Wingwoman, are NGOs doing what someone else should?

All right, my sample is certainly biased, but whenever I ask any youth where they are working, 1 over 2 of them says the name of an NGO. And yet for many NGOs carry an incredibly bad rap - they are imperialist tools to take over Lebanon sponsored by soiled money, they are inefficient, bloated and self-righteous and carry little difference on the ground.

As I was browsing Instagram lately I came across the case of Wingwoman and their reusable diapers case. The statistics are mentioned in the imagery above. Just to be clear I know no one who works at Wingwoman, and since I have have a long career in development I studied the numbers they offered, the case study - all in colors and well-designed I must admit - and the end result of it. And by Jove they make sense. 

The numbers are all logical, they do not pretend their work was fully adopted by the sample, and yet the marked difference between the before and after of the study (distributing reusable diapers and how this alleviates economic hardship on families) makes total sense. You can see the whole thing here. In their own words Wingwoman are about "Elevating women; Reducing waste; Increasing long term access to reusable diapers, period pads & period education". 

Look, I know some of you might find this risible, but yes, even women need "period education" and no, for a woman to go into a shop and buy sanitary pads is not a socially-approved mission. Many - and I mean many - still face a "stigma" as if menstruating monthly is something to be ashamed of. As I said I hear and read many cases, one girl when she had her first period and ran to her mother not understanding what was happening to her, saw her mother slap her violently as a retaliation.

So, again, as "normal" state agents in Lebanon - read that ministries and official bodies - are hanging by a thread, as their work has been sporadic and not exactly efficient, what if NGOs are actually filling that space on the ground and going what "must be done", one sanitary pad at a time, one reusable diaper at a time? Wingwoman certainly seems to prove the case.

Nahnoo - goes for municipalities (again)

Well Nahnoo is going for the municipalities again (first recorded round on the blog is here). And so here we are again this time they go for "powers proportionate to the burden". All right, it might just be me, but I did not get this one. Does it mean that municipalities are doing too much without having the appropriate powers by law, or that they should have more powers to do more, or - in reverse - they have too much power and doing little with them? Again, it could be me, but I am not sure what they are invoking in the ad. Municipalities for sure, but the rest seems vague to me. 

My work my rights - an ad that was just there.

I saw this ad... and wondered.

"We want

Job opportunities and stopping arbitrary lay offs

And

Periodic salary increase and transport fees

#for_a_wholistic_social_coverage"

OK, according to the internet the NGO behind this ad is "my work my rights" - as per their story in 2018 three partners "Legal Agenda", "Lebanese Observatory for Worker and Employee Rights" (LOWER) and Oxfam Lebanon backed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation started the NGO in question.

Here's my issue. Why am I seeing this ad? Who is it destined for? How does it bring any change or visibility to their (worthwhile) demands? Was this the best way to spend the money? Did anyone notice the ad? Did it bring about any chain reaction or domino effect? Would workers/employees mobilize after seeing this ad? Would employers have an ethical spark?

The ad stood there like a sore thumb, barely readable because it had too many words, with a # that basically I have no idea who will use it. As I said, the demands are correct, just and fair (I quit my own employment because I was putting money rather than earning!). But no idea why this ad was there.

Rise Up Lebanon, the initiative that goes local.

For someone who about 99% of the time buys from small shops, my immediate reflex is to wonder why there are campaigns pushing people to buy from such places. Until I remember the supermarket. Sure, once every two or three months I go to the supermarket to get a list of things - but mostly, being in a village I go to the shops here and buy day to day items - funnily the other day I actually went so early. I helped the shop owner lift the iron door as she was still opening. The Rise Up Lebanon launched their Christmas project: Bundle of Joy. By purchasing this bundle for 150,000LL, you’re supporting 11 small neighborhood shops. You can pre order on 70413205 (see the ad here). Truly at this stage, it is beyond commenting on the ad - which is quite nice mind you - the two shop owners (real shop owners!) are incredibly nice (I am not going to say well casted, because well, they are real shop owners!). Today, Lebanon needs people sticking to one another more than ever, such initiatives do help people remaining in the market.

Logi does a convincing comeback tour

Remember Logi? The Lebanese Oil and Gas Initiative? Well, they got themselves some heavyweights for their new ad. By order of appearance: Alia Moubayed (emerging market specialist), Dan Azzi (Global financial markets expert), Albert Kostantinian (Journalist and economic consultant), Pierre Saade (Senior Mena Regional Coordinator of Publish What You Say) - please note I copied their titles exactly as they were written in the ad, capital letters and all - and each of these protagonists came and sustained the case on why oil and gas is indeed the future of Lebanon... Provided of course (and these pillars and values were written on the palm of their hands) - participation (also could be involvement), transparency, citizenship, democracy, and trust were all insured (the last word was written on the palm of the hand of Diana Kaissy who is the executive director of Logi). Interestingly, without being falsely over-creative, the ad makes its point clearly and gets its message across. Of course, we all wonder in Lebanon at how much such initiatives actually procure real change on the ground. But Logi is apparently not here to play. Please see the ad here.