Khalil Daoud is helping women in Lebanon attain better jobs and greater presence in the country as he gives all citizens a postal service operator they can depend upon in their daily lives.

Khalil has served as Chairman and Managing Director of LibanPost, the privately owned and exclusive operator of Lebanon’s postal services, since 2002.

Today, the company is not only responsible for delivering mail, it has situated itself as the country’s “Daily Life Facilitator”. That means citizens have a place to carry out a wide range of financial transactions — from money transfers to making loan payments to paying traffic tickets. LibanPost has also streamlined Lebanese citizens’ dealings with 15 Government agencies and entities, which let the nearly 100 LibanPost branches around the county handle vital interactions. The arrangement helps cultivate efficiency and good governance.

As part of his massive internal reorganization, Khalil launched the “Gender Parity through the Post” project. This project advances Sustainable Development Goal 5 on Gender Equality and received the “World Post & Parcel Award 2018” — recognizing best practices in the global mail and express industry — in the Corporate Social Responsibility category.

Khalil’s comprehensive push for gender parity placed women in jobs they had never held before — driving cars or motorcycles to deliver mail and packages or running a distribution center. Women have been placed in positions all along the organizational hierarchy. He introduced work-life balance initiatives. Khalil believes the project helped shift strongly held unconscious cultural biases, especially important in a region where women’s rights can be denied.

And to heighten awareness of women’s contributions to Lebanon, LibanPost issued a series of six stamps: “Women Pioneers”.

LibanPost is also advancing Sustainable Development Goal 8 on Decent Work and Economic Growth by operating as a profitable company offering full legal rights and benefits to its employees. To keep advancing this Goal, Khalil has launched new services rooted in the principles of decency and equality and is moving toward partnerships to employ disabled people.

By being a “Daily Life Facilitator”, the company advances Sustainable Development Goal 16 on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions as it acts as an intermediary between the Government and its citizens. This helps curb corruption and improves the delivery of services in several ministries. At the request of other postal services in the region, Khalil is laying out the advantages of positioning a postal service as an intermediary counter between Government officials and citizens as a way to reduce corruption

To extend awareness of LibanPost’s work with women, Khalil has participated in several conferences and panels on gender parity and the company produced a film that portrays women at work throughout the organization. Women gained visibility when LibanPost served as a pilot site for the nationwide gender equality study launched by the Lebanese League of Women in Business and the International Labor Organization in 2018.

Working with the Ministry of Telecommunications since 1998, LibanPost is one of the rare public-private partnerships in Lebanon. It has joined forces with the Lebanese Transparency Association and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to raise awareness about successful partnerships. This advocacy advances Sustainable Development Goal 17 on Partnerships for the Goals and recommendations for partnerships are laid out in a booklet.

LibanPost has been participating in the UN Global Compact since 2014 and has integrated the Ten Principals of the UN Global Compact into its business strategy. It abides by Lebanese labor law, has enforced a non-smoking regulation in a country where “no smoking” laws do not apply, and trains its drivers in road safety.

LibanPost is a founding member of the Global Compact Network Lebanon and an active member of its Steering Committee. To inspire young people, Khalil helped organize a competition, “Environmate”. It aims to find, fund and support young entrepreneurs with creative ideas that address Lebanon’s most urgent energy and environmental challenges. LibanPost also participated in two anti-corruption training workshops organized in collaboration with UNDP.