"The support that Donor Direct Action provides is crucial because it is flexible. We find such grants very useful to fill gaps in our funding and it helps us take swift action on the ground to address emergency needs."
- Ghada Jabbour
KAFA (Enough) Violence and Exploitation
about
KAFA is a feminist non-profit working to advance gender equality and protect women, children and families from violence.
KAFA (enough) Violence & Exploitation is a feminist, secular, Lebanese, non-profit civil society organization founded in Beirut in 2005. KAFA advances gender equality by advocating for stronger laws and policies for women; influencing public opinion; conducting research and training; and empowering women and adolescents who are victims of violence, and providing them with social, legal, and psychological support.
KAFA’s three main focus areas are:
- Family violence
- Exploitation and trafficking in women, especially in migrant domestic workers and women in prostitution
- Child protection, particularly from sexual abuse and family violence
KAFA played a lead role in the passage of Lebanon’s law on family violence in 2014 (law 293) that penalizes family violence and offers protection measures to victims. Kafa is currently working on strengthening the text of the law, and on pressuring the parliament to adopt a secular personal status code that ensures equality between men and women. Kafa is also working to abolish the sponsorship/Kafala system in Lebanon that enslaves women migrant domestic workers who constitute the largest female force in Lebanon. Kafa also works towards abolishing the prostitution system that exploits thousands of women in Lebanon. KAFA advocates for the adoption of a legal framework that decriminalizes persons in prostitution and offers them support, while penalizing the profiteers, i.e. the traffickers and pimps, the industry, and the sex buyers.
Since its establishment, Kafa has served thousands of women victims of violence through operating a support center, a helpline, and a shelter. In parallel, Kafa works to build public opinion against structures that perpetuate violence against women, and builds the capacity of different groups including thousands of police officers on issues related to family violence, sexual exploitation, and trafficking in women.
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Ghada Jabbour
KAFA Co-Founder
Mission
KAFA works to eliminate all forms of gender-based violence and exploitation and build a society that is free of social, economic and legal patriarchal structures that discriminate against women.
Featured Story
ORO's Story
By: DDA | Feb 2, 2021
When I lived in Ethiopia I had heard of many Ethiopian women who travelled to Lebanon for work to support their families. Like them, I also wanted to provide for my children, pay for their school fees, and buy them clothes and shoes. My husband spent most of the money on alcohol and I could not rely on him. So I approached an Ethiopian recruitment agency looking for work as a domestic worker in Lebanon.
