SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

SDG 8 is aimed at promoting sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all. LAU is actively contributing to SDG 8 through its commitment to gender equality and inclusivity, by adhering not only to the Lebanese labor law, but also to Title IX, an American education amendment designed to eliminate gender-based discrimination. LAU’s Gender Equality Plan, launched in line with Title IX, reflects its dedication to creating an educational environment where all individuals, regardless of gender, can access quality education and equitable employment opportunities. Additionally, LAU’s efforts to achieve equity in pay scales across genders further underscore its commitment to SDG 8’s principles of promoting economic growth, equality, and decent work, ensuring that no one is left behind in the pursuit of decent work and economic advancement.

Wage Dynamics Post–Covid-19 and Wage-Price Spiral Risks

The Department of Economics at LAU is hosting a seminar titled: “Wage Dynamics Post–Covid-19 and Wage-Price Spiral Risks” by Dr. Silvia Albrizio, Economist at IMF.

Inflation has reached a 40-year high in some economies. Although wage growth has generally stayed below inflation so far, some observers warn that prices and wages could start feeding off each other, with wage and price inflation ratcheting up in a sustained wage-price spiral. This World Economic Outlook chapter examines past and recent wage dynamics and sheds light on prospects. Similar historical episodes were not followed by wage-price spirals on average. Analysis highlights that more backward-looking expectations require stronger and more frontloaded monetary tightening to reduce risks of inflation de-anchoring. Risks of a sustained wage-price spiral appear limited since underlying inflation shocks come from outside the labor market and monetary policy is tightening aggressively.

The Role of Social Spending and Financial Inclusion in Fostering Inclusive Economic Growth in the MENA Region

A seminar held by AKSOB’s Department of Economics and the International Monetary Fund invited experts to analyze economic challenges in the MENA region and advocate for inclusive growth.

Numerous challenges have impeded achieving the eighth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on decent work and economic growth.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the cost of living, monetary policies and mounting debts in developing nations has proven to be a setback to the growth of the economy globally.

To that end, in a seminar titled Promoting Inclusive Growth in the MENA Region: The Role of Social Spending and Financial Inclusion, the Department of Economics at the Adnan Kassar School of Business, in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) assembled experts and economists to examine the economic trials facing the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Chair of the Department of Economics at LAU, Associate Professor of Economics Ali Fakih was joined by Associate Professor of Economics at AUB Leila Dagher and President of the Lebanese Business Leaders Association Nicolas Boukather in the seminar moderated by Assistant Professor of Economics at LAU Hassan Sherry.

The department invited IMF’s Senior Economist Adolfo Barajas, Deputy Division Chief Anastasia Guscina and Mauritania Representative Anta Ndoye to discuss its approach in the MENA region, underscoring the urgency to yield high returns to growth by classifying social spending.

Together, the scholars and IMF representatives explored strategies to foster sustainable and inclusive economic growth through the lens of a recent IMF book on inclusive growth, highlighting the relationship between social spending, financial inclusion and inclusive growth in the region.

During the seminar, Dr. Fakih expounded on the critical role of the aforementioned aspects in empowering individuals and marginalized groups, reducing inequality – mainly in rural areas – and driving sustainable development.

As the participants engaged in discussion, they drew attention to how the “book was part of a series of events leading up to the annual IMF and World Bank meetings in Morocco,” said Frederico Lima, IMF resident representative for Lebanon. “The main focus of these meetings and events is about inclusive growth and how to generate that in the MENA region, especially in Lebanon, as it faces dire social, political and financial challenges.”

Dr. Sherry noted that recent global events, such as the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, had prompted the IMF to reconsider its approach to economic policies. “This book perhaps indicates some type of departure from traditional practices,” he said, emphasizing the importance of social protection systems, financial inclusion and addressing climate change.

The IMF team shared insights into the indispensable role of social spending and financial inclusion in economic development.

“Social spending can be thought of as a key policy that the governments must address in promoting economic equities and inclusive growth through prioritizing spending with the highest returns to growth,” said Dr. Guscina. Hence, IMF programs can stipulate a minimum floor of social spending for each country to ensure that the adjustment is socially sustainable and inclusive growth is protected.

Regarding financial inclusion, noted Dr. Barajas, decades of empirical analysis have shown that greater access to types of financial services has a measurable impact at the micro level on households and firms.

With a Q&A drawing the seminar to a close, Dr. Fakih and Dr. Dagher addressed the IMF’s role in creating fiscal space for social spending and improving access to finance for small legal enterprises in the MENA region.

