Under the title “Reflections on Leadership: Lebanese Women in Decision Making”, the Lebanese Development Network (LDN) in partnership with Besme Group International organized a joint seminar which gathered more than fifty active female candidates who previously ran for either parliamentary or municipality elections.
The meeting started with a brief introduction about both organizations delivered respectively by Rita Nassif (LDN) and Nayla Moawad (Besme).
President of Besme Group Dr. Gulshan Saglam inaugurated the seminar with a welcome note while addressing the audience about the nature and the objectives of the seminar.
“Our gathering today constitutes a tridimensional meeting. First, to explore on the participants’ experiences. Second, to brainstorm on their role in enhancing citizenship. Third, to provide new insights about the major leadership aspects in support of their journey,” she said.
In turn, President of the Lebanese Development Network (LDN) Amin Nehme conducted the first session dedicated to discuss the various ‘Leadership Attributes and Effective Practices.’ The session entailed as well a series of topics related to the leaders' characteristics, their rights and obligations, the conditions pertaining to their successes and failures, and the difference between management and leadership.
Dr. Saglam facilitated the second session which focused on the appropriate means to ‘Expand Women's Involvement in Public Life.’ “Women participate at a rate of 4% in government, 5.4% in municipalities and 1.5% in parliament,” she said.
She showed a comparative chart about women's participation in 2018 (4.5%) and 2022 (15%) where in recent years, the number of women candidates has increased by about 37%. “Although this progress is significant but it is still not enough, so this path must be completed,” she concluded.
The third session included two presentations delivered consecutively by the Founder and President of the Board of Directors of ‘Statistics Lebanon’ Rabih El-Habr and the expert from the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections ‘LADE’ Judy Fatfat.
Habr presented an analytical interpretation of women's involvement in the 2022 parliamentary elections whereas Fatfat analyzed the Association’s report from a gender perspective.
The meeting concluded with testimonials given by a group of candidates who shared their experiences, challenges and obstacles that confronted them during their campaigns.
