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Partners: UNDP Lebanon
As part of the UNDP Masarouna regional programme, we carried out a participatory safety audit in Karantina, centring the everyday experiences of women and adolescent girls accessing Karantina Governmental Hospital. Building on years of sustained community engagement, we formed a diverse audit team of 35 women and girls of different ages, nationalities, and backgrounds.
"I didn’t realise how much I changed my route just to feel safe until we walked and mapped it together. There are streets I avoid automatically, because they’re dark, the sidewalk is blocked, or there is no clear way to move through them. Seeing it all on the map made it much clearer."
The research combined neighbourhood safety walks, participatory photography, mapping, and a large focus group discussion. Women and girls identified the routes they regularly use—and those they avoid—revealing how lighting, sidewalk obstruction, poor maintenance, visibility, cleanliness, and lack of wayfinding shape their sense of safety.
The process also highlighted how perceptions of risk shift depending on age, time of day, and social identity, and how certain infrastructures, such as the pedestrian bridge, are used out of necessity despite being widely perceived as unsafe.
Beyond documenting physical conditions, the audit created space for collective reflection and analysis. Participatory mapping enabled women and girls to visualise spatial inequalities, compare routes, and articulate their right to safe and accessible public space. The findings now inform targeted recommendations for urban improvements, grounding future action in lived experience and local knowledge.
"We don’t choose the bridge because it feels safe—we use it because we have no other option. If you want to reach the hospital or cross the highway, this is the only way."
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