Lebanon

Support to the developmental enabling environment for democratic governance is a new programming area that began with a project to support the Lebanese Parliament in mainstreaming broad-based participation and building internal capacities of the Parliament. The project succeeded in creating a momentum in parliament for the review and discussion of relevant and key development themes and issues in the country, and provided a dynamic platform for information sharing among parliamentarians, private sector, NGOs, the donor community and the UN system. The project provides a dynamic platform for information sharing among parliamentarians, coordinating reviews of development projects and sectoral national priorities in the areas of regional development, education, health, environment, water, transportation, poverty, and others. In 2001-2002 the project expanded to include pertinent legislations in its discussion/seminar modality. This has created some examples of Parliamentary oversight on the executive branch through the communication of expected outputs and guidelines for project implementation in certain sectors. The project contributed to promoting informed representation, decision-making and planning capacity among Parliamentarians especially in the area notably for Regional Development.

The Project supports the expansion of partnerships with Parliament. An Arab inter-Parliamentarian Symposium was organized in collaboration with the UNDP Arab Programme on Governance in the Arab Region (POGAR). The project and the UNDP Office facilitated and mediated an agreement between the French Senate and the Lebanese Parliament (October 8, 2002). A simultaneous translation system was installed in Parliament in collaboration with the Government of Canada, and a massive of IT networks and equipment through the Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform.

Developing sustainable capacities in Parliament is the primary focus of a second phase of the project, which was approved in June 2002. The second phase will focus on activities ranging from training of permanent staff of the Lebanese Parliament locally and abroad; establishing inter-parliamentarian partnerships; enhancing the Parliament library and, improving transparency through the production of regular bulletins; increasing the targeting of thematic discussions to assist the legislative process as opposed to opposed organizing general discussions.