BALADI CAP Assists Thirteen Municipalities to Install Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Platform

BALADI CAP Service Provider, Arabia GIS, has installed Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to thirteen partner municipalities. BALADI CAP Service Provider has also supported the municipalities with on-the-job trainings to familiarize municipal technical staff with the GIS components. Thanks to the newly installed cloud based system, the municipalities now have a clear overview of their tax payer financial data linked to municipal property map, thus making it easy for decision makers to identify points of weakness in municipal fee collection, as per taxpayer. The municipalities who have completely installed the platform are Al Choueifat, Al Hadath, Al Mina, Al Qrayyeh, Barja, Barr Elias, Bebnine El Aabdeh, Chekka, Halba, Jezzine, Qob Elias, Tannourine, and Zahleh.

BALADI CAP Partner, Lebanese Transparency Association Successfully Engages Youth for Participatory and Accountable Municipalities

“When municipal resources became more limited, and ministries became completely absent, the civil society appears to be the only active component within the local community. No governmental organization has ever provided us with a real study that would help in planning for our municipalities. The work conducted emphasized the role of youth as a new hope in local development. Investing in youth appeared to be the most important ingredient to sustainable development”, said the President of the municipal council of Chwaya Municipality, Atallah Daaybis during the closing ceremony of LTA  project entitled “Youth for Participatory and Accountable Municipalities” that took place  on July 6, 2018. The event was attended by the presidents of municipal councils of the three participating municipalities, along with youth committee members.

The USAID funded project aimed at engaging youth in advocating for participatory budget development at the municipal level in Majdal Anjar, Bekaa; Chwaya, South and Nimreen, North.  The event aimed at highlighting the results of three youth committees along with representatives of their respective municipalities. Representatives of Youth committees from the three villages reflected on their advocacy experience and described how this project empowered them to push for budget modifications at the municipal level while providing their communities with the necessary channels for addressing their concerns to municipal councils. The project succeeded in increasing public demand for institutional change through the adoption of a participatory budget and engaging citizens in need assessment surveys.

Hiba Merhi, a member of Nimreen Youth Committee explained that: “This pioneering experience had empowered and enabled us to actively engage in social and public work and provided us with confidence to develop our rural community that lacks awareness and knowledge especially at the human development level. Once youth powers are unified, we will be able to fight corruption and call for more transparent government.”

BALADI CAP, Together with the Higher Council for Privatization and Partnerships, Organizes an Unprecedented Public Private Partnership Workshop for Municipalities

A first of its kind, BALADI CAP Service Provider “For Development” organized a training on Public Private Partnership (PPP), in collaboration with “The Higher Council for Privatization and Partnership (HCPP)” for partner municipalities on familiarizing the trainees with the PPP Law 48, which was enacted on September 7, 2017.

The training was held on June 20 and 21, 2018 on the PPP Law 48 which included mechanisms that would allow Lebanese Private Sector to provide public services to the Lebanese, as part of reducing the financial burden on public treasury. This was approved by the Parliament as part of the Lebanese Government plan to reduce public deficits and stimulate economic growth.

Although the law makes it optional for municipalities to subject their projects to its provisions, the municipalities and unions of municipalities can benefit from the PPP Law in diverse sectors within their mandate. Examples would include projects under waste management, infrastructure, public markets, car parking, hospitals and dispensaries, schools, public housing projects, and many more.

The discussions throughout the training identified a need to design new mechanisms within the PPP Law that would enable the HCPP to provide support for smaller municipal projects. The workshop was a great opportunity for the municipalities to get acquainted with the concept of PPP (with detailed definition of partnerships, types of partnerships, benefits of partnership for the public sector), and the provisions of the Law 48/2017. This training falls under BALADI CAP municipal capacity building initiative that focuses on empowering municipalities to better serve their constituents.

“Arabia GIS” and “Sakker El-Dekkeneh” Improve “Access to Information” to citizens of Jezzine Union of Municipalities

“I see this platform as a step towards transparency. Participating municipalities are very courageous to accept to be part of the project and be committed to improved transparency. The platform will make citizens more aware of how their taxes are being spent.  It will encourage communication between the municipality and its citizens through a very easy and convenient channel”, said the newly elected Member of Parliament on Jezzine district, MP Salim Khoury. MP Khoury was commenting on the newly inaugurated, first of its kind, municipal online platform/portal: BALDATI- an open web city- that was launched at the Serail of Jezzine, May 19, 2018. The President of Roum municipal council added: “Citizens now have a powerful tool to monitor our performance and to improve the quality of our services”.

