Beirut, 21st of January, 2021
The Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Civil Peace concluded one of its latest projects, known as “Enhancing the Parliamentary Openness, Transparency, and Effective Oversight,” with a conference meeting on January 21, 2021 via Zoom. This project was funded by USAID’s Alliance Building for Progress, Development and Local Investment program – Capacity Building (BALADI CAP) project. The meeting showcased the project’s achievements, shared success stories and lessons learned, and outlined the major challenges faced during the implementation period
Through this project, BALADI CAP and the Lebanese Foundation for Permanent Civil Peace (LFPCP) succeeded in forming a new engagement platform to promote sustainable cooperation between the Lebanese Parliament and members of civil society, to better enable the creation of tools to improve public procurement.: These include the Guide on Parliamentary Oversight on Public Procurement, Practical Guidelines on Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA), and a set of recommendations and constructive feedback on the new Draft Law on Public Procurement to support the relevant parliamentary committees. Two video spots on public procurement were also produced and disseminated on the social media platforms of LFPCP and BALADI CAP.
A welcome note was delivered by LFPCP program director, Mr. Rabih Kays, followed by remarks by the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Legislation MP Yassin Jaber, and USAID’s Local Development Office Director Mr. Claude Zullo. LFPCP Founder, Prof. Antoine Messarra, then presented the accomplishments of this project.
This project is part of the $18.1 million BALADI CAP program to build capacities of CSOs, faith-based organizations, and municipalities to more effectively advocate on topical public policy issues, improve the quality of services provided to Lebanese citizens and vulnerable communities, and contribute to the socio-economic development of Lebanon’s communities.