.

6 | Female students experience harassment within, and on their way to and from, schools.

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CONCLUSIONS

Below is a summary of the cross-cutting themes that emerged across all the sectors (questions 1–8) covered in this report.

Although Lebanon’s legal and policy environment includes some key steps forward and broad provisions and strategies with respect to gender equality, significant gaps and opportunities remain to strengthen the enabling policy environment and align with these more gender-sensitive frameworks.

These include the following:

• The inequitable distribution of household assets, resources, and decision making—resulting from

Lebanon’s 15 distinct, sectarian personal-status laws—creates a ripple effect for women who need these resources to fully leverage political and economic opportunities. Where laws are more supportive of gender equality, they are not consistently understood or enforced.

• Despite the limited recent progress in decriminalizing homosexual behavior, LGBTI individuals currently enjoy no legal protection against discrimination in any sector.

• Although persons with disabilities have some legal protection against discrimination and positive rights to participation in all sectors, neither the public nor the private infrastructure currently provides sufficient accommodation.

• Sexual harassment is presently not defined or addressed under the law and is likely underreported.

Public and private institutions do not integrate gender-sensitive approaches into their curricula, programming, or policies, thus missing out on opportunities to reduce inequality and transform traditional gender norms.

Although females are becoming the markers of success in education, this is not translating into norms and opportunities they experience as adults, including in the workforce and other public spaces.

Cultural norms and beliefs around traditional household versus public/community responsibilities dictate longstanding biases and assumptions about appropriate activities and behaviors for males and females, thus limiting their ability to participate in nontraditional roles. Men are typically understood to take on more physical roles, responsibilities, and leadership outside of the home and in the workforce, whereas women are perceived to have softer skills focused on caregiving, household responsibilities, and service provision. There are examples of women challenging these norms with different types of nontraditional employment outside of the home, particularly as they achieve higher levels of education. However, these women often face a double burden of managing household responsibilities and caregiving in addition to business or workplace demands.

Discriminatory attitudes against LGBTI individuals remain widespread, and many may not openly express their sexual orientation or gender identity. Accurate data on these populations are not available, and the barriers they encounter are not fully understood.

Finally, an overall climate of economic strain, regional political instability, and concerns about domestic political and economic corruption pervaded a number of responses and perceptions among all respondents—women, men, and youth—signaling a need for thoughtful assessment and programming that might influence already scarce resources. Women, LGBTI individuals, and persons with disabilities could be disproportionately affected by these issues, but more research is needed to better understand their implications for Lebanon’s diverse and complex demographic groups.

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INTRODUCTION

PURPOSE OF USAID/LEBANON GENDER ASSESSMENT

In 2017, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Lebanon commissioned the Performance Management and Support Program for Lebanon (PMSPL II) to conduct a country-wide gender assessment to complement the Mission’s strategic direction and inform USAID’s program development. Aligned with USAID’s Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy, developed in

2012, the National Commission for Lebanese Women’s (NCLW’s) National Strategy for Women in

Lebanon 2011–2021, and the National Action Plan (2017–2019), this assessment uses a gender analysis approach to identify gender gaps in USAID/Lebanon’s technical sectors and determine their causes. The gender assessment’s purpose is to identify opportunities for USAID/Lebanon to address sector-specific gender gaps and integrate gender more intentionally across its portfolio. By identifying and addressing these gaps, the ultimate goal is to help advance Lebanon toward achieving more effective and responsive local development and governance and strengthened institutions.

PMSPL II aims to supplement the monitoring and program management efforts of USAID/Lebanon and verify, monitor, and support USAID’s program performance in country. This work ensures the achievement of the Country Development Cooperation Strategy’s (CDCS’s) development objectives

(DOs) through a gender-sensitive lens, thus allowing USAID to improve the public sector’s capacity to provide transparent, quality services across Lebanon and enhance economic opportunities for males, females, and marginalized groups equally.

