COVID-19 and Gender in Libya Assessment
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COVID-19 and Gender in Libya Assessment AJDABIYA | BANI WALID | SABHA | TOBRUQ | UBARI | ZLITEN December 2020 A volunteer delivers food and health kits to shielding and quarantined households. Women in Libya have been at the forefront of local efforts to manage the COVID-19 crisis. Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 2 Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ 3 General Recommendations ............................................................................................. 7 TOBRUQ ............................................................................................................................... 8 AJDABIYA .......................................................................................................................... 14 SABHA ................................................................................................................................ 19 UBARI ................................................................................................................................. 25 BANI WALID ....................................................................................................................... 29 ZLITEN ................................................................................................................................. 33 ANNEX 1: Methodology ................................................................................................... 37 COVID-19 and Gender in Libya Assessment | Dec-2020 | Peaceful Change initiative 1 Introduction This assessment is part of a new set of gender-focused activities implemented within Peaceful Change initiative (PCi)’s multi-year Social Peace and Local Development (SPLD) Libya programme, funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. The overall objective of the Gender and COVID-19 in Libya Assessment is to provide a granular understanding of the impact that COVID-19 has had on women and girls and gender dynamics in Libya. The assessment focused on understanding how COVID-19 affected target communities from a gender perspective across four key areas of research: (1) socio-economic impact; (2) gender roles and women’s leadership; (3) gender based violence; (4) conflict, peace and security. The assessment also sought to better understand women’s needs and priorities both during the pandemic and looking ahead to post- COVID-19 recovery, with a view to providing recommendations for future programming. Finally, it sought to understand the role and contribution of the Social Peace Partnerships, established by PCi, in local responses to manage the COVID-19 crisis. The assessment was commissioned by PCi and produced by the independent consultant Magda Mohamed Elsanousi. The data collection was carried out by PCi’s staff and Trainer Mentors in Libya in December 2020. The present report was edited by PCi. The findings contained in this report reflect the views and perceptions of those consulted in the assessment. More information about the assessment methodology is provided in Annex 1. COVID-19 and Gender in Libya Assessment | Dec-2020 | Peaceful Change initiative 2 Executive Summary This assessment provides a comprehensive picture of the impact that COVID-19 has had on Libyan communities, and Free of charge health more specifically on women and girls in the six Municipalities services are in high targeted by the project: Ajdabiya, Bani Walid, Sabha, demand and it is difficult Tobruq, Ubari and Zliten. The findings show a significant to obtain appointments degree of consistency across all target areas, suggesting on short notice. Access that communities in different regions of the country have to free of charge facilities experienced similar challenges throughout the pandemic. In is particularly most cases, these challenges were already present as a challenging for women result of the ongoing conflict, political and economic from displaced instability, and displacement, but were further exacerbated by COVID-19. communities who reside in the periphery due to Health Services the lack of accessible Public health services saw a deterioration since COVID-19, as transport and limited an already weak health system had to divert resources from financial resources. routine services towards managing the emergency. Local hospitals and facilities operated with inadequate equipment, insufficient supplies, and overstretched human resources. Women’s routine services such as reproductive The fear to be infected and mother and child health were reduced, while patients and transmit the virus to often avoided attending health facilities due to fear of family members led contracting the virus. Medications for chronic patients many female health became more expensive and harder to find, while the fees workers to take leave of private clinics increased. Many women resorted to from work. While it is Traditional Birth Attendance practices and families used relatively easy for male traditional medicine and self-medication at home. Pregnant health workers to self- isolate from the rest of women, the elderly, people with disabilities, and chronic the household, women’s patients were the most affected by the deterioration of reproductive role does health services. not allow them to give up As it is considered women’s role to care for children, the their day-to-day care elderly and ill family members, many female health workers duties. took leave as families were concerned that they could transmit the virus to more vulnerable relatives at home. This reduction in the number of female health workers had a secondary effect on women’s access to healthcare; as it is Access to technology is dependent on usually not accepted that women be treated by male affordability, as it requires doctors, a reduction in the number of female health workers families to pay for available meant that many women could not access health equipment and internet services when they needed them. subscriptions. Frequent Education and Skills Development power cuts and poor connectivity represented With a few exceptions, women, men, boys and girls have a large obstacle to the more or less equal access to technology; access depends implementation of mainly on the financial capacity of families to pay for distance education. equipment and internet subscriptions, as well as from the state of communication and power infrastructure. During COVID-19 and Gender in Libya Assessment | Dec-2020 | Peaceful Change initiative 3 lockdown and school closures, online education did not Small trade of represent a viable option to in-person attendance due to homemade food and poor connectivity and power cuts; the cost of internet sweets flourished as the subscriptions and computers also represented a key barrier closure of shops created for low-income families, including those from displaced a gap in the market that communities. Educational TV programmes represented a women were able to fill. resource to support learning at home during school closures. Some women capitalised Girls tended to use this time to enhance skills that are on emerging needs consistent with gender roles, such as sewing and handicrafts. during the lockdown and used their own cars for Income and Livelihoods deliveries of items to The majority of women in the informal sector, where they customers and for perform petty trade and traditional craft making, lost their transport of women to income due to increased prices of raw materials and inability their workplace. to market their products as a result of COVID-19 restrictions. Social media were used as an alternative online market in some cases, while other women started providing services Women in the public that were in demand during lockdown, such as deliveries of sphere were subject to home-made food. Businesswomen struggled to keep up with verbal abuse, sexual fixed costs and no revenue, particularly as women harassment, bullying, compared to men have fewer assets and savings, and hacking of their social limited access to credit. Widows, divorced women, women media profiles, and married to men without Libyan citizenship, women from policing of their online displaced communities, migrants, informal and casual activity. workers, and self-employed manual workers were identified as the groups that were most vulnerable to the economic shocks caused by COVID-19. Gender Based Violence Women survivors of Gender based violence (GBV), including domestic violence violence are usually incidents, increased since COVID-19. In some communities, forced to continue to live the topic is considered taboo and both men and women are with the perpetrators; reluctant to discuss it. GBV is commonly seen as a private they are supported by issue to be dealt with within the family and is addressed family members but outside the formal legal system, usually with the help of Elders rarely access justice and notables. Women are not encouraged to report GBV through the formal legal incidents to the police and they rarely do so. There was a system (police or courts). perception, particularly among male respondents, that GBV only exists in migrant communities. The police officers interviewed referred that most GBV cases are reported by foreign women. The absence of female police officers in Based on gender roles, many police stations is considered a barrier for women to women must prioritise report cases. Even when