My Body My Rights II: Adolescent empowerment Lebanon SUMMARY
The project specifically targets 11-24 year-olds, particularly girls and young women refugees and Lebanese living in Lebanon from January-December 2020. The Syrian crisis  has severely undermined parents’ and families’ ability to care for and protect children and financial desperation leads parents/caregivers to resort to harmful coping strategies. These coping mechanisms restrict access to education, pushing primarily girls into child marriage, child labour and begging. Additionally, girls are at an increased risk to experience violence, abuse and exploitation premised on widespread gender discrimination within social norms, attitudes  and stereotypes  worsened by extreme economic hardship. Through provision of youth-friendly, gender-responsive PSS and ensuring access to quality multi-sectoral specialised services. This project generates increased empowerment that supports young people to make informed decisions about their bodies and futures. Exacerbated by the mutiple refugee crises, economic crisis, and overstretched services, many adolescents and young adults in Lebanon, particularly girls and young women, are affected by Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and have limited access to quality adolescent/youth-friendly, and gender-responsive SRH and GBV services. In Lebanon, child, early and forced marriage (CEFM); sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, and other forms of sexual violence; and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and wider domestic abuse remain key and urgent GBV concerns for adolescent girls and young women from Lebanese, Syrian, and other refugee communities. There is deep concern about the steep increase of CEFM among Syrian adolescent girls. Rates of CEFM among Syrian girls are over 22% vs 6% in the local population. Incidents of GBV are widespread, under-reported and survivors continue to face significant barriers to disclosure abuse and seek support. Due to the protracted crises, major gaps exist in information and service provision related to SRHR and GBV for adolescents/young people. The double vulnerability of gender and age for girls are often invisible for service providers, falling between the cracks of programming that is not responsve to their needs. The Syrian crisis  has severely undermined parents’ and families’ ability to care for and protect children and financial desperation leads parents/caregivers to resort to harmful coping strategies. These coping mechanisms include restricting children’s access to education, pushing primarily girls into child marriage, and resorting to child labour and begging. The project is a continuation of a partnership with Amel Association "My body, My rights’’ which successfully reached the most vulnerable adolescents and young adults in remote areas with information on GBV and SRH rights and services. The project contributed to increased knowledge on GBV and SRHR at individual and community level as well as enhanced service availability to adolescent girls and boys, empowering them to make healthy decisions that promote their sexual and reproductive health, rights, safety, and well-being and creating an enabling environment that ensures access to ASRH and GBV services. Despite the sensitivities of a GBV and SRHR intervention, this project was able to successfully reach the most vulnerable girls and boys and female and male youth in remote areas. The project will support awareness-raising initiatives targeting adolescents and youth, which will be designed in a participatory way. Adolescent/youth-friendly IEC materials will be developed together with adolescents and youth and disseminated, covering topics of SRHR and GBV, including CEFM, other harmful practices, and other forms of GBV; contraception; adolescent pregnancy and maternal health; STIs including HIV/AIDs, and menstrual hygiene and health management, as well as where and how to access SRHR and GBV service. In parallel to at-risk adolescents and youth participating in Life Skills, their male and female parents/caregivers will be engaged in Parenting Skills sessions. Plan and local partners will implement Plan’s multi-sectoral focused PSS Parenting Skills curriculum targeting par-ents/caregivers that helps strengthen their knowledge and skills related to SRHR and SGBV. It contains specific modules on CEFM and other forms of GBV as well as promoting gender equality. As with the “Life Skills for Protection” sessions, the Parenting Skills for Protection sessions will be separate for fathers and mothers (in order to remove barriers to participate and facilitate a safe space for women to discuss), while joint sessions and activities between mothers and fathers may also be organized as possible and relevant. Joint activities will also be organized between parents/caregivers and their children. Beneficiary selection is based on Plan’s vulnerability criteria and in consultation with the partner and includes: adolescent and youth who are at risk of or engaged in CEFM, pregnant adolescent girls and young women, adolescents and youth at risk of  and/or survivors of other forms of GBV, home bound adolescent girls and young women, and margin-alized adolescents and youth with limited access to education and basic services. The project will also target adolescent boys and young men and work to promote positive masculinity. The project will be implemented in  South Lebanon  int he cities of Tyre, Bezourieh and Khiam and their catchment areas. The project starts on January 1st 2020 and ends on December 31st, 2020. 
Plan International will work in partnership with Amel Association, who will be responsible for the implementation of project activities. Plan Lebanon will be responsible for the provision of capacity strengthening activities and guidance, financial, programmatic and monitoring support, and reporting from Plan International Netherlands and Plan International Germany. 
This project will continue with the same staffing structure as My Body My Rights Phase I, with the addition of the inclusion of CP staff to integrate CP capacity strengthening and activities into the project.
Plan Lebanon has previously conducted a baseline/endline assessment in South (Tyre, Be-zourieh and Khiam) during an ongoing project intervention in partnership with Amel Association. It focused on awareness of and access to SRH information and services, as well as social beliefs and norms regarding SRHR and GBV issues, including CEFM. The data and tools from this baseline/ endline will be used as supportive information for the upcoming project. To ensure the sustainability of the action, ongoing capacity-building of the project partner is a critical component of the proposed project. Amel has a long-term and ongoing presence in the project locations.  Through partnership with Plan under this project, the capacity of community facilitators to provide quality, gender-sensitive and adolescent-friendly services will be strengthened. The project team will participate in training and regular coaching and follow-up will be provided during the course of the action, to ensure the partner can continue implementing quali-ty, adolescent/youth-friendly, gender-responsive, and inclusive services after the project ends.
In addition, continued consultations with the target beneficiaries, strengthening community-based structures, and enhancing the agency for adolescent girls and boys, young women and men in their communities through the support of community-based initiatives will contribute to the local ownership of the project.
The  phasing out strategy will be developed with the participation of adolescents and youth, their parents/caregivers and fami-lies, communities, project partners, and other key stakeholders.