Hima Women Empowerment workshop in Qolaileh

As a wrap up for a successful three years project entitled “Promoting Hima Women Empowerment for Conservation and Livelihood” and funded by the “UN Women Fund for Gender Equality”, SPNL in collaboration with the municipality of Qolaileh had launched the opening of a women’s workshop on December 18th 2015. The workshop is located in the municipality of Qolaileh and will serve as a free open space for all the women from the village to learn and teach their knowledge about handcrafts.

Mr. Ramzi Saidi, SPNL’s president gave the opening speech in the presence of the representative of the Italian UNIFIL troops in South Lebanon , mayors from neighboring villages, Qolaileh’s schools’ principals, municipal members, representatives of local NGOs, representatives of scouts and more than 70 persons from the village. In his speech, Mr. Saidi, expressed how happy he was to witness this cooperation between SPNL and the municipality and highlighted the importance of the role of women in the management of the natural resources, then he spoke about the growing business of upcycling around the world and its economic progress and impacts. Mr. Saidi then discussed the possibilities of future cooperation between SPNL and the municipality mentioning two main possible areas: the preservation of endangered turtles in the Hima of Mansouri and a solid waste management plan for the village of Qolaileh.

The second speech was given by Mr. Ghassan Salman, the mayor of Qolaileh. In his speech, Mr. Salman stressed on the big role SPNL has been playing in the region since the declaration of the Hima in 2006. He also highlighted the importance of the role of women and the municipality’s continuous follow up on the women trainings in this projects. Moreover, Mr. Salman expressed his eagerness for additional future projects.

Then, Wafaa Fakih, representing the women participants in the project, gave the women’s speech in which she thanked SPNL for the opportunity it offered them to learn new skills and become financially independent. She also urged other women to join them in the future trainings planned to take place in the workshop.

After the speeches, certificates of participation were distributed. Then, the guests were invited to the opening of the workshop where the site manager Ms. Nadine Ahmad gave a briefing about the project’s training and the material used in the displayed items mostly made of magazine papers and other solid waste substances.

The opening was followed by a buffet and the event ended by a visit to Prophet Omran mausoleum which is considered an important religious site for all sects in Lebanon.

This successful event was an opportunity for SPNL to expose, again, one of its success stories. It also opened the doors for future collaboration between SPNL and the UNIFIL. The suggested idea would be to design an awareness project for school students on the topic of solid waste management.

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