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United Nations Economic and Social commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA) Stability and prosperity are the core of the United Nations Charter. They are the prerequisites for sound and cordial relations between peoples that stand as the ultimate guarantors of lasting world peace. In the vision of the United Nations, all peoples must enjoy equal rights and the opportunity to pursue a future that promises a higher standard of living, work for all and a perpetual process of economic growth and social development.
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN-ESCWA) is one of the five regional bodies created in 1973 by the United Nations to help people everywhere realize those aspirations. The Commissions function under the umbrella of the Economic and Social Council, a principal United Nations office charged with coordinating economic and social activities worldwide.
By promoting cooperation and integration among the countries in each region, the Commissions seek to fulfill the economic and social goals set forth in the United Nations Charter.
UN-ESCWA is the regional arm of the United Nations in the Western Asia region. Its objective is to promote economic and social cooperation among the countries of the region towards achieving regional integration. This is of particular importance as the regional dimension has become fundamental to dealing with issues of globalization and confronting the economic, political and social challenges that impact all countries. UN-ESCWA also aims to ensure that Western Asia interacts with other regions and familiarize the outside world with the situation and needs of the countries in the region.
UN-ESCWA provides a forum for its member countries, raises their awareness on critical international and regional issues, provides policy advice and advocacy, and directs the countries towards greater regional coordination and cooperation, mainly by harmonizing the policies of Member States. The Commission conducts analytical studies and implements field projects. Increased attention is being paid to building the capacity of member countries. UN-ESCWA organizes conferences, intergovernmental and expert group meetings, training workshops, lectures and study sessions. UN-ESCWA coordinates with the organizations of the United Nations system, international organizations, and regional organizations such as the League of Arab States (LAS), the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and others.
UN-ESCWA Activities in Lebanon
Although UN-ESCWA activities are mainly regional in nature, it provides several services to member countries at the national level. It focuses in this regard on countries suffering or emerging from conflict and instability. Lebanon is one of those countries. Operational activities included launching the E-Caravan Project in January 2006 in cooperation with Fondation Saradar. The E-Caravan is a mobile computer and internet school that travels villages in the formerly occupied areas of South Lebanon in order to introduce the local communities to the world of informatics, a matter that supports improved living standards for youth, women and the disabled. During the first 6 months of the project, the E-Caravan visited 5 clusters of villages along the borders of South Lebanon, and graduated 556 people. The E-Caravan, however, sustained heavy damages during July 2006 war while it was parked in the village of Ayta Al-Shaab. UN-ESCWA and Fondation Saradar are working together to rebuild the E-Caravan to serve the disadvantaged communities of all Lebanon, especially the rural communities that suffered from the last war.
Within the context of assisting Lebanon in recovering from the impact of war, UN-ESCWA prepared a Concept Paper entitled “Lebanon’s Rebuilding and Revival: Policies and Initiatives” that was the result of a series of consultations, brainstorming sessions and discussions with a number of Lebanese experts, academicians and decision-makers. The paper included recommendations to launch projects aiming to enhance the rehabilitation and development process through dealing with development priorities that emerged after the war. They are: the establishment of a financial recovery and institutional transformation fund that supports micro-and small enterprises; establishment of a fund that empowers small and medium enterprises through managing debts and building capabilities; establishment of community development centers; launching of small income-generating projects through alternative crops and other productive and service-providing projects; and launching of the E-Caravan project. The paper was presented to the different Lebanese governmental parties, international organizations and other parties concerned with the reconstruction process.
UN-ESCWA activities specific to Lebanon in 2006 covered the following areas:
- Sustainable development and productivity:
UN-ESCWA prepared two studies on the environmental repercussions of the military aggression on Lebanon, and an overall evaluation of the damage incurred to water resources and utilities during July-August 2006. The Commission also proposed a plan for the restoration of environmental damage resulting from military confrontation at the roundtable on “Lebanese Coast Oil Spill Pollution: Impact and Crisis Management” organized in October 2006 by the Water, Energy and Environment Research Center at Notre Dâme University and the Lebanese Ministry of Environment.
Other activities included the preparation of an operational framework for implementing legislative and institutional reforms needed for the implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Lebanon; and two capacity-building seminars on shared water resources for Lebanese technical professionals. UN-ESCWA seeks to increase awareness on the role of clusters and networks in enhancing competitiveness as well as examine the linkages between competitiveness, trade and sustainable development. Within this context, it is implementing a joint project with the United Nations International Labor Organization (ILO) to alleviate poverty, reduce unemployment and increase the income of small farmers and honey producers in South Lebanon. Since 2003, UN-ESCWA has been seeking to foster consultation and consensus on regional trade and environment priorities. This included assessing a number of issues of concern to Lebanon within the framework of the project on “Sustainability Impact Assessment of the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area”, as well as the organization of a national roundtable in December 2006 on “Trade, Environment and the Competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises”. The roundtable was funded by the project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on “Capacity-Building in Trade and Environment”. Concerning energy and sustainable development, UN-ESCWA is continuously coordinating efforts with the concerned Lebanese authorities in the fields of energy efficiency and sustainable energy consumption. It is also encouraging the application of certain renewable energy technologies especially solar water heating.