CONTEXT

Lebanon has a variety of laws and policies meant to advance gender equality. Article 7 of the Lebanese constitution promotes equality among all citizens, noting that all citizens shall equally enjoy civil and political rights and be bound by public obligations and duties without any distinction. Lebanon is party to a number of key international conventions that serve to protect the rights of women, including the

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)3 and the

Convention on the Rights of the Child (Center for Mediterranean Integration [CMI] 2017). In December

2016, the newly-formed government of Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri introduced a Ministry for

Women’s Affairs. The NCLW and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs are further mandated to protect and promote the rights of women (CMI 2017).

Despite such mechanisms, the 2016 World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index Report, which quantifies the magnitude of gender disparities between women and men across four key areas (health, education, economy, and politics), ranked Lebanon 135th among 144 countries. Women remain disadvantaged in a number of areas, including the legal system, where citizens are subject to 15 distinct, religion-based personal-status laws (CMI 2017). National laws also disadvantage women. For example, under the Lebanese Nationality Law, Decree No. 15, only men can pass on their citizenship status to their children and spouses when married to a foreign national (USAID/Lebanon Gender Assessment

2012).

There is evidence of gender gaps across the six sectors covered by USAID: governance, workforce development, livelihoods and access to finance, water management, reforestation, and education.

3 Ratified in 1997, but with reservations to articles 9 (2), 16 (1) (c), (d), (f), (g), and 29 (1).

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Women are significantly underrepresented in the government, where they hold only 4.7 percent of seats at the national level (2017 Election Data). Women’s labor-force participation rate is at 23 percent compared to 71 percent for men (World Bank Gender Data Portal 2016). Women’s access to financial support for small business development is also low. Although women own more than 30 percent of micro and small businesses in Lebanon, only 3 percent of bank loans go to female entrepreneurs

(USAID/Lebanon 2018). In the water-management sector, there is limited understanding of gender differences in water use and management, including women’s household responsibilities for accessing and using water (USAID/Lebanon 2012). In reforestation, there are also limited data on gender gaps, although the Government of Lebanon has recognized that some gaps exist and included an overarching goal focusing on gender equality in the National Adaptation Plan to combat climate change launched in

2017.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) individuals face myriad forms of discrimination in Lebanon. In addition to broad forms of social discrimination, the Lebanese Penal Code contains a provision (Section 534, forbidding “any sexual intercourse contrary to the order of nature”) that is often used to penalize LGBTI individuals. However, as recently as July 12, 2018, a district court of appeal in

Lebanon issued a groundbreaking ruling that consensual sex between people of the same sex is not unlawful. The ruling follows similar judgments from lower courts that have declined to convict gay and transgender people in four separate rulings between 2007 and 2017 (Human Rights Watch 2018).

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METHODOLOGY

COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO GENDER ASSESSMENT

In line with USAID’s commitment to the Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) approach throughout its program cycle, this gender assessment employed a collaborative methodology that engaged USAID and key stakeholders throughout various stages, including the gender assessment design meeting, the adaptation of tools during a data collectors’ training, and a data consultation meeting where findings were validated, and conclusions and recommendations drawn. This participatory process ensured alignment with USAID/Lebanon’s strategic priorities and the use of the gender assessment for relevant, meaningful, and effective gender integration throughout USAID’s programs.

RESEARCH LINES OF INQUIRY

On January 10, 2018, PMSPL II convened a half-day gender assessment design meeting with USAID representatives and PMSPL II staff using USAID’s five suggested domains of gender analysis4 to collaboratively define the focus and key areas of inquiry for the country-level gender assessment. The overarching question developed at this meeting was:

What gender gaps and opportunities can USAID/Lebanon programs address to better achieve the Mission’s development objectives?

Research questions were addressed using two data-collection methods. Exhibit 3 lists questions (1–5) which were researched during the 2018 country-wide gender assessment.

