FEMALE is honored to be named the 2026 Laureate of the Ghazal Foundation and Fondation de France Peace & Conflict Prevention Prize under this year’s theme, “Peace at Home.” This recognition honors our ongoing commitment to combating violence against women and girls and advancing safety, dignity, and coexistence within families and communities across Lebanon.
Out of five nominated organizations—FEMALE, ABAAD, KAFA, RDFL, and LECORVAW—FEMALE was selected by an independent jury in recognition of our impactful fieldwork, feminist advocacy, and unwavering commitment to building peace through justice and gender equality.
The award was received during a ceremony and cocktail organized by the Ghazal Foundation at Saint Joseph University, where FEMALE was represented by board members Roua Dandachi and Veronica Akoury, who received the prize on behalf of the organization.
As a joint initiative of the Ghazal Foundation and the Fondation de France, this award reflects Global recognition of FEMALE’s work both within Lebanon and beyond, highlighting the importance of feminist approaches to peacebuilding, gender justice, and survivor-centered support in building safer and more equitable societies.
For us, this award is a recognition of a fundamental truth: peace cannot exist where violence persists. Peace begins at home, in relationships free from abuse, in families where dignity and respect prevail, and in communities where women and girls can live safely and exercise their rights without fear.
This recognition reflects FEMALE’s longstanding work to prevent and respond to gender-based violence, particularly domestic violence, which remains one of the most pervasive forms of violence against women in Lebanon. Through direct support services, legal assistance, advocacy efforts, and awareness campaigns, FEMALE works to ensure that survivors have access to protection, justice, and the resources needed to rebuild their lives.
Since 2019, FEMALE has operated a dedicated support line for survivors of violence against women and girls. While the organization is widely recognized for its pioneering work addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence, a significant portion of the support provided through the line also responds to domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence affecting women across Lebanon.
Every case begins with listening.
Through the support line, survivors can safely share their experiences and receive confidential, survivor-centered support tailored to their needs. Based on a comprehensive assessment, FEMALE’s team develops an individualized response plan that may include psychosocial support, legal consultation, referrals, and continuous follow-up.
Recognizing that access to justice is often one of the greatest challenges survivors face, FEMALE established its Legal Department to strengthen legal protection and accountability mechanisms for women experiencing violence. The department provides legal consultations, supports survivors in understanding their rights and available options, assists in preparing complaints and legal documents, and accompanies survivors throughout legal and administrative procedures.
The support offered extends beyond immediate intervention. FEMALE’s team provides continuous follow-up and case management, ensuring that survivors receive accompaniment throughout the process and are not left to navigate legal and institutional systems alone.
While direct support and legal assistance remain central to FEMALE’s work, lasting change also requires addressing the social norms, narratives, and systems that enable violence to persist. Through feminist advocacy, awareness campaigns, public discussions, media engagement, and policy work, FEMALE advocates for stronger protections against gender-based violence and works to promote a culture of equality, accountability, and non-violence. This commitment extends to legislative reform, including FEMALE’s leadership in developing and advocating for Lebanon’s first Digital Safety Law for Women and Girls an innovative initiative designed to strengthen legal protections and accountability mechanisms in response to technology-facilitated gender-based violence and to advance safer digital spaces and strengthen survivors’ access to protection and justice.
This commitment extends to the media sphere through Sharika Wa Laken, FEMALE’s independent regional feminist news platform. Through feminist journalism, investigative reporting, podcasts, and multimedia storytelling, the platform documents and analyzes gender-based violence, women’s access to justice, personal status laws, reproductive rights, and other forms of legal and institutional discrimination across the SWANA region. By covering issues often overlooked by mainstream media, including domestic violence, custody injustice, attacks on women journalists and activists, and the gendered impacts of war and occupation, Sharika Wa Laken amplifies marginalized voices, influences public debate, and contributes to broader efforts toward justice, accountability, and social change.
Among the platform’s most impactful initiatives is the podcast series 2osas Hayat, which documents the lived experiences of women confronting domestic violence, custody injustice, religious court discrimination, and cross-border child abduction. By combining personal testimony with analysis of the legal and institutional systems that shape these experiences, the series has helped bring complex issues of gender justice to wider audiences. The strong engagement generated by the podcast and the fact that additional women later approached the platform seeking to share their own stories demonstrates the importance of creating trusted feminist spaces where survivors can be heard, documented, and supported.
The Peace & Conflict Prevention Prize highlights an essential reality: gender justice is inseparable from peacebuilding. Domestic violence is not a private matter confined to individual households. It is a societal issue that undermines safety, equality, and social cohesion. Building peace at home requires addressing violence in all its forms, supporting survivors, and creating systems that promote accountability and justice.
Peace at home means more than the absence of conflict. It means homes free from violence, communities that support survivors rather than silence them, and institutions capable of delivering protection and accountability. It means creating the conditions in which women and girls can live safely, exercise their rights, and participate fully in society.
As we receive this recognition, we reaffirm our commitment to working toward a Lebanon where every woman and girl can live free from violence and where peace begins not only as an aspiration, but as a lived reality in every home and community.
This recognition belongs to every survivor who trusted us with her story, every woman whose voice we amplify, and every member of our team, network, and community who works tirelessly to advance feminist justice, challenge violence, and build safer, more equitable, and violence-free communities across Lebanon.
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