“Financial inclusion over the last two or three years has decreased substantially, so much so that we are facing difficulty funding essential goods for services such as education,” said Dr. Fakih. “It is significant to reform the current social spending in order to come up with different strategies to fund essential services.”

The drawback in establishing a sustainable and inclusive social protection program in Lebanon, noted Dr. Dagher, is the lack of a comprehensive digital social registry and integrated database to ensure inclusivity.  

“A large-scale digital social registry, a comprehensive, integrated registry that includes both Lebanese and non-Lebanese formal and informal sectors is a prerequisite for an inclusive social protection scheme,” she said.

For Dr. Boukather, the need for effective leadership and communication to regain trust in Lebanon’s economic ecosystem makes the IMF report and its potential to restore confidence from international partners all the more urgent.

Invitations to apply to the 2023 IMF Youth Fellowship Program were extended to participants so that they would get further opportunities to engage in akin discussions and workshops, as well as attend the World Bank and IMF annual meetings in Marrakesh taking place in October.

Assessing the Progress of Arab States Toward the Sustainable Development Goals: The Role of Social Expenditures

A seminar held by AKSOB’s Department of Economics brings to light the report on Social Expenditure Monitor for Arab States, jointly produced by ESCWA, the UNDP and UNICEF.

While countries worldwide strive to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that call for building economic growth, addressing social needs equitably and preserving our planet, the Arab States lag behind. To redress the situation, they would need to effectively rebalance their priorities, focus on social expenditure, and improve their public financial management.

How to go about these reforms was the topic of a seminar organized by the Department of Economics at the Adnan Kassar School of Business (AKSOB) on March 29 – as part of its  Economics and Public Policy Seminar Series – which discussed the Social Expenditure Monitor for Arab States report released by The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

The Department of Economics invited ESCWA’s Senior Economic Affairs Officer, report lead author and coordinator Niranjan Sarangi, Research Assistant Dana Hamdan, and Economic Affairs Officer Jan Gaska to present the report and discuss its main findings and recommendations. They were joined by Advisor to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Bureau for Arab States Rania Uwaydah.

At the seminar, experts discussed the latest developments and trends in social policy spending in the Arab region, as well as the obstacles and prospects for achieving the SDGs.

“Despite significant progress made by some Arab countries in social development and spending, persistent poverty, inequality, and social exclusion remain a challenge for others in the region,” noted Associate Professor and the department’s Chairperson Ali Fakih. “Against this backdrop, social policy spending has become a critical tool for enhancing social protection, promoting human capital, enhancing productivity and growth, upholding human rights, and reducing poverty and inequality.”

“The Social Expenditure Monitor report stands as a pioneering assessment of social spending in the Arab region which is intended to galvanize progress across the SDGs,” noted Dr. Sarangi. “Social spending is a pillar of the wellbeing of individuals and society, an engine of progress in the fields of education and health, and a way to protect vulnerable groups. The report’s recommendations support Arab countries in devising strong budgets and in making expenditure choices more equitable, efficient and effective to ensure that no one is left behind,” he highlighted.

Data on social expenditure by country is provided as a guideline for needed reforms. It can be used by each Arab State and its decision-makers to develop reliable budgets and formulate more equitable, efficient and sustainable fiscal policies. The study on Lebanon is among those that have already been completed, based on publicly available budgets.

An analysis of the equity, efficiency, and effectiveness of fiscal policy and budgeting in the Arab region revealed that the average public social expenditure of Arab States on health, education, and social protection, as a share of GDP, is lower than the world average. This is concerning for achieving the SDGs and ensuring inclusive and sustainable growth.

The Social Expenditure Monitor report proposes a new approach for monitoring social expenditures across seven dimensions aligned with the SDGs: Education; health and nutrition; housing, connectivity and community amenities; labor market interventions and employment generation; social protection, subsidies and support to farms; arts, culture and sports; and environmental protection.

Through detailed data and analysis, the report aims to optimize links between expenditure choices and macroeconomic objectives, provide a basis for better statistics, and strengthen advocacy for much-needed fiscal policy reforms to meet various objectives crucial for macroeconomic and social stability.

Arab countries would have to build their budgets by rebalancing priorities toward improved public financial management. An 11-point agenda in the report reinforces these findings and offers suggestions for increasing social spending while ensuring economic sustainability.

In increasing social spending and fiscal sustainability, a certain number of policy consequences or implications must be considered, prominent among them being public financial management (PFM).

A solid PFM system, explained Uwaydah, guarantees that governmental policies are properly executed and that associated development objectives are accomplished. Ensuring that the funds received actually reach their destination and policy decisions are implemented to achieve the relevant development goals is critical, especially at a time of considerable resource constraints.

