A word from PCDD
A word from PCDD
Our Mission
PCDD is an independent Lebanese NGO that specializes in advocacy and electoral campaigns. Through its technical expertise, consulting services and capacity building programs, the Center provides assistance to marginalized groups and civil society organizations in Lebanon and the MENA region to become active proponents of change in the public sphere.
About the 2010 Annual Report
This year, PCDD was able to put its services to good use through the multiple workshops and training sessions it conducted with social groups and future activists in Beirut and the MENA region. While its reputation began to precede it, PCDD’s work started to expand across multiple disciplines and problem areas of the region. Apart from the training sessions that were headed by PCDD staff, we were able to implement partner’s projects locally as well.
PCDD’s spotlight project this year was certainly “Preparing an Advocacy Campaign to Improve Maternal Leave Laws in Lebanon”, a project that DanChurchAid chose to implement locally through PCDD as a partner organization. Indeed, PCDD was able to support the advancement of the economic status of Lebanese women by training women activists to plan their advocacy campaign for the improvement of maternal leave. The campaign succeeded in obtaining the increase of maternity pay to 100 percent of the mother's salary and to standardize the period of maternity leave to 10 weeks!
A word from PCDD
Annual Report / [2010]1
Annual Report / [2010]Projects
DeMOCRACY
“Preparing Advocacy Campaign to Improve Maternity Leave Laws in Lebanon”
January 2010 – April 2010
Based on the achievements of a previous DCA (DanChurchAid) project, supported by Kvinfo and implemented by PCDD as a consultant, DCA decided to follow-up a new project aimed at preparing an Advocacy Campaign to improve maternity leave laws in Lebanon.
Why is maternity leave an issue?
As maintained by Law 1965 “The Maternity and Sickness Fund” was created within the Social Security Found. The former was used solely for “medical care” i.e. the maternity compensation was not collected from this fund but directly from the employer. This state of affairs created numerous problems for pregnant women and brides alike: as on many occasions these women were denied employment on the basis that the employer would have to provide them with a paid leave for the duration of the maternity period.
The project aimed at advocating for the following changes:
Unification of maternal leave for the private and public sectors
Use of the Maternity and Sickness Fund to pay for maternity leave
Augmentation of the maternal leave duration
•The Lebanese women strongly demanded the unification of the maternity leave within all the various sectors within the country; for the maternity leave as it standbefore the advocacy campaign was offered as follows: the public sector offered 2 months, the private sector offered 49 days and the education sector offered 2 months and a half. It is worth noting that weekends and holidays were counted as leave days within these various periods.
•Furthermore, there was a strong demand that the maternity leave be paid by “The Maternity and Sickness Fund” and not by the employer, who in many cases decreased the number of leave days or the money paid for the woman throughout the duration of her maternity leave.
•The participants started to organize an advocacy campaign, and consequently were forced to carry out an in-depth comparison study between the laws practiced in the neighboring countries as well as the ones decreed by international agreements. In addition, numerous interviews were organized with various officials and the issue was discussed with the workingwomen to make them aware of their rights and carry out a public opinion poll among pregnant workingwomen regarding what they considered to be the most suitable solution for that problem.
•Despite the critical political situation and the time NGOs had to provide for the municipal elections, participants committed themselves to meet regularly and led the public opinion polls and surveys. In addition, the short-time funding constituted an important obstacle for the full accomplishment of the project, even if some of the organization’s members expressed their willingness to continue to work on it regardless of the funding.
Our Successes!
Meeting on May 16, 2011, the legal and justice parliamentarian committees voted to increase maternity pay to 100 percent of the mother’s salary, from the current two thirds of pay, and to standardize the period of maternity leave to 10 weeks. It was a great achievement for all women rights activists!
Consulting services
Training and facilitation
Case studies documentation, Amman, January – April 2010
In an effort to mainstream advocacy as core to the mission and goals of Jordanian civil society organizations, PCDD facilitated the project “Celebrating Jordanian Activism” implemented by the Jordanian Civil Society Program (CSP).
This project meant to provide the opportunity for CSOs to celebrate their activism and successful advocacy efforts in an attempt to capture, document and highlight examples of real changes that civil society had made at both national and local levels. The aim was to create opportunities to connect Jordanian activists around common issues as well as identify successful strategies and approaches to achieve change in Jordan. At the request of the Academy for Educational Development (AED), PCDD contributed to the project by facilitating two workshops in Amman, which aimed to strengthen the capacities of Jordanian civil society organizations in their advocacy and outreach:
•Advocacy Consolidation and Documentation, 2-3 February 2010. This workshop provided to its participants the know-how to best document their case studies, which are considered an important and powerful tool for their advocacy campaign.
•Presentation of Case Studies, 16-18 February 2010. These days were reserved for the presentation of the organizations’ case studies. The process consisted of a morning review of every case individually with the author, and of a presentation of cases in the afternoon in the presence of a committee formed by AED advocacy staff.
Managing Advocacy January – June 2010
In the frame of the project “Ensuring Civil Society Participation in the Implementation of Jordan’s National Disability Strategy” implemented by the Academy for Educational Development (AED), PCDD provided constant technical assistance to the Higher Council for Affairs of Persons with Disabilities (HCD) staff.
