Spain donates $5 million for development in poor communities in north
Spanish Ambassador Juan Gafo announced on Tuesday that his government was donating $5 million to finance a project to promote peaceful relations and economic development in poor Palestinian and Lebanese communities in north Lebanon.
The news came during a ceremony to launch the two-year collaborative project, entitled "Conflict Prevention and Peace Building in North Lebanon."
"Since 2006 in Lebanon, [Spain has been] funding and building partnerships with governmental, local, international and multilateral institutions, particularly in the aftermath of successive armed conflicts," the ambassador said. "This project shows once again the strong commitment of Spain to peace and stability in Lebanon."
He urged citizens to take a more active role in reconstruction processes and enforcing government accountability while adding that development agencies need to "better understand" how to define and bolster civil society in post-conflict environments.
"The fight against the causes of conflict, rather than dealing just with the symptoms, is a more solid path toward attaining the desired development, peace and stability in Lebanon," he said.
The groups and agencies that will contribute to the project include the Council of Development and Reconstruction, the Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee (LPDC), the United Nations Development Project (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Children Fund, the International Labor Organization, the United Nations Relief Works Agency and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.
UNDP resident representative Marta Ruedas spoke at the ceremony stressing the need to heal the relationship between Palestinians and Lebanese in the country which was shattered in the aftermath of the 2007 Nahr al-Bared conflict between the Lebanese Army and the Al-Qaeda inspired Fatah al-Islam militant group.
"The main objective of this two-year project is to mitigate the risk of relapse into violent conflict through the promotion of socio-economic development and peace building," she said.
Ruedas also cited a UNDP report revealing disproportionate rates of poverty in the north, saying: "Whereas 29 percent of the Lebanese population live under the poverty line, this percentage increases to 63 percent in Akkar … and 57 percent in Tripoli."
The project is also designed within the framework of the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The MDGs – agreed upon by each of the UN”s 192 members in 2000 – include reducing poverty, empowering gender equality, fighting disease epidemics, halting climate change and universalizing primary education, among others.
LPDC president Khalil Makkawi gave a short speech at the ceremony in which he praised the Lebanese government for helping to reconstruct the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian camp and provide assistance to the camp”s 30,000 Palestinian refugees who were forced to flee the fighting.
"The repercussions of the Nahr al-Bared crisis were very high on both Lebanese and Palestinians," he said, adding that the conflict was "fought together by Lebanese and Palestinians against terrorism."
"This project will further support the Lebanese government”s efforts in restoring the Lebanese/Palestinian relations by rising above the past, painful memories and by engaging in a mutual dialogue," he said.