Exhibit 4 shows questions (6–8) which were researched in 2016 and 2017 as part of three sector-specific gender analyses. The methods used in these analyses are different from the data-collection methods used in the 2018 country-wide gender assessment.5

4 Under ADS 205, USAID suggests five domains of gender analysis: (1) Laws, policies, regulations, and institutional practices; (2) Cultural norms and beliefs; (3) Gender roles, responsibilities, and time use; (4) Access to and control over assets and resources; and (5) Patterns of power and decision making.

5 For links to full reports, with methodology, go to “2016–2017 Education Gender Analyses.”

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Exhibit 3: Research Questions Focused on in 2018 Data Collection

KEY QUESTIONS FOCUS AREAS

1. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to governance?

• Participation in municipal councils/municipal development committees

• Participation in local and national elections

• Barriers and opportunities for women, youth, LGBTI persons, and persons with disabilities

2. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to livelihoods and access to finance?

• Priorities and decision making about how to use financial resources

• Types of financial resources and income-generation activities desired and available

• Gender gaps in access to loans and ability to save

3. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to water management and governance?

• Water access and use

• Concern related to water management and infrastructure

• Water management decisions at the household, community, and municipal levels

4. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to workforce development?

• How the legal/policy environment supports or hinders workforce participation

• The role of gender stereotypes in determining career path/opportunities

5. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to reforestation?

• Involvement in reforestation and environmental sustainability

• Participation and leadership in environmental committees and reforestation activities

Exhibit 4: Research Questions Focused on in 2016–2017 Gender Analyses

KEY QUESTIONS

6. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to technical and vocational education and training

(TVET) and higher education?

7. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to value chains and small and medium enterprise ownership and/or management?

8. What are the gender gaps and opportunities related to basic education?

SAMPLE

GEOGRAPHY AND STAKEHOLDERS

The selection sample included all eight governorates to capture the range of perspectives of gender norms, responsibilities, and roles across the country and highlight differences in perspectives across governorates as relevant. Fourteen districts were sampled for this gender assessment, using the following five criteria: (1) geographic distribution, (2) USAID’s presence in the sectors covered in this assessment, (3) rural/urban/semi-urban, (4) refugee population, and (5) representation of all 19 sects.

The sample size (i.e., total number of FGDs and KIIs) was designed to approximate saturation (see

Exhibit 5).

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Exhibit 5: Geographic Sample Universe

GOVERNORATE DISTRICT # OF USAID IMPLEMENTING

MECHANISMS

RURAL/URBAN/

SEMI-URBAN

Akkar Akkar 5 Rural

Baalbek-Hermel Baalbek 4 Semi-Urban

Beirut Beirut 4 Urban

Beqaa Rachaiya 3 Rural

West Beqaa 3 Rural

Mount Lebanon Aley 3 Urban

Keserwan 4 Semi-Urban

Nabatieh Marjayoun 2 Rural

Nabatieh 2 Semi-Urban

North Lebanon

Batroun 4 Semi-Urban

Koura 4 Rural

Tripoli 1 Rural

South Lebanon Jezzine 5 Rural

Saida 4 Semi-Urban

DATA COLLECTION

Primary and secondary data were collected from January 2018 through July 2018.

SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION

The PMSPL II team began a document review in January 2018. Document review data were obtained from PMSPL II and a Web-based search of publications, studies, quantitative data from the Government of Lebanon and relevant ministries, USAID documents and program reports, international organizations, and documents from other development organizations in Lebanon. The PMSPL II team coded all documents using USAID’s gender analysis domains.

The team triangulated the document review data with primary data during the data-analysis and report-writing phases. Annex A lists the documents reviewed for the purposes of this assessment. Following data collection, additional documents were consulted to augment and confirm the findings. A bibliography of additional work cited can be found in Annex B.

PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION

PMSPL II hired InfoPro, a local data-collection firm, to collect data from 510 individuals: 438 of which through FGDs and 72 through KIIs.

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PROCESS

The PMSPL II team designed and developed data-collection tools tailored to specific stakeholder groups to address key research questions and focus areas for each sector. In February 2018, the PMSPL II team designed and facilitated a training to level out the data-collection team’s understanding of key principles and best practices in qualitative data collection (including appreciative evaluation approaches) when collecting gender-related data. At the training, the data collectors piloted and refined the data-collection tools and ensured the translated tools were accurate and appropriate for each stakeholder group.