With support from USAID funded BALADI CAP, Arabia GIS and its partner “Sakker El-Dekkeneh” launched the municipal online platform – Baldati. The forum/portal came to life after more than ten months of advocacy efforts to persuade five municipalities (Jezzine, Bkassine, Haitourah, Roum, and Kaitouly) with a population of around 43,000 citizens, to publish their financial, administrative and developmental data. The portal also allows municipalities to publically receive citizens’ suggestions and opinions, the latter of which could be publically viewed by all residents of member municipalities, thus strengthening a participatory and empowering civic culture.

The newly designed portal required intense preparations at the level of municipal back office teams as well as citizen engagement to persuade municipalities to take part in an activity that would put into implementation, for the first time in Lebanon, the law on “Access to Information” that was passed by Lebanese Parliament in 2017.

The “municipal facebook to be” provides the five municipalities with a chance to publish their financial data (budgets and budget reports) for the current year and past years. The portal also provides analytical and statistical data on budget appropriations as well as actual expenditures. Municipal decisions and detailed visualization of municipal projects are also provided through the portal. Citizens will have the chance to provide their feedback on municipal budgets and projects, air their complaints on municipal performance, and most important, file and sign electronic petitions for municipal information and action. It is the first of its kind in Lebanon as it allows all subscribers to follow the progress of several municipalities at the same time and to coordinate civic action within their regions.

The project comes within the framework of “Good Governance and Accountability Network” created under BALADI CAP Civic Engagement Initiative. The newly created and emboldened network is currently considering additional activities to improve access to information at the national and local level, a precondition for a thriving democracy founded on sound communication and access to information, as supported by USAID Lebanon mission.

“Lebanon Reforestation Initiative” LRI Successfully Advocates for Forest Protection at Municipal Level

“This is LRI’s first advocacy experience, although advocacy is one of the organization’s main missions. This project helped LRI launch its forest protection department and made it possible to respond to our partners’ needs by building and enforcing stronger relationships with local communities.”
Those were the words of “Lebanon Reforestation Initiative LRI” Director, Maya Nehme, during the closing ceremony of the BALADI CAP supported project on “Influencing Decision-Makers to Stop Violations and Organize Community Actions towards Environmental Engagement” that took place on April 28, 2018. More than 45 stakeholders, including representatives of partner CSOs Arz Ehmej and Al Chouf Cedars Society as well as citizens from the villages of Ehmej, Baadaran, and Kherbet Rouha, attended the event. The twelve-month project aimed at advocating three municipalities of Kherbet Rouha (Rashaya), Baadaran (Shouf), and Ehmej (Byblos) into classifying their forestlands and establishing mechanisms for improved forest protection.
Thanks to LRI advocacy efforts, the three villages (with around 27,000 residents) now have classified forestlands that are inaccessible to animal or human violations. The classified forestlands/zones are now protected by newly employed municipal forest guards who are tasked with the reduction of violations on forests, namely illegal cutting, intentional fires, and overgrazing. LRI has assisted locals in establishing in each region a citizen committee to advocate for community engagement activities such as training, workshops and field trips to raise awareness on the importance of the newly protected zones.
Mahmoud Hussein, Kherbet Rouha forest guard, now has the legal and institutional framework to carry out his mission. “We have achieved considerable change pertaining to limiting violations against the forest; we also initiated a communication channel with residents”, says Hussein.
LRI is part of “Environment Protection and Solid Waste Management Network” established through support from BALADI CAP and aimed at achieving change on the environmental advocacy scene in Lebanon. The Network is one of three national networks established under BALADI CAP “Civic Engagement Initiative” supported by USAID Lebanon to widen dialogue within Lebanese civil society community and improve democratic practices.
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Thirty-two Municipalities Benefit from Introduction to Feasibility Study Training Workshop

BALADI CAP service provider “For Development” conducted two training sessions on Feasibility Studies on April 17 and 19, 2018. The objective of the training is to introduce the basic principles and concepts of a Feasibility Studies. The participants were able to acquire introductory concepts on market studies, technical sustainability and financial sustainability, in addition to how a complete final studies would look like.

