About us

The Humanitarian Group for Social Development (HGSD), a non-governmental non-profit organization based in Lebanon, was founded in 1993 and registered under No-DA-324. We are a small, independent policy-advocacy NGO taking a rights-based approach towards poverty eradication and environmental protection. 

 We believe that the rules of global trade are tweaked in the favour of the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor and the environment. Therefore we work towards a sustainable trading system that advances economic justice, social well-being, gender equity and ecological sustainability, and that provides decent jobs and necessary goods and services for all people.

 In Lebanon we aim to impact trade policy so the voices of the poor and most marginalized are taken into account by forcing spaces of transparency open in order to hold decision makers accountable. In this way we hope to help ensure food sovereignty, protect the productive sectors and keep basic services public.