The project intended to strengthen the capacities of HCD, its Secretariat and the seven Higher Council Broad Members representing the civil society. In addition to the technical support, PCDD realized three main training sessions in Amman:
•A three-day workshop was conducted at Hotel Crowne Plaza on April 3-5, 2010 and April 6-8, 2010 to build the capacity of 36 participants in the area of advocacy, representing HCD senior staff and disabled persons organizations (DPOs). The participants were trained in order to support the development of HCD 2010 advocacy action plan. The workshop consisted of the basic elements of advocacy with its practical application. The practice allowed the participants to understand how strategic advocacy plan is developed. The agenda was designed to tackle three main topics: strategic thinking, advocacy, and introduction to managing and advocacy campaign.
•A three-day advocacy plan workshop for the HCD and NGOs/DPOs was held at Geneva hotel on June 6-8, 2010. HCD selected representatives from NGOs/DPOs to share their expertise and help on defining the HCD’s strategic advocacy plan for 2011-2012 as linked to the National Disability Strategy.
Managing Advocacy Campaign, Beirut, March 25-27, 2010
In March 2010, PCDD has served as consultant trainer for Kafa’s project “Legalizing the Protection of Women and Girls from Family Violence”. A three-day training workshop was conducted at Hotel Crowne Plaza on March 25-27, 2010 to help women from different political parties to advocate for policy change and to advance the women’s rights agenda in Lebanon. The workshop agenda was divided into three topics: Leadership, Strategic Thinking and Planning, Advocacy. It was also aimed to help participants exploring networking and coalition-building as an effective advocacy tool, learn the methodology of thinking strategically and put leadership and other concepts in perspective.
Police/civil society community dialogue series, Khartoum, June 19-21, 2010
On June 2010, PCDD provided consultancy services to facilitate a workshop organized by the Institute for Civil Society Development (IDCS) in collaboration with the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) and in coordination with the Training Directorate of the Sudanese Ministry of the Interior. The theme of the workshop was: “Promoting dialogue between the police & the civil society” and was aiming at starting a police/civil society community dialogue series. The positive atmosphere of the workshop raised the participants’ motivation to work as future advocates of change.
Organizational Assessment, Cairo, August 23-26, 2010
Upon the request of Ibn Khaldoun Center, PCDD, represented by its director Ms.Alameddine, provided consultancy services to enhance the institutional capacity of the center in governance, strategic planning, board development and sustainability in order for the center to be better equipped to advocate for public issues. Ms.Alameddine spent three days in Cairo interviewing the staff and administration and meeting with consultants and researchers who worked for Ibn Khaldoun Center. All persons interviewed were asked to answer to a set of pre-prepared questions. Ms.Alameddine had also the chance to meet with Dr. Saadeddine Ibrahim and discuss with him the organization’s vision and future plans in view of the environmental challenges that the center was facing.
Advocacy Case Studies, Beirut, August 2010
In August 2010, PCDD developed three case studies on successful advocacy initiatives undertaken by the Office of Transition Initiatives (USAID/OTI) in Lebanon. The studies provided an in-depth analysis of context, strategic decisions and advocacy techniques, and were used as learning tools in the training sessions designed by OTI-Lebanon trainers and partners.
Managing Advocacy Campaign, Egypt, 14-15 October 2010
On October 2010, the American Center for International Labor Solidarity organized a 4-day workshop in Egypt on the basics of advocacy for 16 participants from the United Journalists Center (UJC). PCDD, represented by its director Ms.Lina Alameddine, provided technical assistance to the workshop, whose aim was to explain the basic elements of advocacy and its practical application. The practice allowed the participants to understand how a strategic advocacy plan is developed and managed. The agenda was designed to tackle three main topics: strategic thinking, advocacy, and managing an advocacy campaign. The positive atmosphere resulting from a bond that was formed between the participants throughout the trainings made them more enthusiastic to work as future advocates of change.
Advocacy Curriculum Standardization, Beirut, October 2010
On October 2010, PCDD facilitated the establishment of the Advocacy Trainers Network (ATN) of well-qualified and experienced trainers using vetted and standardized curricula. The curriculum was based on PCDD manual on advocacy, one of the first textbooks on advocacy written in Arabic for a Middle Eastern audience. Two Training of Trainers (ToT) workshops were offered, one in the northern city of Tripoli and one in the southern city of Saida, to standardize language and training for 10 trainers from the region. In the future, these trainers will form the core of the ATN and will provide regular trainings and coaching to nascent youth CSOs in the regions as they build their capacity and experiences in advocacy initiatives.
Events
In 2010 PCDD took part in the following conferences and workshops:
“The Leaders We Need”, Beirut, May 17-18, 2010. Leadership workshop for executives and senior managers led by Dr. Michael Maccoby.
World Justice Project MENA conference, 7th regional action-oriented multidisciplinary meeting, Ifrane, June 25-27, 2010.
Report Submission to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the occasion of the 9th session of the Universal Periodic Review 2010, Beirut, March 2010.
Under the facilitation of ANND, PCDD collaborated with 22 Lebanese non-governmental organizations on producing a common report about economic and social rights conditions in Lebanon. The report that was directed towards national challenges including chronic unemployment, poverty and limitations in productive sectors, was a collection of sectoral reports focused on comparing international human rights covenants with operational laws and prevailing practices in certain sectors. For further information about the report please refer to the following link:
Regional Seminar for Women Human Rights Defenders, Jordan, August 7, 2009, organized by the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), the International Women's Rights Action Asia Pacific (IWRAW Asia Pacific) as a part of the International Coalition on Women Human Rights Defenders (ICWHRDs). The seminar brought together women human rights defenders to examine the commonalities in the environments in which they work and focus on the complex effects of cultural and religious factors that impact their ability to work.
Partnership Center for Development and Democracy
Corniche Al Mazraa, Beirut, Lebanon
Tel 009611303599
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