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Improving living conditions and resilience of refugees displaced by the Syrian crisis and vulnerable hosting communities in Lebanon

eval_number:

2357415

eval_url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/eval/2357415

location:

country:

Lebanon

region:

Arab States

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eval_title:

Improving living conditions and resilience of refugees displaced by the Syrian crisis and vulnerable hosting communities in Lebanon

recommendations:

date:

2025-11-04 00:00:00.0

themes:

theme:

Conditions of work & equality

category:

Gender equality

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action_plan:

For recommendation 5 (overall): In the implementation report, it was highlighted that through the Employment-Intensive Investment Programme (EIIP), the ILO—supported by the European Union—successfully generated over 46,096 workdays between 2024 and 2025, ensuring tangible inclusion outcomes. Women accounted for 33% of these workdays, while persons with disabilities represented 4%, reflecting ENABLE’s commitment to equitable access to employment opportunities. This achievement is the result of deliberate efforts to design, supervise, and implement seven infrastructure projects in a way that promotes women’s participation and creates space for more vulnerable groups to benefit from income-generating opportunities. 5.1. Support for Women Micro-Entrepreneurs This recommendation has been partially addressed. While the entrepreneurship intervention targets women, refugees and persons with disabilities and integrates gender-sensitive approaches throughout implementation, no gender-specific activities have been developed to date. The current approach ensures that both women and men have equal access to mentorship and in-kind grants, and trainers are trained to promote women’s participation and empower them to complete the entire entrepreneurship cycle. ENABLE has also integrated women into entrepreneurship and skills development initiatives. Women micro-entrepreneurs are participating in IYB and business plan competitions, advancing to the stage of in-kind grants. The SIYB programme has trained 38 institutional staff, including 25 women, thereby strengthening national capacities in entrepreneurship promotion. In addition, 82% of trainees in Financial Education, GYB, and SYB programmes were women, underlining ENABLE’s success in reaching women as key participants in economic inclusion. 5.2. SDC Gender and Inclusive Capacity Building and Coaching This recommendation has not yet been fully implemented. While gender and inclusion principles are embedded in ENABLE’s ongoing employment referral mechanisms and coaching processes for SDC staff, no dedicated capacity-building modules on gender equality or nationality considerations have yet been rolled out. Gender integration remains a recommendation on this end. However, these topics are being integrated into the new training model developed jointly with ITC-ILO and implemented in partnership with Arcenciel. The updated Employability and Referrals Manual now includes a chapter on disability-inclusive referrals and its next revision will incorporate a stronger gender and intersectional lens to ensure inclusive service delivery, case management, and outreach to marginalized populations. 5.3. Inclusive Work-Based Learning (WBL) Across the Full Cycle: When it comes to Work-Based Learning (WBL), women have been actively encouraged to participate, with at least 50% of trained individuals being women, thereby meeting the programme’s set targets. Beyond achieving gender balance, ENABLE has also taken steps to strengthen the qualitative dimensions of inclusivity- in line with recommendation 5.4 below. 5.4. Promote Inclusive Messaging and Balanced Engagement Across Genders: Outreach activities now incorporate gender-sensitive messaging and highlight the visibility of female role models and success stories showcased on social media, encouraging women to pursue non-traditional and higher-paying career paths. To track progress from a gender lens, the new project’s M&E plan incorporates sex- and disability-disaggregated data, allowing systematic monitoring of inclusivity across interventions and outcomes.

management_response:

Partially Completed

progress:

Partially achieved

admin_units:

RO-Arab States/DWT-Beirut

title:

Recommendation 5: ENSURE THAT ENABLE IS MORE GENDER-RESPONSIVE AND INCLUSIVE. • Addresses: ENABLE team, ILO ROAS • Priority: High • Resources: -Medium • Timing: Short- Medium Justification: To enhance the economic inclusion of women, people with disabilities and other groups with multiple and overlapping forms of exclusion – as refugee women- it is crucial that ENABLE moves beyond gender-targeting toward the systematic integration of gender and intersectionality into assessments, design, implementation, and monitoring. This includes: 5.1. Support for women micro-entrepreneurs. Women micro-entrepreneurs face unique and persistent barriers that require targeted support to ensure the sustainability and growth of their businesses. Furthermore, refugee or undocumented women face additional legal and structural barriers when starting or sustaining a business. In addition to facilitating providing tailored training that addresses gender-specific challenges -such as limited mobility, digital exclusion, and time poverty-, peer learning and networking within the business community and enhanced access to support services, including women-friendly financial products, are also essential. 5.2. SDC gender and inclusive capacity building and coaching. The integration of gender, disability and other identity markers—such as nationality—into the capacity-building and coaching efforts for SDC staff should be strengthened and made more explicit. The Coaching for Employability manual should be revised to incorporate not only a disability perspective as it has planned to do but also a gender equality and intersectional lens highlighting specific barriers faced by different groups (e.g., being both female and a refugee or having a disability) and how that requires tailored coaching. Training modules should include content on gender-sensitive service delivery, inclusive case management, and tailored outreach approaches for marginalized populations. This will support the mainstreaming of inclusion and equity within SDCs’ institutional practices. 5.3. Inclusive WBL across the full cycle. When offering Work-Based Learning (WBL) schemes, it is important to encourage women to pursue non-traditional and higher-paying career paths. To enable this, targeted outreach and orientation should begin early in the selection process, using gender-sensitive messaging and role models to challenge stereotypes. At the same time, awareness-raising and collaboration with private sector partners are essential to create enabling and inclusive workplace environments for female graduates and people with disabilities. This includes adapting workplace infrastructure, offering flexible arrangements, and addressing unconscious bias in hiring. Furthermore, engaging families and communities, particularly those from refugee origin, is critical to building a supportive environment for women and PwD participation in the workforce. Lastly, follow-up and mentorship mechanisms should be embedded into WBL programmes to monitor integration outcomes and provide sustained support, particularly for those facing greater structural barriers. 5.4. Promote inclusive messaging and balanced engagement across genders. ENABLE should frame gender-responsive actions as part of a broader commitment to equity and inclusion—benefiting both women and men who face structural barriers. This might entail creating opportunities for dialogue with male beneficiaries, including refugee men, to better understand their concerns and reinforce the rationale behind positive action towards women.

project_symbols:

LBN/22/01/EUR

url:

https://webapps.ilo.org/ievaldiscovery/recommendations/2357523

information_source:

Country Office

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