Photo courtesy GATE Lebanon, © RET Germany

Article by Carine Harouny, Operations and Communications Officer for GATE Lebanon, RET Germany’s local implementing partner

AKKAR, LEBANON – A vocational training course on data entry and digital work readiness at the “Connect Global” Center in Halba equipped women with the digital and practical skills needed to improve their employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. The course was delivered as part of a BMZ-funded project implemented by RET Germany in partnership with GATE Lebanon.

A total of 17 young women successfully completed the training. The course covered essential computer and digital skills, data entry using Google Sheets and Excel, and English language skills for the workplace. Participants also built professional communication, time management and teamwork skills, and learned to handle digital administrative tasks and e-commerce.

Together, these topics give participants a practical base for office-based and online work, as well as for running small businesses.

Photo courtesy GATE Lebanon, © RET Germany

The course is one of several efforts by RET Germany and GATE Lebanon to widen options for women and youth in Akkar. In recent weeks, the two organizations also equipped eight local associations and cooperatives across Akkar with solar energy systems to keep them productive during power cuts, and ran hands-on mosaic art training that gave participants new skills with income potential. Taken together, these activities pair practical training with the support people need to put new skills to use.

The project “Improving Food Security, Livelihoods, and the Inclusion of Women and Vulnerable Groups, and Promoting Gender Equality in North Lebanon,” funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany (BMZ) and implemented by RET Germany in partnership with GATE Lebanon.

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Want to learn more about our work in Lebanon and other countries? Check out our latest articles:

• Digital Skills for Work: Women in Akkar, Lebanon Train in Data Entry and E-Commerce
• Catch Up with RET (October 2026)
• How Vocational Training Is Helping Girls in D.R. Congo Rebuild
• The Legacy Continues: What the BMZ and RET Germany Project Left behind in North Kivu, D.R. Congo
• Mosaic Art Training Opens New Doors for Women in Akkar, North Lebanon

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