May 2021 Updates
This month, we held an interesting rich discussion about sexuality and the challenges the LGBTQ community faces in Lebanon. The panelists- Tarek Zeidan, Executive Director of Helm and Pascale Kolakez, Co-Founder of Mosaic- focused on the importance of recognizing queer rights as an integral part of human rights. June is pride month, support the cause and be part of the change!
The webinar was in collaboration with Title IX office- in which the Institute helped establishing. Title IX office plays a vital role in ensuring that LAU is a safe space for everyone. It ensures that our campus has zero tolerance to any kind of gender discrimination, including all forms of sexual violence. The webinar was also part of our monthly speaking series Food 4 Thought (F4T), an informal monthly speaking series that engages LAU faculty, staff, and students in relevant gender issues – information about previous F4T events can be found here.
We’re also proud to conclude the Laure Moghaizel regional training where 35 outstanding young female activists from the Arab region have completed the two phases of the program! These young women will be equipped with the necessary tools and information to fight GBV in times of crisis and conflict.
Here are some encouraging quotes from the participants: “It was an amazing training, it went beyond my expectations!”, “The content of the training was very enriching and informative”, “The training program was comprehensive and included valuable, in-depth, and very useful information for our work”, “Despite the fact that the training was online, the trainers were all incredible and were able to convey the message very clearly”.
And finally, this month we bring more big news! After being selected as a 2021 Fellow with Vital Voices Global Partnership, and listed as one of the Gender Equality Top 100: The Most Influential People in Global Policy for two years in a row, our own Executive Director Dr. Lina Abirafeh has been recognized by the Women’s Media Center (WMC) as one of their Progressive Women’s Voices for 2021- she is now a member of their network of powerful women leaders who are changing the conversation in the media.
Join us in celebrating women leaders around the world!
Stay tuned for June!