Two data-collection teams and eight regional sub-teams conducted data collection in March–April 2018.

Four regional FGD teams consisted of two people per team, a moderator, and a moderator assistant.

An additional KII team consisted of four people. The PMSPL II quality-control managers provided technical and quality oversight to all five teams.

The FGD data collectors worked in pairs, with one person facilitating the group discussion while the other took notes as close to verbatim as possible. The data collectors also recorded the sessions for more comprehensive note-taking. The recordings were directly transcribed from Arabic into English, then checked for quality by the PMSPL II team.

Only male data collectors collected data from male participants, and only female data collectors collected data from female participants.

KEY INFORMANT INTERVIEWS

The data collectors conducted 72 semi-structured interviews from March 5 to April 20, 2018, with key stakeholders who could effectively speak to the technical areas identified in the overarching research questions. InfoPro conducted semi-structured interviews with ministry officials, municipal committee members, donors, civil society organizations (CSOs), and USAID implementing mechanisms.

The PMSPL II team used purposive sampling for the selection of key stakeholders for interviews and focus group discussions.

FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSIONS

The data collectors conducted FGDs with stakeholders who, in a group dynamic, would provide the best opportunity to gather information on one or more of the research questions. InfoPro conducted 56 FGDs from March 5 to April 20, 2018, with 438 individuals from four key stakeholder groups: female adults (25–45), female youth (18–24), male adults (25–45), and male youth

(18–24) from the 14 districts.

The PMSPL II team divided the FGD participants by age and sex to better understand the differences in perceptions, needs, and experiences across different categories and to increase the participants’ comfort

Key Informant Interviews

Ministry Officials

Municipal Committee Members

Donors CSOs/ NGOs

Implementing Mechanisms

Focus Group Discussions

Adult Female

Community Members

Young Female

Community Members

Young Male Community Members

Adult Male Community Members

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level in a way that allows them to freely share their experiences in a group setting. Each group was composed of 5 to 11 participants.

DATA ANALYSIS

The PMSPL II team uploaded the approved interview and FGD transcripts to Dedoose Version 7.0.23 for data coding and analyzing. This Web-based application allows for managing, analyzing, and presenting qualitative and mixed-methods research data; coding by multiple team members collaboratively; and assessing inter-coder reliability.

The PMSPL II team developed a draft coding structure based on the gender assessment questions and a review of a sample of transcripts. The team piloted the codebook to ensure the coding structure’s relevance to the data and a consistent code application by the analysts. They refined the codebook based on the pilot and applied the revised coding structure to all transcripts. The team examined each code to generate emergent themes through an inductive process to allow the respondents’ voices and experiences to emerge as salient themes and avoid predetermined or expected hypotheses to define the findings.

After this thematic coding was finalized, the PMSPL II team drafted summaries of each theme in preparation for a participatory data-analysis and -interpretation meeting. At the meeting, the team members discussed the significance of, and the interrelationships among, the themes, guided by the gender assessment questions. They jointly identified the next steps for further data analysis, including additional disaggregation based on the themes that emerged by stakeholder type or region during analysis. The team used this final round of data analysis to generate draft findings.

The PMSPL II team presented the draft findings to the project staff and key stakeholders in a face-to-face, participatory, two-day data consultation meeting in Beirut on July 11–12, 2018. This meeting provided the opportunity for USAID and KII respondents to validate and interpret the gender assessment findings and collaboratively draw conclusions and recommendations. The inputs from this meeting were used to draft this report.

ETHICS

All KII and FGD tools included an informed consent statement with a confidentiality clause. Every effort was made to ensure that group discussions were conducted in locations that assured privacy or, if not fully private, were comfortable for respondents. At the start of each interview and group discussion, the data collectors assured the respondents of confidentiality and asked them whether they consented to participate in this gender assessment. With the respondents’ permission, the data collectors recorded the KIIs and FGDs. The data collectors explained to all respondents that participation was completely voluntary and that they could stop the interview or leave the group discussion at any time with no negative consequences. The data collectors made it clear that the respondents’ identities and the information they provided would be kept confidential.