The Social Expenditure Monitor for Arab States seminar provided a comprehensive evaluation of the social policy expenditures in the Arab region to enhance their performance toward the SDGs. The recommendations in the report are intended to help Arab nations develop reliable budgets and make more equitable, efficient, and effective expenditure decisions to ensure inclusivity and sustainable development. They further highlight the need to invest in human capital in order to support future development.

The discussion was an opportunity for students to learn about experts’ perspectives and the issues related to the impact of social spending in the Arab World. A cooperative discussion following the main presentations, said Dr. Fakih, “certainly played an important role in improving their networking and communication skills as well as renewing their confidence and motivation to enhance their knowledge in the specific areas addressed.”

LAU Adopts a Strategic Approach to its Gender Equality Policies

The Title IX Office launches a Gender Equality Plan that will assess and fine-tune the university’s existing policies and procedures to foster gender equality across the LAU community.

Since 2018, the Title IX Office at LAU has been instrumental in promoting the university’s zero-tolerance policy for discrimination of any kind, sexual assault or harassment, gender inequality and exclusion.

Noting the need for a strategic approach to ensure that it is not only in compliance with international guidelines and practices, but also that it champions gender equality in the Arab region, the university is launching a Gender Equality Plan under the auspices of LAU President Michel E. Mawad and Title IX Director Jennifer Skulte-Ouaiss.

In this interview, Dr. Skulte-Ouaiss sheds light on the plan, what it involves, and desired outcomes.

What are the objectives of LAU’s Gender Equality Plan?

The objectives of the LAU Gender Equality Plan are to assess existing policies and procedures for how they support or do not support gender equality at the university; identify and implement innovative strategies to correct any bias; and set clear targets and monitor progress via indicators. It aims to answer these questions: How are we supporting gender equality at LAU? What are our specific goals about gender equality? What are the steps we need to take to meet those goals? And lastly, how will we be accountable to meeting our goals?

Thus, while this is our first Gender Equality Plan, just like a Strategic Plan, it won’t be our last. Here I do want to note that we are starting from an expansive definition of gender equality, not only in terms of equality between women and men, but all genders as well as related identities such as sexual orientation. We define gender equality as when people of all genders have equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities.

Is the plan inherent to Title IX or an LAU initiative?

It is definitely tied closely to Title IX, but it is not a requirement for Title IX compliance. A Gender Equality Plan for LAU was first proposed by Dr. Lina Abirafeh, executive director of the Arab Institute for Women (AiW), and the creation of a Title IX Office in 2018 was part of that proposal. Then, in 2020, the AiW, together with Title IX, spearheaded a push to expand parental leave – a key aspect of gender equality in the workplace – at the university.

Under the umbrella of the MEPI grant, Equality for All, Title IX and AiW worked to get support for expanded maternity and paternity leave, with HR taking over the specifics of how and when this would be rolled out at LAU. With this success, it seemed clear that there is a will at the institution to reflect on where and how we are promoting gender equality as well as how we can do better.

Making progress on gender equality benefits us all, as gender becomes one aspect of who we are instead of a key factor defining what we can and cannot do or achieve.

Couldn’t the plan be launched sooner?

To do more than a perfunctory Gender Equality Plan takes a lot of preparation and knowledge. I really learned about Title IX through founding the office at LAU. While my prior work in political science did include research and teaching on gender, I was not a Title IX expert from the start.

Similarly, I have had to really immerse myself not only in Title IX – undergoing significant training in the US as well as continuously seeking out best practices and fine-tuning LAU policies and processes – but also to learn how to conduct a successful Gender Equality Plan process. There is no set roadmap for how this should take place at LAU and I, along with close partners such as colleagues at the AiW, want to make the most of this opportunity.

Did the complaints the Title IX Office has had to handle prompt the need to assess and revise LAU’s existing policies? 

There have been Title IX complaints from all parts of the community (faculty, students, and staff) on a fairly regular basis, but they have never been overwhelming. Rather, it is trainings and workshops on gender-based discrimination and harassment, in addition to the nature of the complaints and research on gender-based discrimination and harassment in the workplace and in university settings – in Lebanon and globally – that have pushed us to do a thorough assessment. We’re good and we want to be better on gender.

How is the process structured and how long is it likely to take? 

The process is composed of two phases, which will take about a year: Audit/self-assessment and the creation of the plan. In both phases, the committee will reach out to all LAU stakeholders to get their experiences with and insights on how LAU currently supports gender equality and how we can become the leader for gender equality in the country and the region.

