National Policy Validation Meeting –18 July 2012
Within the framework of the REEWP project, CRTD.A organized on July 18, 2012 a national Policy Validation Meeting which was hosted at the YWCA in Beirut. Eighty participants representing Rural Women Cooperatives as well as sister organizations took part in this event which aimed at encouraging dialogue to build social policies that contribute to enhancing the role of women and their economic rights. This meeting follows a series of policy consultations conducted by CRTD.A with the public sector, trade unions, the private sectors and women and civil society organisations. The main objectives of these consultations were to identifying key issues of women economic rights, develop a first ranking of priority issues for further research and, most importantly, for advocacy and identify stakeholders interested in pursuing mobilization and advocacy work.
The participants engaged in lively debates and identified a number of priority issues to be addressed at the policy level namely
o Continuous training
o Health Insurance
o Specialization in Production
o Subsidizing the cost of production
o Accessing markets
o Imposing women's freedom of action and movement
o Promoting rural women’s leadership
o Highlighting women’s invisible work
o Emphasizing women’s property and ownership rights
Participants agreed to set up a follow-up committee with CRTD.A in order to translate consensus points into action and begin shaping an advocacy strategy for action.
For further information about this event, please contact nchemaly@crtda.org.lb