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Lebanon
>> Regional Overview >>Lebanon Overview Program Data Sheet
268-001
USAID MISSION: Lebanon
PROGRAM TITLE: Economic Development (Pillar: Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade)
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE AND NUMBER: Reconstruction and Expanded Economic Opportunity, 268-001
STATUS: Continuing
PLANNED FY 2002 OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: $23,000,000 ESF
UNOBLIGATED PRIOR YEAR FUNDS AND FUNDING SOURCE: $1,000,000 ESF
PROPOSED FY 2003 OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: $20,000,000 ESF
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1997 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2004Summary: USAID’s program to revitalize and expand economic opportunities is helping:
- Rural communities implement key infrastructure, environment, and income-generating activities;
- Needy entrepreneurs, primarily women, obtain microenterprise loans and business services;
- Small-scale dairy farmers improve their herds, milk production, and marketing channels;
- Lebanon join the World Trade Organization (WTO);
- The private sector identify and promote productive sectors for investment; and
- American Educational Institutions (AEI) finance scholarships and core programs.
Inputs, Outputs, and Activities: FY 2002 Program: USAID will intensify its micro-macro economic strategy by expanding small-scale, NGO-based income-generating and infrastructure activities in poor rural areas, while pursuing a sound policy, legal, and
regulatory environment for increased trade and investment in key productive sectors. Some 3,000 entrepreneurs, mainly Rural Community Development Cluster (RCDC) beneficiaries, will receive small loans and business advice through innovative, NGO-commercial bank partnerships. Dairy farmers, individually and in cooperatives, will buy 1,900 U.S. heifers through a USDA credit guarantee program, with USAID providing the technical assistance and training in management, marketing, and new technologies (fodder crops, mechanization, artificial insemination) for increased farm productivity, milk production, and incomes. Technical support to the GOL’s multi-ministerial WTO Unit will help prepare Lebanon for 2002 WTO negotiations in Geneva, much of which consists of drafting new laws on intellectual property, international trade, standards, competition policy, and foreign investment. These steps for WTO membership are closely linked to USAID’s ongoing technical assistance to the business community to improve the investment climate in priority growth areas, i.e., tourism, agri-business, business services, and information and communication technology (ICT).
About 400 new activities under the flagship Rural Community Development Cluster program will help 45,000 poor families nationwide improve their living standards and increase their incomes. Planned FY 2003 Program: Pending a strategy review, and assuming continued political will to enact a comprehensive economic reform agenda and integrate southern Lebanon into the mainstream of development investments, USAID will continue expanding the RCDC program to cover approximately 600 communities and 80% of Lebanon’s rural poor. Activities will focus less on basic infrastructure and more on value-added, income-generating investments targeting profitable niche markets in agribusiness and tourism. Public-private partnerships, particularly in the ICT sector, will enable USAID to expand its "Internet for development" activities nationwide. Microenterprise loans will diversify as commercial banks expand to more village cluster areas, creating potential for small and medium enterprise loans linked to the dairy industry and other productive sectors. WTO assistance will concentrate on completing negotiations with WTO/Geneva; drafting remaining laws on agriculture and trade remedies; and working with Parliament and advocacy groups to enact all legislation for WTO membership, now slated for the end of 2003.
SUBMISSION OF THIS PROGRAM DATA SHEET CONSTITUTES FORMAL RENOTIFICATION OF USAID’S INTENT TO OBLIGATE FY 2002 RESOURCES FOR THE ACTIVITIES DESCRIBED ABOVE. Performance and Results: USAID’s RCDC program, now in its fifth year, is recognized as a comprehensive, responsive, and solid-performing program in Lebanon. Nationwide in scope, it was also the first, and remains the largest and most active, donor-funded program in South Lebanon. While this first phase (1997-2001) focused primarily on post-war reconstruction and developing
cost-effective agricultural and environmental technologies, new economic activity is also taking off. Annual income from women’s cottage industries, for example, now averages $1,500 per family. Dairy farmers are averaging $800 of new income for each heifer, helping reduce reliance on imported dairy products from 80% to 60% in only three years. Fifteen thousand microenterprise loans, worth $10 million, are now financing over 3000 businesses. These initial successes, backed by strong community and municipal support for and ownership of these activities, along with $60 million of complementary EU and World Bank financing, should benefit 90% of the most impoverished rural areas by 2004 and be self-sustaining in the next five years. At the national level, membership in the WTO, coupled with the new Euro-Med agreement, should enable Lebanon to enter the mainstream of the regional and global economies, with immediate benefits to the productive and service sectors now under reform.
In just four years over 150,000 families, roughly 70% of rural Lebanon and 30% of South Lebanon, have benefited from 1,260 small-scale income-generating, infrastructure and agricultural activities. Communities and municipalities have shared 40% of the $35 million cost, far exceeding the 25% target. Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: For FY 2002 USAID will continue carrying out the above activities through both U.S. and local organizations. The RCDC activity is implemented through five U.S. NGOs: Catholic Near East Welfare Agency, Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF), Creative Associates International, Mercy Corps International, and the Young Men’s Christian Organization (all prime), with support from the USDA 416(b) surplus commodity program; microfinance activities through Save the Children/Al Majmoua, CHF/AMEEN, and the Makhzoumi Foundation (all prime); dairy sector improvement activities through the American University of Beirut (AUB), with support from the USDA GSM-102/103 credit guarantee programs and the Ministry of Agriculture; WTO accession activities through PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC-prime) and The Services Group (sub), in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy and Trade; and productive sector investment activities through PwC (prime) and the Stanford Research Institute (sub). American Educational Institutions include AUB, the Lebanese American University (LAU), the American Community School (ACS), and the International College (IC). USAID expects several of these partners to continue under a new or updated strategy, beginning FY 2003.
US Financing in Thousands of Dollars
268-001 Reconstruction and expanded economic opportunity DA ESF Through September 30, 2000 Obligations 500 36,952 Expenditures 500 20,422 Unliquidated 0 16,530 Fiscal Year 2001 Obligations 300 21,945 Expenditures 300 15,879 Through September 30, 2001 Obligations 800 58,897 Expenditures 800 36,301 Unliquidated 0 22,596 Prior Year Unobligated Funds Obligations 0 1,000 Planned Fiscal Year 2002 NOA Obligations 0 23,000 Total Planned Fiscal Year 2002 Obligations 0 24,000 Proposed Fiscal Year 2003 NOA Obligations 0 20,000 Future Obligations 0 0 Est. Total Cost 800 102,897
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Last Updated on: May 29, 2002 |
