Lebanon endured a devastating 15-year civil war and has often been caught in the crossfire of regional conflicts. The country  currently hosts more than 450,000 Palestinian refugees and close to one million Syrian refugees, three-fourths of them women and children. Despite the fact that women in Lebanon bore the brunt of the war over generations, they have been excluded from conflict prevention activities and the peace-making process. Nonetheless, they are advancing for change.

Sara Hamano was initially assigned in 2018 to the United Nations Resident Coordinator's Office in Belgrade, Serbia, as a UN Volunteer Development Assistant Associate. She later moved to the Environment Unit of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), with a mandate to tackle low awareness of environmental sustainability among industry and consumers in Serbia. Two years on, she shares her experience.