Our history from 2012 till 2025
Co-founder of Fiftyfifty, Joelle Abou farhat, has been working since 2012 on empowering women in political and public life through Women in Front NGO.
Following 2018 elections, a restructuring of our strategy was imperative. Hence, we created Fiftyfifty NGO and included males on board to work hand in hand with females in promoting and implementing a gender-balanced Lebanon.
Below are some of Fiftyfifty Achievements
- Raised awareness on female gender quota through a national advocacy TV campaign.
- Developed a study on how to implement women’s quota in any electoral system and submitting it to all political parties and MPs.
- Conducted and published different scientific simulations on quota and electoral laws.
- In 2022, Fiftyfifty submitted a gender quota proposed law to the parliament to be endorsed and have it implemented.
- Created a quota coalition to support and lobby for the quota proposal endorsement for 2022 parliamentary elections.
- Conducted awareness sessions across Lebanon (Beqaa, North, Mount Lebanon, Beirut) on the importance of having a gender quota law, women in politics and voting for them.
Parliamentary Elections
2018:
- Raised awareness across Lebanese regions on the new electoral law & the importance of women running as candidates.
- Lobbied political parties to include women on their electoral lists
- Promoted women’s profiles in media and social media outlets
- Created the first political council in Lebanon to support and equip female candidates for the 2018 parliamentary elections.
- Encouraged women across Lebanese regions to present their candidacy for 2018 elections.
- After years of work, we have succeeded in achieving a phenomenal increase in the number of candidates running for office, from 12 female candidates in 2009 elections to 113 in 2018 parliamentary elections.
2022:
- Fifty Fifty was able to support more than 100 potential candidates through one-to-one coaching sessions, individual films, and TV exposure.
- Increased the visibility of female candidates for parliamentary elections 2022 to the Lebanese community and political sphere.
- Fiftyfifty succeeded in increasing the number of enlisted female candidates from 86 (14.4%) in 2018, to 118 (16.4%) in 2022.
- The number of registered female candidates increased in from 113 (11.5%) in 2018, to 157 (15%) in 2022.
- Established a Think-tank/Network of 450 female
- An increase in the number of female MPs from 6 to 8, from 4% in 2018 to 6.25% of female representation.
Highlighting female politicians in the Media
2018:
- Created the first political TV talk-show in Lebanon featuring both expert females and males to debate socio-political issues.
- Worked closely with multiple TV stations (LBC, MTV, Al Jadeed, OTV & Future TV) to host prominent females- working in public and political fields – on their different socio-political programs
2022:
- A national TV campaign supported by billboards all over of Lebanon’s coastline
- A show called “Fifty Fifty” was broadcasted on LBCI to highlight the female candidate’s political knowledge and expertise
Youth
- Equipped and trained over 400 youth, providing them with valuable skills and knowledge for their personal and professional growth.
- Conducted 40+ training sessions, ensuring a diverse range of topics and skills to empower young leaders.
- Implemented more than 10 impactful community initiatives, fostering positive change in local communities.
- Built a strong and diverse youth network, cultivating the next generation of leaders ready to make a difference in society.
- Educated and empowered youth on gender equality across different universities
- Created clusters of gender equality at 4 universities
- In 2021, Fiftyfifty helped more than 30 female students with their academic year by paying their tuition fees and by providing laptops.
- Gave awareness sessions to kids aged 11, around the importance of gender equality
Women in Municipalities
- Empowered and supported women in Municipalities
- Fiftyfifty proposed a gender quota law for municipalities, advocating for a 30/50 representation to be endorsed by Parliament, ensuring more balanced and inclusive election results.
- Building women’s economic empowerment
- Building capacities of female candidates to create changes in their communities
- Helped female candidates with assessing the issues in their communities and helped them with implementing solutions to support their areas.
- Women conducted awareness sessions in their areas about gender quota and the importance of women in politics.
Women in Office
- Supporting all female politicians (MPs and Ministers)
- Highlighting their profiles and underlining their expertise and achievements in the media
- Created the 1st pilot female caucus featuring current female politicians as well as expert females from public and political fields in Lebanon.