Outcome LBN_D_3.1

Strengthened inclusive social contract grounded in human rights and justice to enhance good governance, effective and accountable institutions, and women's participation.

In 2025, women’s participation and rights-based dialogue between state institutions, political actors, security institutions, and communities was strengthened thanks to UN Women’s continued efforts with national institutions. Women in Lebanon significantly increased their representation in elected local government in the 2025 municipal and mukhtar (local administrative officers) elections. Women doubled their representation on municipal councils to 10.37 percent, up from 5.4 per cent in 2025, won 16.4 per cent on mukhtar councils, and 2.42 per cent were elected for the mukhtar positions, an increase from 1.9 percent in 2016. Out of 50 women who were directly supported by UN Women with technical assistance and media coverage in the run-up to the municipal council elections, 22 ran for the 2025 municipal elections and 18 women successfully won a seat. Through the National Commission for Lebanese Women’s leadership on the Women, Peace and Security agenda and the formalized cooperation with the Lebanese Armed Forces, national stakeholders advanced shared commitments to gender-responsive governance, institutional accountability, and the prevention of discrimination and violence within public institutions. Engagement with 12 women parliamentarians, eight political parties, and public media(including the national broadcaster Tele Liban) supported a more enabling environment for women’s political participation for the 2025 Municipal Elections and ahead of the 2026 parliamentary elections. Evidence-based advocacy on electoral reform and institutional advances within Télé Liban strengthened transparency, fairness, and gender-sensitive voter education, contributing to more balanced public discourse and increased visibility of women’s leadership in political processes. At the local and community levels, aspiring women candidates and women municipal leaders strengthened their roles as visible and credible leaders through participatory consultations and townhall dialogues that connected community priorities—particularly those of women—with municipal planning and service delivery. These processes supported more responsive local governance and reinforced women’s roles as legitimate actors in civic and political decision-making. Finally, UN Women will continue to support the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) throughout 2026 in advancing the development and implementation of Lebanon’s next National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security.

Strengthened inclusive social contract grounded in human rights and justice to enhance good governance, effective and accountable institutions, and women's participation.

During 2023, UN women contributed to strengthening good governance, effective and accountable institutions, and women's participation. The main results included: Over 858 women increased their capacity to run for elections and two state institutions, the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) and Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), scaled up efforts to advance the Lebanon National Action Plan (NAP) on Women Peace and Security (WPS). Over 858 women increased their knowledge on how to run for municipal elections. Under the WPP programme over 600 women from 26 districts strengthened their capacities on how to run campaigns and build constituencies at the community level with UN Women support, 64% of which report increased their knowledge. In addition, through the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) 258 women increased their knowledge to run the municipal election of those 95% reported an increase in their knowledge on Governance, Municipal laws, Advocacy, campaigning, developing electoral programs. The targeted women demonstrated acquiring skills on the above-mentioned topics through forming 17 women committees, designing, planning and leading community event based on their assessment. NCLW adopted an evidence-based, inclusive approach to monitoring and evaluating the progress of the Lebanon NAP. To achieve this, NCLW conducted a desk-review to assess the achievements, challenges and learning from the implementation of the first NAP and to inform and advocate for the development of a second-generation NAP (2024-2028). In addition, NCLW established an online monitoring and reporting system using Activity Info to make data on the progress of the NAP accessible in a timely and a systematic manner and capture efforts by all actors. More than sixty (60) actors including UN agencies, unions, political parties, civil society organizations and up to forty (40) state entities contributed to reporting through this online system on their efforts to advance the NAP and the WPS agenda. LAF increased its commitment to gender equality and women’s rights. Commanders and officers of LAF have a framework to achieve gender-responsiveness and realize meaningful participation of women in the security sector and in peace operations, as a result of the LAF Gender Mainstreaming Strategy (GMS). The LAF Gender Department finalized the GMS and action plan, aligned with the Lebanon NAP for UNSCR 1325, which was endorsed by the Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces in January 2024. In the development of the strategy, the LAF was supported by the LAF Gender Working Group, in which UN Women is an active member. Further to the above, the Lebanon CO provided substantive inputs on the situation of women’s rights in Lebanon to the Universal Periodic Review mid-term review for Lebanon as part of OHCHR compilation of credible information.

Strengthened inclusive social contract grounded in human rights and justice to enhance good governance, effective and accountable institutions, and women's participation.

In 2024, UN Women continued to work to strengthen social cohesion and contribute to good governance, effective and accountable institutions in Lebanon. Interventions include: engaging with women peacebuilders from across Lebanon and political actors from across the politcal spectrum. Furthermore, taking into accoun the divisive effect of the conflict on Lebanese society, UN Women managed to foster social cohesion, mitigate intra-communal tensions and prevent societal conflicts by promoting women’s participation in decision-making processes, particularly at community level and party-level, and bringing together the different components of the Lebanese society. At community level, 387 women promoted peace and reconciliation in their communities and actively contributed to de-escalation of conflict. These women are very diverse and represent all Governorates in Lebanon (25% are below the age of 35 and 3.1% are with disability). During the Lebanon conflict in Q4, 85% of these women peacebuilders led humanitarian actions in their communities (half of them through Women Led Organizations) while contributing to reducing tensions between displaced and host communities. UN Women enabled this response by adapating and modifying planned activities with project partners. In January 2024, the Women Peacebuilding Network in Lebanon officially launched as the first ever women peacebuilding network in Lebanon, convening 35 women peacebuilders from all walks of life. The network's mandate was to act as a community of practice that strengthens the role of its members but quickly evolved to become an advocacy platform. The WPNL issued two advocacy statements addressed to the UNSG, the international community in Lebanon and State entities demanding an immediate ceasefire and an inclusive recovery and reconstruction process after the Lebanon's conflict. To facilitate the issuing of the statements, UN Women facilitated discussions, helped with the revision of the language, and managed the dissemination of the documents. Moreover, 25 women politicians participants in the women national political dialogue reported higher tolerance levels among each other and a commitment to preventing and de-escalating conflict in Lebanon through their political parties and influence. This is part of a long-standing intervention led by UN Women to build mutual trust among women politicians belonging to different political parties and background, convening dialogue and capacity-building sessions. This includes an exchange visit to Switzerland to learn about best practices in a different context. The findings of the visit are confidential. The Center for Research Education and Development at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education committed to a more gender inclusive history teaching. The curriculum review committee for history textbooks is incorporating new teaching modules on women and the history of Lebanon in the new textbooks. This process is important for transitional justice and a more inclusive society in Lebanon. To achieve this, UN Women and the Lebanese Association for History developed three studies and four modules on gender-sensitive history teaching; in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, history teachers were trained on these modules; finally, UN Women and the LAH will publish oral history podcasts on women in Lebanon. (to be published in Q12025)