Lebanon has been facing an unprecedented economic, financial, social and health crisis, with local authorities facing increasing challenges to provide services under their mandate, leading to heightened vulnerability, tensions and competition over services and resources. UNDP launched the project “Support to Tensions Reduction in Lebanon through improved Environmental Support and Solar Energy” to support local authorities to improve their environmental response and reduce tensions related to access to services and utilities.

Activities

Under this project, Ecocentra was commissioned by UNDP to identify training needs at the local level (municipalities or union of municipalities) for the provision of environmental services, update the available training material and conduct adapted environmental training in hotspot municipalities and targeted groups, including conflict resolution modules. The assignment commenced by selecting five hotspots to target in the training in the Governorates of Baalbeck-Hermel, Bekaa, North, Akkar, South and Mount Lebanon based on needs and capacities of local authorities in the areas. The team prepared questionnaires for Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) to assess training needs and coordinated with key stakeholders including members of municipal councils, engineers, and environmental experts and activists working closely with municipalities. The team identified the gaps and priority training needs of local authorities and a report on findings of training needs assessment was prepared with a draft of the training plan. 

The collected information informed the training plan developed by the team, which training modules each hotspot based on their needs. Training materials were tailored for each hotspot and rolled out to 86 participants from 38 municipalities. The training topics included land use planning, water resources management, wastewater management, solid waste management, biodiversity conservation, and environmental governance and conflict resolution. 

The assignment was concluded with a final report documenting the training activities, outputs, evaluation, discussions and recommendations for the way forward. In addition, it included proposed updates to the existing Practical Guide for Municipalities to Enhance Environmental Management of 2017.