HIGHLIGHTS
• International Conferences rally support for Lebanon.
• The United Nations and World Bank strengthen their partnership in Lebanon.
• Humanitarian community in Lebanon endorses PSEA plan.
• Vulnerable youth gain technical and life skills.
This issue puts the spotlight on the three international conferences that took place in Spring 2018 to rally support for Lebanon. In addition, it provides an update on the partnership signed between the UN and the World Bank that aims to further institutionalize and scale up the results of their response in the country and looks at the new plan to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) among UN staff, partners and stakeholders. We provide an overview of funding for Lebanon in the first quarter of 2018, and look at some of the issues faced by youth in Lebanon highlighting a project providing vocational trainings and life skills courses. Finally, this issue tells the story of a young Syrian refugee who built links with Lebanese youth living in the same village through a project funded by the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund.
International Conferences rally support for Lebanon
International communities reaffirm their support for Lebanon’s stability
Following the meeting of the International Support Group for Lebanon (ISG) on 8 December, three international conferences took place in March and April 2018 to rally support for Lebanon: Rome II with a focus on security, CEDRE which focused on economic investments, and Brussels II in support of the refugee response.
Rome II Conference to reinforce Lebanon’s state security institutions
The Rome Conference, sponsored by the ISG and chaired by the UN and Italy, took place in Rome on 15 March. It brought in significant support for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and Internal Security Forces (ISF). 40 countries and organizations including the European Union (EU) and the League of Arab States took part in the event, which was attended by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, EU External Relations Chief Federica Mogherini and Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
The summit was designed to give LAF and ISF a platform to present their 5-year-plans and mobilize relevant support from partner countries. France announced that it will provide a 400 million-euro (US$494.5 million) credit facility and the United Kingdom (UK) pledged $13 million, in order to help the LAF and ISF consolidate their capacity. UK funding comes in addition to its commitment of more than $110 million up to 2019 as part of its long-term partnership with LAF and ISF. EU also announced that it would provide 50 million euros ($61 million) to support Lebanese security until 2020. The U.S. made a statement of support that highlighted the $1.7 billion that has been given to the Army and over $160 million to the Internal Security Forces since 2006. It also announced a new $9 million investment in ISF training and facilities, subject to Congressional approval. The rest of the countries spoke of their willingness to provide aid over the coming period.
CEDRE supports the Lebanese Economy
On 6 April, France hosted in Paris the "Conférence Economique pour le Développement, par les Réformes et avec les Entreprises" (CEDRE). This conference was intended as a ‘social contract’ between Lebanon and its international partners to help develop and strengthen Lebanon’s economy as part of the Lebanese Government’s ‘Capital Investment Plan’ (CIP), a comprehensive plan for reform and infrastructure investments which was presented during the conference.
At the conference, the Government of Lebanon presented its “Vision for stabilization, growth and employment”, which was welcomed by all participants. This vision is based on four pillars: (1) increasing the level of public and private investment; (2) ensuring economic and financial stability through fiscal adjustment; (3) undertaking essential sectoral reforms and cross-sectoral reforms, including fighting corruption, modernization of the public sector and public finance management; (4) developing a strategy for the reinforcement and diversification of Lebanon’s productive sectors and the realization of its export potential.
Moreover, participants emphasised the need to increase investment and expenditure in social sectors, including health and education, to improve resilience.
The Government of Lebanon also presented its ambitious Capital Investment Program (CIP), which is mainly focused on infrastructure development and rehabilitation. The total cost of the 1st phase of the CIP (covering 6 years for preparatory works and implementation) is estimated at US $10.8 billion, of which around 35 % could come from private investment. Participants encouraged the private sector to participate in the financing of the CIP, which should be facilitated by the implementation of the recently adopted PublicPrivate-Partnership Framework.
Taking into account the scope and ambition of this Programme, and the overall positive assessment by the World Bank Group, participants decided to contribute to the 1st phase of the Programme, while, in parallel, supporting the Government’s implementation of reforms and institutional strengthening, which are critical to the Programme’s successful delivery and Lebanon’s macroeconomic stability.
Pledges at the CEDRE Conference exceeded $11 billion dollars, including $860 million in grants and $10.2 billion in loans. This includes $4 billion from the World Bank and 1.1 billion euros ($1.35 billion) from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, as well as bilateral loans.
Brussels II raises $4.4 billion for Syria and host countries for 2018
Finally, the Brussels II Conference on “Supporting the future of Syria and the region” took place on 24-25 April 2018. Co-chaired by the EU and the UN, it brought together over 70 countries, international organizations and civil society.
The main goals of the conference were to reaffirm the support of the international community to the response to the impact of the Syria crisis – with an emphasis on multiyear commitments and support to host communities – endorse international support to a political solution to the Syria conflict, and take stock of the continued challenges and obstacles faced by humanitarian actors in delivering assistance inside Syria.
The conference discussed concrete operational recommendations to ensure an effective, principled and needs-based humanitarian assistance across Syria, with an emphasis on the fields of education, protection, livelihood and health. Civil society and NGOs were very closely and substantially associated to Brussels II and its preparations. More than 200 NGOs met on the second day to offer operational recommendations to the ministerial part of the conference. Lebanon was represented by 25 NGOs and the American University of Beirut.
The conference raised significant amounts of funding for Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan: a total of $4.4 billion in grants was pledged by donors for 2018 and an additional $3.4 billion for 2019 and beyond at the Brussels II Conference, compared to $6 billion pledged at Brussels I in 2017. Several major donors have yet to announce their pledges in the coming weeks, which will bring up the total amount pledged for this year.