Achievements

      Our history from 2012 till 2022

      Co-founders of Fiftyfifty, Joelle Abou farhat, and Paola Majdalani have 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
      Female Quota

      • 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

      • Educated and empowered youth on gender equality across different universities
      • Created clusters of gender equality at 4 universities
      • In 2021, Fifty Fifty 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.
      • Empowered kids and teenagers by posting videos of them on Fiftyfifty’s social media outlets.

      Women in Municipalities

      • Empowered and supported women in Municipalities
      • 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

      • Currently supporting female politicians (8 MPs and 1 female Minister) in 2022.
      • 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.