Since December 2018, Groupe URD, North Leda and Bioforce have been helping actors in Tripoli to reinforce their crisis management capacities. The project aimed to help local civil society and state actors cope with the multiple crises affecting the area.
Groupe URD helped to set up a crisis unit within the municipality bringing together representatives from the municipal authority and the Governorate, as well as from civil protection and firefighting forces, the main hospitals in the city, the Lebanese Red Cross, civil society, the Beirut Crisis Management Unit, etc. We also facilitated ‘multi-scenario planning’ exercises to place the unit’s members in crisis situations, reinforce their capacities and test the unit’s effectiveness. Bioforce contributed to training and capacity reinforcement activities with ten SCOs, while North LEDA (the North Lebanon Economic Development Agency), helped to set up a dialogue and coordination mechanism for civil society organisations and the local authorities.
The conference on 17 February 2022 will look at the project results and lessons learned. It will be one of the main components of the lesson-sharing phase and will bring the project in Lebanon to a close in the presence of all the stakeholders involved.
9:00– 9:45: Welcome and introduction
- Sandra Perrot, Director of Operations, Bioforce and Simon Bachawati, General Director, North Leda
- Riad Yamak, Mayor of Tripoli
- Zahi Chahine, General Director of the DRR Unit, Prime Minister’s Office
- Gheith Bitar, Regional Manager, Himaya
9:45 – 11:00: 1st Round Table: Dynamism and renewal within civil society – issues at stake and challenges
Facilitation: Saïd Karmaoui / Jeannot Baraka, Bioforce
- Abir Abi Khalil, UNICEF
- Rabih Omar, SHIFT
- Juliette Dahdah, FISTA
11:00 – 11:30: Coffee break
11:30 – 12:45: 2nd Round Table: Municipal actors in times of crisis
Facilitation: François Grünewald, Director of Strategic Foresight, Groupe URD
- Sawsan Fakherddine, DRR Unit Beirut
- Jamil Jablaoui, Head of the Crisis Unit in Tripoli
- Colonel Gasshan Jamaleddine, Chief of the Tripoli Fire Brigade
12:45 – 13:45: Lunch
13:45 – 14:15: Group work – introduction
Coordination between civil society and local authorities: presentation of workshop topics and methodology
- Simon Bachawati, General Director of North Leda
- Roula Abi Habib, Saint Joseph University
- Amal Iaaly, Balamand University
14:15 – 15:30: Multi-actor cooperation to improve crisis preparedness – what forms could this take?
Workshops in groups, facilitated by Roula Abi habib, Amal Iaaly and Simon Bachawati.
15:30 – 16:30: Group work feedback
Facilitation: François Grünewald, Director Strategic Foresight, Groupe URD.
16:30 – 17:00: Conclusion
- Véronique de Geoffroy, General Director, Groupe URD
- Iman Rafii, Prefect and Head of the Crisis Unit
- Roger Bafitos, Lebanese Red Cross Programme