As war and displacement continue to affect daily life across South Lebanon, local communities are turning to emerging leaders for support and guidance. Among these leaders are women mediators, trained to resolve conflicts, ease tensions through dialogue, and champion non-violent communication. Many of these women gained their skills through UN Women’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) programme in the Arab States, implemented with International Alert and the Professional Mediation Center at Saint Joseph University, with funding from Finland. Their work provides crucial spaces where fear, overcrowding, and economic strain do not escalate into conflict.
In the Tyre area, displacement caused isolation and mistrust between host and displaced communities, weakening social bonds. Women in particular experienced profound loneliness and pressure while navigating uncertainty, trauma, and day-to-day responsibilities. Through sessions led by women mediators, participants like Zeina, a university teacher, received training in active listening, positive communication, mediation, and psychosocial support. These workshops offered safe spaces for stress management, emotional release, and healing, allowing participants to regain stability and resilience.
The Supporting Women in Crisis project, implemented by the Charitable Intellectual Development Association (CIDA) and funded by Korea under the Advancing the WPS Agenda programme, enabled mediators to apply lessons from prior training to urgent crisis contexts. Mediators’ experience and community ties allowed them to act quickly and effectively, treating participants as partners in dialogue rather than passive beneficiaries. By sharing their own experiences and vulnerabilities, mediators built trust and connection with women navigating displacement.
The impact of these sessions was tangible. Participants reported improved communication, reduced tension, and enhanced emotional coping skills. Skills learned during the workshops spread beyond individual participants to families, workplaces, and broader community interactions, fostering conflict resolution and social cohesion. Maria Geagea, project manager at International Alert Lebanon, highlighted that these effects extend far beyond immediate crisis response, shaping how communities manage stress and resolve disputes over time.
Despite ongoing hostilities, mediators reached around 90 women from both displaced and host communities, empowering them to facilitate dialogue and recovery. Years of prior investment in training women mediators between 2019 and 2025 proved essential when conflict intensified, allowing mediators to adapt their approach to psychosocial support, communication, and tension reduction in shelters. Continued investment, follow-up sessions, and strong links with local institutions are necessary to sustain this impact.
Women mediators in South Lebanon illustrate a model for sustainable peace. By helping others move from isolation to participation and from stress to agency, they transform how communities respond to conflict and crisis. Each woman trained in emotional awareness, active listening, and non-violent conflict management becomes a multiplier of these practices within her environment. For participants like Zeina, the sessions restored a sense of choice and control, enabling her to model constructive responses for students, colleagues, and family. This initiative demonstrates how supporting local women strengthens both humanitarian and peacebuilding efforts, embedding dialogue and resilience at the heart of community cohesion.