The PMSPL II team stored the data on a secured, password-protected computer, retaining identifying information in interview transcripts for data-analysis purposes and anonymizing them in this report.

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LIMITATIONS

This gender assessment was limited by the following factors:

Primary data sample: Although care was taken to minimize bias during the recruitment process, for

FGDs the study relied on InfoPro’s recruitment database that had been used for previous research in

Lebanon. For KIIs, knowledge of appropriate actors was left up to PMSPL II and snowball sampling.

Consequently, selection bias could have been a factor.

Data on barriers for LGBTI individuals: There were limited data on barriers LGBTI individuals face within specific sectors in Lebanon. This was due in part to the fact that the primary stakeholders interviewed predominantly expressed discriminatory views toward LGBTI individuals, rather than assessing the specific barriers these persons face within these sectors. Additionally, data were collected from only one CSO working on LGBTI issues, and there were no FGDs with individuals identifying as

LGBTI.

Reforestation data: The data collectors observed that although many participants were able to respond to questions specifically focused on reforestation, some individuals misunderstood these questions as pertaining to agriculture more broadly. However, these instances represent a very small proportion of the data collected. In addition, during data consultation meetings in Beirut, USAID and other participants suggested that any confusion of the two sectors among respondents resulted from a broader lack of understanding of reforestation in Lebanon, rather than from the gender assessment design itself. The reforestation findings presented in this report are those that have been validated during the data-analysis and stakeholder consultations to ensure responsiveness to the initial design question.

Data on persons with disabilities: Data on barriers for persons with disabilities in specific sectors in

Lebanon were limited to the literature review and the perceptions of FGD participants. Furthermore, it appears that respondents perceived and associated disability with mobility impairments, referring less to other disabilities such as visual, hearing, or other impairments. Consequently, primary data on disabilities were limited to mobility impairments.

Qualitative methods: The purpose of a qualitative approach is not to make generalizable statements that can apply to all of Lebanon, which would require a probability sample where respondents without key insights may be selected for inclusion. Rather, qualitative research provides an in-depth understanding of gender-related issues in the selected sectors. Purposeful sampling facilitated the inclusion of information-rich respondents with critical knowledge of, and experience with, issues of central importance to the assessment.

Translation: Data were collected in Arabic then transcribed directly to English. Although PMSPL II monitored the translation output for data quality, some words and phrases, such as the concept of wasta,6 were not readily conducive to verbatim translation. The PMSPL II team reviewed the recordings closely to confirm that the translation was correct. However, some details might have been lost in analysis due to nuances.

6 “Wasta” is an Arabic word that loosely translates into “nepotism” or “clout” or “who you know.”

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2018 GENDER ASSESSMENT FINDINGS

INTRODUCTION

The following findings reflect analysis across research questions 1–5. Next to each finding is an icon (or icons) that represent(s) one of USAID’s five gender-analysis domains7 (see Annex D for a mapping of domains across findings). The findings are organized, to the extent relevant, around how gender norms and dynamics are experienced differently at policy/institutional, community, household, and individual levels.

USAID’s Gender Analysis Domains:

Laws, policies, regulations, and institutional practices

Cultural norms and beliefs

Gender roles, responsibilities, and time use

Access to, and control over, assets and resources

Patterns of power and decision making

GOVERNANCE

BACKGROUND

Article 12 of the Constitution of Lebanon states that every Lebanese citizen has the right to hold public office (USAID/Lebanon 2012). Yet, in a study that defines political empowerment as the number of women in parliament, the number of women in ministerial positions, and the number of years with a female head of state, Lebanon scored below the global average (El Feki et al. 2017). Over the last five parliamentary elections, the number of women elected ranged from three to at most six out of 128 seats (European Union Election Observation Mission 2018).