Institutional Development
Reform and modernization of the public administration is considered a national priority for Lebanon economic and social recovery from the adverse results of the past, and its development in the changing national, regional and global environment.
In this context, UNDP supports the Government of Lebanon, through a wide-range of programmes/projects, aiming to strengthening functional as well as structural capabilities of the public administration. Supports to reform efforts include assistance towards the formulation and implementation of institutional, fiscal and economic reforms. Capacity building support ranges from the collection of the much-needed national data, to the installation of systems for improved efficiency and accountability, in addition to training.
Public sector reform
Following the end of the war, the importance of the public sector grew steadily as national security and authority were reestablished, as public services were reactivated and as reconstruction of basic and public services infrastructure was rehabilitated and developed. In the process, the public sector became bloated and ineffective, and the challenge is to develop a vision that meets the requirements for the country to integrate the economy of the third millennium. Among the weaknesses of the public administration are poor planning capacities; weak inter-ministerial coordination and overlapping operations; out-dated regulations; and an uneven adoption of manual and semi-automated processes selectively introduced during the last decade. More importantly, the public service suffers from lack of trust and transparency. The Office of Minister of State for Administrative reform has since the early nineties contributed towards the identification of reform needs, through a National Strategy for Administrative Development and led the introduction of ICT to the public administration, calling attention to the fundamentals for simplifying processes and increasing efficiency. Concrete products of institutional development advisory services by OMSAR include a new job classification in preparation of a new salary scale for public servants; performance improvement plans in key service agencies; modernization of legislations; and raising awareness among civil servants.
OMSAR, assisted by UNDP, pursues a programme to reinforce national reform efforts to:
a) strengthen modern management capacities in key administrations,
b) reduce the size and cost of the public administration,
c) modernize legislations,
and d) promote a citizen oriented administration, all within a well-defined framework and properly developed mechanisms.
The UNDP’s assistance to OMSAR has been facilitating the implementation of the reform goals since 1994. The relatively long record of assistance to OMSAR by the UNDP, the reform experiences that have been accumulated by OMSAR and the international support to the recovery of Lebanon that materialized in the Paris III program of which OMSAR was mandated to handle specific components (anti-corruption efforts and reducing the scale and cost of the public sector) necessitated the development of a new vision for support to administrative reform programs, civil society advancement and local development. Administrative reform remains a high priority essential to achieve economic recovery, pro-poor development and nation-building. OMSAR, supported by the UNDP is pursuing a programme to reinforce the national reform efforts.
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Lebanon
