GRANT AWARD FOR CIVIL SOCIETY FOR REINFORCING AND PROMOTING TRANSPARENCY AND EFFICIENCY IN LEBANON'S PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS

Expertise France (EF) is a public agency created on the 1st of January 2015, and it has joined AFD group as of January 1, 2022. EF offers program engineering and technical assistance by developing and implementing international cooperation actions worldwide. Expertise France is the French public agency for international technical assistance.

Project: supporting progress in key areas of public administration reform in Lebanon

Since 2019, Lebanon has been facing one of the worst economic crises globally since the mid-nineteenth century according to the World Bank, with two major events intensifying its impact, namely the covid-19 pandemic and the Beirut port explosion in 2020. As the financial and economic situation unfolds, the downfall can be seen in all of the country’s aspects, from the availability of state services to the functioning of the public administrations. Understanding the extent of this downfall requires an overview of several key facts that could represent Lebanon’s new reality.

Lebanon has also been facing political and economic crises for several years. The country has a complex political system that is based on power-sharing arrangements among its religious sects. However, this system has led to political gridlock, corruption, and a lack of accountability, which has resulted in a deteriorating economic situation and social unrest. The political deadlock in Lebanon refers to the ongoing inability of the country's political leaders to form a functioning government. This deadlock has been repetitive and has always persisted for multiple months and sometimes years.

The country’s worsening context has severe consequences on all sectors, with Lebanese public administrations being the most affected due to the reduction of available public funds. This has affected the core of public services and the basic functioning of administrations.

The overall objective of this action is to support progress in key areas of public administration reform in Lebanon through enhancing the integrity, transparency, and accountability of its public administrations aligned with the opportunities of reform identified by the recent IMF Staff-Level Agreement and the principles of a modern public administration.

The specific objectives and results of this action are to:

• Safeguard integrity of the public administration, mainly in the area of public human resources management (i.e. civil service reform).
  1. Roles and responsibilities of public officials, including updated organigrams and mandates of administrations in pilot institutions, clearly defined without discrimination.
  2. Standards of transparency and merit applied in appointment, promotion and non-discriminatory recruitment of public officials.
  3. Independence and effectiveness of the Civil Service Board enhanced and recognized.
• Enhance transparency in public administration systems, mainly in the area of public procurement (i.e. public financial management reform) at central and local levels and access to public information (i.e. accountability).
  1. An independent authority in charge of regulating the public procurement system is committed to the principles of transparency, fair treatment of all bidders and equal opportunities to participate.
  2. Transparent centralized/decentralized public procurement systems through e-procurement platform.
  3. Skills of procurement officers and stakeholders enhanced and public procurement function created.
  4. The role of civil society organizations in supervising and monitoring public procurement enhanced.
• Strengthen accountability in the public administration by reinforcing the role of oversight bodies in implementing reform and fighting and preventing corruption.
  1. The Central Inspection modernized and its capacity to fight and prevent corruption enhanced.
  2. The Court of Audit modernized and its capacity to fight and prevent corruption enhanced.
  3. The NACC established and its capacity to detect and prevent corruption enhanced.
  4. Coordination and cooperation between oversight bodies and Civil Society enhanced and institutionalized.