- Social development:
As part of its Social Policy and Participatory Development Programme, UN-ESCWA issued a study on the “Situation of the Handicrafts Industry: Needs and Challenges in Lebanon and Selected Arab Countries”. The study was carried out within the framework of a field project on training and rehabilitation in the context of community development. UN-ESCWA also played a pivotal role in establishing a local urban observatory in Beirut. This was done as part of the UN-ESCWA Social Policy in the City programme.
- Globalization and regional integration:
UN-ESCWA published a study on “External Debt Management and the Debt Situation in the UN-ESCWA Region: Case Studies on Jordan and Lebanon”. The performance of the Beirut Stock Exchange was examined during the Expert Group Meeting on the “Role of the Capital Markets in the Economic Development of the UN-ESCWA Member Countries” held in Abu Dhabi during September 2006. UN-ESCWA also requested the Lebanese Government to establish a National Committee to prepare the First United Nations Global Road Safety Week (23-29 April 2007) and to nominate a focal point. The government responded by establishing the National Committee was established and representatives from the committee participated in the workshop that was held in December 2006 for the focal points to brief them about the preparations for the UN Week, and acquaint them with the tool kits that were prepared for this purpose. UN-ESCWA signed a letter of understanding with the Youth Association for Social Awareness (YASA) while several meetings were held to prepare for joint activities during the Global Week and discuss means of collaboration on road traffic safety.
- Information and communication technology (ICT):
In line with its efforts to implement the project on the Use of New Technology for Poverty Alleviation, UN-ESCWA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Safadi Foundation and the Professional Computer Association of Lebanon (PCA) to cooperate in developing and implementing specific activities aimed at supporting the Multipurpose Technology Community Centres (MTCCs) established in early 2003 in the villages of Tal Abbas, Mukaybleh and Bebnine, Akkar, North Lebanon. The MoU laid the ground for a framework of cooperation that included: supporting the MTCCs in Akkar to reach sustainability of operations; accrediting the MTCCs as training centres for the International Computer Driving License (ICDL); developing ICT-based vocational training material and producing needed digital content to support local communities and small enterprises; and providing technical support to local communities and building their capacities in the use of information and communication technology for employment creation and poverty alleviation.
PCA, in partnership with UN-ESCWA and a consortium of international companies, governmental parties and local and international NGOs, launched the Information and Communication Technology Academy (PICTA) in September 2006. Centres for the Academy were opened in Nabatiyeh, Baablbeck, Bint Jbeil, and Batroun as part of a plan to open a total of ten centres in various areas of Lebanon. The centres offer free training workshops in ICT for all segments of the local community.
- Economic analysis:
UN-ESCWA carried out estimates and forecasts for economic growth in Western Asia for the period 2006-2007, which included an assessment of the current economic situation in Lebanon as well as a short-term outlook. In the event that the political and security situation in the country improves, UN-ESCWA expects a significant recovery of the Lebanese economy in 2007 with real GDP growth reaching around 7%. UN-ESCWA also published a study entitled “Economic Trends and Impacts-Fourth Issue: Foreign Aid and Development in the Arab Region” that included information on the recent international aid efforts for Lebanon that followed the July 2006 war. In addition, UN-ESCWA is continuously monitoring Lebanon's current economic and social situation and prospects. These activities are being reported in an annual publication entitled “Survey of Economic and Social Developments in the UN-ESCWA Region” that provides an in-depth analysis of the region's structural issues, such as unemployment, migration and economic development under political crises, for which Lebanon was used as a case study.
- Statistics coordination:
UN-ESCWA continues to strengthen the skills of national cadres working in the Central Statistical Office of Lebanon to produce harmonized, timely and comparable statistics. In 2006, a training workshop was implemented on the latest recommendations and classifications in statistics in the areas of national accounts, trade in services, population and housing censuses, and labor force statistics. Additionally, Lebanon headed the working group on alternative techniques in population and housing censuses as part of UN-ESCWA’s preparations for the 2010 Global Round of Population and Housing Censuses. The group is expected to review the methodological approaches that some countries are developing for collecting, processing and disseminating statistics generated by population and housing censuses.
- Empowerment of Women:
After the Lebanese war and its serious repercussions, UN-ESCWA decided to hold an Expert Group Meeting in Abou Dhabi on 13 March 2007 on the effects of armed conflicts on women physically, psychologically, politically and economically. The meeting will be attended by representatives of international, regional and national governmental and non-governmental organizations. They will discuss the situation of women under the burden of wars from a legal aspect, looking at international declarations, conventions and protocols in order to come up with practical recommendations to be submitted to all stakeholders and decision-makers on enhancing the protection of women and reducing the impact of wars and conflicts on them.
UN-ESCWA also participated in a meeting organized by the Parliamentary Committee of Women and Children and UNDP in October 2006 to discuss the situation of Lebanese women during and after the war. In the aftermath of the meeting, and following consultations with prominent Lebanese figures, UN-ESCWA is attempting to play a role in the resolution of conflicts in Lebanon by preparing for a roundtable that will bring together Lebanese women from various conflicting political parties. The roundtable will allow for open discussion and the proposal of practical approaches for rising out of the postwar hardship.
For more information about UN-ESCWA programmes:
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia
The United Nations House
Riad El-Solh Square
P.O.Box 11-8575
Beirut, Lebanon
Tel.: 961-1-981301
Fax: 961-1-981510
E-mail: webmaster-escwa@un.org
URL: http://www.escwa.org.lb
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