Overview of Municipal Assistance
With the support of USAID the
Center implemented successive municipal reform programs that
are now credited with successfully rebuilding essential
foundations for strong local government in Lebanon,
providing modern management systems, e-government
procedures, and the official and staff training necessary to
improve the quality of governance.
Broadly designed to strengthen local government by
improving relations between citizens and officials, by
ensuring transparency and accountability in municipal work,
and by enhancing the role of various municipal bodies, the
programs to date have involved more than 800 institutions
including municipalities, regional governments, and
municipal unions. Overall achievements including the
following:
- Enhanced efficiency and effectiveness through
standardization and automation of administrative work;
- Enhanced quality of service through human resource
development;
- Greater municipal compliance in the collection of
taxes;
- Increased revenues and reduced opportunities for
corruption and tax evasion;
- Expanded citizen access to local government
resulting from additional communication mechanisms;
- Improved reporting capacities with respect to
central government requirements.
Current program activities initiated in December of 2008
are focused on ensuring the sustainability of municipal
modernization achieved to date through the development of
institutional mechanisms to provide technical and legal
support to municipalities. In addition, the program is
addressing the need for balanced institutional development
across all municipal divisions in major municipalities, and
the challenges as well as the opportunities posed by the
municipal elections slated for 2010.
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