The Dream Project

Everyone has a dream.

But some are more able to fulfil their dreams than others; those with money, an education, and the right connections. Those who are not discriminated against on the grounds of gender, race, nationality, or any other basis.

Syrian women in Lebanon are systematically excluded from opportunities by a combination of poverty, patriarchal oppression, and their status as refugees.

Through The Dream Project, we are tackling marginalisation, through working with ten refugee women to take the first, most difficult steps on the path to realising their professional ambitions.

How it works:

• Support is focussed on participant’s professional ambitions and creating step by step plans to work towards them.

• The budget covers either training costs for women, or to support volunteering in order to gain experience in their chosen dream career. Women living in poverty cannot afford to work for free.

• Makani is using our networks to find and secure opportunities for participants.

• The programme also includes ongoing mentoring, covering CV writing, and interview practice, amongst other skills.

Not only is this project helping ten women to start on the path towards fulfilling their dreams, but supporting them to become trailblazers, challenging restrictive stereotypes of what Syrian women can do, both within their communities and in the wider Lebanese context. You can see some of these incredible women turning their dreams into reality below.