This will be done through surveys, interviews, and focus groups involving students, faculty, staff, alumni, and even the Board of Trustees. The committee will keep President Mawad apprised of its activities along the way and then make its recommendations in the form of a Draft Gender Equality Plan. Implementation of the Draft Plan will be subject to discussions with LAU’s leadership and functional units. This is definitely an ambitious process.

Will the reports and findings generated along the way be shared with any entity outside of LAU? 

The gender audit/assessment phase will be an internal document. We want LAU stakeholders to feel confident that they can be candid in their assessment of the institution even if that means being critical. However, it is important that we share summary information with external partners and those interested in conducting such a process at their institutions.

In the second phase, we will be more open with the larger community outside LAU in communicating our goals to make progress on gender equality.

Here I want to emphasize that I think LAU supports gender equality in many ways, most notably in the education of students. If we want to continue to support gender equality, we need to do a self-assessment, which LAU has a good track record in doing, for accreditation purposes, for example. So, I am confident that the committee President Mawad and I put together will do the hard work necessary so that the institution comes out all the better for it in 2023.  

What impact do you hope the completion of such a plan will have on LAU and beyond? 

I would like LAU to become the reference for Lebanon and the region for how a university can be a leader in mainstreaming gender throughout the curriculum while also supporting gender equality through its policies and behavior.

LAU had its beginnings as a school for girls and then as the first higher education institution in the MENA focused on women. We have an obligation to our past, to our current students, faculty, and staff, and to the future of Lebanon and the region, to honor our past and work continuously for a better future. A future where we truly no longer tolerate discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation as well as religion, race, (dis)ability, etc. and provide the opportunity for individuals to reach their full potential.

This interview has been edited and condensed for the sake of clarity.

About Title IX - Equity and Inclusion at LAU

What is Title IX?

Title IX is a 1972 education amendment to the American Civil Rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity. The main goal of Title IX is to avoid the use of federal money to support sex discrimination in education programs and to provide individual citizens effective protection against those practices.

Title IX applies to all aspects of federally funded education programs or activities. In addition to traditional educational institutions such as colleges, universities, and elementary and secondary schools, Title IX also applies to any education or training program operated by a recipient of federal financial assistance. Title IX seeks to ensure that there is equal access to education regardless of gender. Over time, this has come to be understood as not only prohibiting discrimination, harassment and sexual assault at educational institutions but also working to address long-term structural inequalities and obstacles hindering education progress.

Who and What are included?

While Title IX has a particular focus on students, it also includes all individuals who work for educational institutions. All employees (staff, faculty, etc.) are protected by and responsible for implementing Title IX.

Title IX also applies to the physical space of the institution. All visitors to schools, college and university campuses must also adhere to Title IX. In other words, all gender discrimination and harassment are prohibited at educational institutions that receive US Federal Government funding.

Why does LAU adhere to Title IX?

LAU is both a Lebanese and an American university. It is registered by both governments and seeks to comply with all applicable laws. LAU also receives research funding, scholarships and other grants from the US Federal Government.

Beyond compliance, LAU’s mission and values highlight the importance to “respect human dignity, promote gender equality, and be inclusive” and LAU is rooted in the core liberal arts beliefs that all individuals who seek to study and work to the best of their abilities should have the opportunity to do so. In addition, individuals are unique with unique capabilities and interests—this diversity makes LAU richer and better able to live up to its vision. Committing to implementing Title IX helps LAU to:

• Provide access to a superior education for diverse undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners;
• Attract and retain distinguished faculty who excel in teaching, research and community service;
• Enroll and retain academically qualified and diverse students;
• Embrace liberal arts in all curricula;
• Create opportunities for rigorous research and the dissemination of knowledge;
• Develop a close-knit community that excels academically, is intellectually stimulating, and is religiously, ethnically and socio-economically diverse;
• Attract and retain a highly qualified staff committed to excellence in service.

LAU’s Title IX Office focuses on five components to comply with Title IX regulations:

1. Compliance: It seeks to ensure LAU is compliant with Title IX policies and procedures of the Department of Education and US Federal Law.
2. Policy Recommendations: The Title IX Office reviews and makes recommendations for revision of LAU policies and procedures to better meet the requirements of Title IX—eliminating discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct.
3. Advocacy and Support for Equity & Inclusion: the Office seeks to provide advocacy and support for greater equity and inclusion at LAU through participating in university committees, meeting with and participating in club activities, and keeping an active communications campaign on campus, among other means.
4. Training: The Title IX Office is responsible for providing on-going training for students, staff, and faculty regarding rights and responsibilities of gender equity and inclusion and the prohibition of discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct.
5. Complaints Management: The Office is the main office receiving and participating in investigations of complaints of gender discrimination, harassment, and sexual misconduct.