RDF is delighted to announce the winner of its second call for proposals - UN Women, for its proposal “Fostering Stabilisaton and Social Cohesion in Lebanon through Women’s Engagement in Conflict Prevention and Management”.

The Foundation received over 70 proposals, which were reviewed by RDF directors and external international development experts with regional experience in a three-tier review process. A large number of the bids received were of very high quality, so selecting a project to support was a difficult decision.

The winning project aims to promote women’s roles in promoting social cohesion and conflict management through mediation. Throughout 2019, it will provide skills training and on-the-ground support to 100 women mediators, selected from diverse groups including Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian refugees, people with disabilities, and youth in South Lebanon. The aim is to create networks of women mediators at the local level in conflict-prone regions of Lebanon to ensure the inclusion of gender perspectives in conflict management to decrease tensions and promote peace, stabilisation and greater social cohesion.

UN Women will carry-out this project in collaboration with UNIFIL (which has outreach to communities in South Lebanon), UNRWA (whose mandate is to support Palestinian refugees) and the Center for Professional Mediation at the University of Saint Joseph. The project will also collaborate with women’s civil society organisations, municipalities and governorates, political parties, the national women’s machinery and the Lebanese Ministry of Interior.

The Foundation is very excited about this project, not only because this type of project - one that aims to increase women’s participation in dispute resolution forums - is relatively new in Lebanon, but because Rebecca herself was deeply concerned about the causes of conflicts between people and communities, and passionate to find ways to heal them. We feel this project reflects Rebecca’s deep commitment to peacemaking.