Josephine Zgheib

Josephine Zgheib was a parliamentary candidate in 2022 with "Sarkhet Watan"  in Keserwan, Mount Lebanon. In the 2018 elections, she was a social activist in the "Kulluna Watani" campaign. She has been a member of the Kfardebian city council since 2010, and in 2016, she was re-elected for a second term. As a local woman leader, she developed and implemented environmental and ecotourism programs and launched a women’s development prototype bureau in her city, which has now expanded to 12 bureaus across Lebanon.

Zgheib is a young social entrepreneur. After a two-year trip touring 45 countries while backpacking and spreading a message of peace and acceptance, she founded the Beity Association and Auberge Beity in 2004. Auberge Beity is a youth hostel and an incubator for social development and rural tourism activities. She is a certified trainer in communication, leadership, social accountability, fighting corruption, and citizenship.

Zgheib has served as the General Secretary of the Lebanese Youth Hostel Federation since 2009 and is the Vice President of the Arab Network for Social Accountability (ANSA), a network of activists from seven Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries funded by the World Bank. She is also a board member of the Lebanon Eco Movement Network, which includes more than 60 NGOs dedicated to protecting the Lebanese environment, and a board member of the MEPI-LAA (Middle East Partnership Initiative-Lebanese Alumni Association). Zgheib holds a Bachelor's degree in Physical Therapy from Notre Dame University of Lebanon, a Master's degree in Leadership and Management from the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture of Beirut, and a PhD in Local Development from the University of Birmingham in the UK