It was exciting to see how interested the participants were once they got a grip on what a feasibility study is, the importance of conducting one, and how acquiring minimal knowledge in this area could lead to concrete improvements in their community’s development which they could eventually use it for municipal projects. The forty-eight participants from 32 both partner and non-partner municipalities had no previous knowledge of feasibility studies or the importance of conducting one for any venture.

BALADI CAP’s Service Provider RMF Conducts Municipalities Financial Management Training

One of the most respected experts on Municipal Financial Management and Organizational Development, Mr. Hussein Hallal led a training workshop conducted by BALADI CAP’s service provider Rene Moawad Foundation for 22 municipalities. The workhop which was help on March 15, 2018 tackled the issue of the “Municipal Employee Bylaws” (نظام الموظفين), and the “Municipal Worker Bylaws” (نظام الأجراء) highlighting each participating municipality’s needs for amendment. Two administrative judges from the Lebanese Court of Audit were on the panel to assist in their specialty.

At the end of the workshop, the participants pledged to provide their notes on the “Municipal Bylaws”, within two weeks, to be then further reviewed by the senior expert and judges and returned to the municipalities for their approval.

BALADI CAP Conducts Participatory Approaches to Decision-Making Training for Municipalities

A public training on Participatory Approaches to Decision-Making was conducted on March 13, 2018 at the Padova Hotel, Sin el Fil. Twelve participants from 9 non-partner municipalities attended the workshop that focused on introducing the basic concepts of participatory approaches, their tools of implementation, and how they can be conducted. Moreover, the trainer explained the conditions for such approaches to succeed, particularly in municipal works.

In addition, the participants worked in groups on case studies to give them a hands-on approach on applied scenarios that they tried to resolve.

Making Youth and Women’s Voices Heard in Lebanon

In Lebanon, MSI is working with local municipality partners to ensure community members are actively engaged in community development planning and decision-making processes, especially youth, women, and other marginalized groups.

In the southern village of Chwaya, our local partner, the Lebanese Transparency Association, organized a town hall meeting which was attended by more than 87 people, including representatives of several political parties, a youth committee, and many women community members.

During the meeting, the youth committee led a discussion on the need for the village to provide economic empowerment and civic education opportunities for women and youth, who face more barriers to participation in the labor force and government.

One youth committee member described the participation of youth as “the first step towards change; it is youth who bring change and that is why we are encouraging Chwaya’s youth to be engaged in municipal planning.” The discussion produced several fruitful recommendations to promote greater inclusion for women, youth, and other marginalized groups including:  a community project to support women’s economic opportunities, such as a “produce house”; transportation stipends for female students to access universities outside the village; and the creation of a cultural center for women and youth.

A young woman on the youth committee said of the meeting: “After I have participated in all the training sessions and the needs assessment exercise, I got the opportunity to gain new knowledge that changed my perspective on civic engagement as a citizen and as a female.”

BALADI CAP has worked with more than 50 civil society organizations to build capacity through training and other support, particularly in the areas of internal governance, financial management and monitoring and evaluation.

BALADI CAP’s Service Provider AFDC Carries Out Emergency Action Planning Training

With the objective of forming more resilient communities in Lebanon, the USAID-funded BALADI CAP program’ s municipal capacity building component, carried out a technical training workshop on Emergency Action Planning conducted by service provider Association for Forests, Development and Conservation (AFDC) on March 7 and 8, 2018, at the municipality of Hazmieh. The workshop falls under the “Disaster Management Capacity Building” targeting partner municipalities located in the Bekaa and Mount Lebanon areas. Over 25 persons attended the workshop including municipal council members, members from the local communities involved in such activities and Lebanese Red Cross volunteers.

The workshop was designed to increase the participant’s knowledge of existing risks and hazards present in Lebanon, learn about the concept of disaster risk reduction and management, and finally gain knowledge on preparedness measures to face disasters and emergencies.