The United Nations have contributed to the
return of the displaced as early as 1992, after the end of the war and the
creation of the Ministry of the Displaced. The assistance provided by the UN to
the Lebanese Government in this field is described in the following two major
programs: "A'idoun" that was initiated and implemented in 1992 and the "United
Nations Reintegration and Socio-Economic Rehabilitation of the Displaced
Programme (1994-2002)".
"A'idoun"
It is a nationally implemented program
launched by the Ministry of the Displaced, in cooperation with UNDP and UNESCO.
"A'idoun" program sought to meet
socio-economic needs for the return of the displaced. The first stage projected
to reconstruct buildings and houses. The biggest challenge of the return
process was to make it permanent. The question remained about the will of the
displaced persons to leave urban areas and return to their rural villages,
where living conditions were not favorable and encouraging. Obviously, in order
to make this return permanent, a program should include developmental projects
which would support the socio-economical apsects.
For more informations concerning the A'idoun
Program, see the 60-pages report about Displacement in Lebanon on the official
Lebanese Republic website www.lebanon.com/lebanese-republic (english and
arabic).
" The United Nations Reintegration and
Socio-Economic Rehabilitation of the Displaced Programme (1994-2002)"
The United Nations
Programme for the Displaced (supported by the Ministry of the Displaced and the
UNDP - United Nations Development Programme)
With the end of the civil war, the Lebanese
Government initiated a study of the displaced issue and constituted in 1992 a
Ministry for the Displaced. The executive programme of the Ministry aimed at
attaining the highest number of returning families making maximum use of
available resources in the different sectors. Within the framework of this
national programme, the United Nations organisations provide economic and
social support to solve the issue of the displaced. The United Nations
Reintegration and Socio-Economic Rehabilitation of the Displaced Programme
aimed at supporting the national programme for the return of the displaced.
Since 1994, the programme supported
by the UNDP (United Nations Development
Programme) have focused on housing resettlement and reconstruction, in addition
to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of basic infrastructure in the
different destroyed regions. The first phase of the programme continued for 4
years, after which the second phase began in 1998.
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Infrastructure rehabilitation |
First phase of the Programme
- Supporting the local communities in
displaced villages in identifying their social and economic needs, and finding
ways to respond to these needs;
- Providing technical assistance to the
Ministry of the Displaced in the development of programmes and projects that
are needed for the returning process and that aim at encouraging returnees to
reintegrate their region;
- Mobilizing resources for different programmes
and projects for returnees.
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¨ Main achievements of the first
phase
- Formulating an integrated development plan
for social and economic sectors that constitutes the basis of the development
strategy of the Ministry in these two sectors;
- Compiling village profiles
with detailed geographic, demographic, social and economic information, as well
as the identification of needs in different villages;
- Preparing detailed
sectoral project sheets, and supporting the resource mobilization process for
socio-economic development in the region.
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Second Phase of the programme
The second phase of the programme emphasized
"pull geographic areas" with geographic, demographic and socio-economic
characteristics that would strengthen the returning process. This phase also
emphasized interventions and projects that aim at reconciliation and
reintegration between the displaced/returnees and residents, especially
focusing on the youth.
Within this context, a strategy for the second
phase was prepared. This strategy included interventions in the economic sector
(agricultural development, handicrafts, small credit and income generation),
social sector (education, health, environment, youth, women, and vulnerable
groups), and small-scale community infrastructure (agricultural roads,
irrigation canals, sport playgrounds, retaining walls...).
The programme focuses its activities on the
cazas of Chouf, Aley and Baabda, with special emphasis on the following pivots
:
- Damour pivot (7 villages)
- Bhamdoun pivot (12 villages)
-
Al-Harf pivot (9 villages)
- Joun pivot (12 villages)
- Reconciliation
villages (17 villages, including Barouk, Maaser Chouf, Mazraat Chouf,
KfarKatra, Kfar Nabrakh, Breih, Bourjein, Naameh, Salima...)
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