Lebanon

• Food and Feast 2008

Residents from various sectarian backgrounds and identity groups will become more familiar with the customs and traditions of Lebanese living in other areas, as part of partnership initiative between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), a local private sector organization, in close collaboration with national counterparts and civil society organizations.

With common goals of promoting co-existence, preserving Lebanese heritage and enhancing a better understanding of the "other", UNDP is organizing a series of events across the country under the theme Food and Feast (Akl w Eid) 2008 in close collaboration with national counterparts and civil society organizations. more

• Bint Jbeil Market Place

Beside being the center of the Kada, the city of Bint Jbeil is the economic hub of the region, and probably one the oldest towns in South Lebanon.  Bint Jbeil was immensely destroyed during the July 2006 war, whereby over 1,300 houses and tens of shops were decimated. 

The Bint Jbeil market, renowned for its economic importance promoting the production and trade of a large array of products,  was indeed a business center for traders across the South.  This particular market place was totally destroyed in July 2006. Within its livelihoods efforts, UNDP funded by ECHO is fully equipping more than 177 micro and small enterprises in this market following its construction by the Government of Qatar.
As declared by members of the municipality of Bint Jbeil, this particular project was one of the most reviving socio economic activities throughout the recovery and reconstruction process. It aided more than 180 micro to small enterprises in regaining their livelihoods. It had a positive effect on the economic activity in Bint Jbeil and encouraged the residents of Bint Jbeil to re-open and equip their shops.

• "Haret Al Harfouch"

A neighborhood of ten (10) households in Fardis village was in urgent need for the rehabilitation of their sewage network. Other sanitation works were implemented in this village but this particular neighborhood was excluded since the terrain level and altitude are higher than the main network. The households mainly depended on cesspits next to their homes or on the storm water conduits connected to the main channel.
Mr. Ezzat Hafouch, one of the residents whose house appears to be next to one o the storm water conduits carrying sewage water, complained of the situation and declared that he was compelled to cut his fruit bearing trees in order to prevent his children from eating them and get the risk of another infection after a previous experience in getting typhoid resulting from the toxic water. Needless to say the family has to suffer from the constant bad odors.

Within UNDP's recovery programme and its developmental outlook on regaining the lives and livelihoods of the community, it was possible to rehabilitate and develop the sewage network in Haret al Harfouch in the village of Fardis.

• Deir Aamess village:"Al Assi" neighborhood

Mr. Khodr jawad Bazzoun (37 years old) married with 5 children; he is a daily paid worker in construction, making 20,000 LBP/day. Due to the lack of water he is obliged to buy water every 3 days amounting to 15,000LBP.
Within UNDP's efforts in rehabilitations of the war damaged water networks, Mr. Khodr was able to secure his family's daily water intake and other livelihood needs.

• Halloussiye village,"Al Baydar" neighborhood

Mr. Hussein Hamad (44 years old) married with 4 children; he has been living in a private home since 1972 in a neighborhood shared by his brothers and cousins; he is a daily paid worker with a minimum wage; the problem he is encountering since 1972 is lack of water reaching his domicile, due to the fact that the water authority did not provide water to his neighborhood since the secondary water installations from the main channel has to be installed and paid by each owner, but the expenses run higher than what Mr. Hussein can afford. Within UNDP's efforts in securing livelihoods of vulnerable groups has managed to connect secondary water pipelines to Al Baydar neighborhood.

• Chehabiye village

One of the main streets had been suffering from the lack of water due to the large number of households in the neighborhood and the channel being partially damaged during July 06 war; The project was designed by the mayor where they used the Bobcat provided by a previous UNDP project and benefiting from the local labor which helped them save a lot of money and were able to rehabilitate a longer channel within the same budget allocated.

• Siddiqine village: "Ain el Jawzi"

They were blessed with a natural spring that feeds Siddiqine as well as the village of Rechknanay, which provides ample supply of water to the residents of these two villages.
Eight years ago, water pipelines were installed from the spring reaching the village square to collect water directly from the well. Though this network was damaged during the last war, the UNDP - UNTFHS activity rehabilitated the existing damaged channel and installed new pipelines for the totally destroyed sections.

• Name: Jamila Hamzah, 18 years old, Kfarreman, Nabatieh Kada

From my early childhood, I have been a scout member in my village, were I learned a lot, and made a lot of friends, all within the scout group I belonged to.
When I joined the UNDP youth group in my village and participated in their activities, training workshops and summer camp, I met numerous young people from various villages, political affiliations, and various backgrounds. It was something new that I haven't experienced before, the discussed topics, the training techniques, the amicable atmosphere, and the feeling that we are all one family, brought us closer to each together.
What really impressed me were the training topics on conflict resolution and non violence education, where for the first time I was able to discuss such topics in an interactive way, and accept the different opinions of my new friends without prejudgment and away from extremist positions.

I will do my best to motivate other youth from my village and the surrounding villages to join UNDP youth groups. You can appreciate its importance in bringing people together, especially with the continuous conflict and instability that we are passing through these days.

• Hassan Mohamad Saleh, known as Hajj Abou Nazih, a 56 year-old farmer from Adshit

During the war, he fled with his family to Saida because Adshit was constantly and heavily bombed. On the 14th of August 2006, immediately following the cease-fire, he returned to his village, only to find that his house was severely contaminated by cluster bombs littered on the roof and in the surrounding fields. Despite the danger, he refused to leave and stayed at his home.
The war also damaged his village's water infrastructure, and this winter, Hajj Abou Nazih's house was flooded with rain water. The damage was so great that the road leading to his house was continuously flooded. Some nights the rain became so bad that the water invaded Hajj Abou Nazih's house, waking up his family in the middle of the night to clean it up.
UNDP's project with the Nabatieh municipality ensured that the storm water drains were completely restored - draining the road and re-attaching the drainage network to all the houses in the village.
"Now my wife, daughter and I can sleep at night without being afraid of waking up in a flood of water. Even our neighbours can now walk to their houses and the rain water is no longer a threat to them or to us. All of this is due to the UNDP's quick intervention in our village," said Hajj Abou Nazih.

• A Mayor's Perspective: Nicolas M. Farah, Mayor of Alma Al Chaab

''During this last war, I remained in the village until July 27, helping the families with food distribution, securing a safe place for the children and ensuring their evacuation to safer villages or to Beirut,'' explained Mr. Farah. "Our village was damaged during the last war, however, UNDP was always a prime supporter for us; UNDP was here when we needed them. UNDP acted quickly and implemented its intervention as soon as the hostilities stopped,'' said Mr. Farah, who also praised the monitoring system set-up by UNDP. ''UNDP's capacity for constant supervision, follow-up and technical assistance will limit any wasting of resources and funding.
"Moreover," he added, "I believe that the direct coordination with local authorities in the villages - and the long experience of the UNDP field officers and their knowledge of the area and its needs - is the reason of effectiveness and approaching the project's goal."