UN-HABITAT has completed two operations in Lebanon funded by the European Union that have rebuilt and renovated thousands of homes hit in Israeli air raids in July 2006.  Some 3,640 families or about 18,200 individuals were the beneficiaries of the EUR1.2 million projects in various neighbourhoods of the capital, Beirut, southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley. The European Union’s Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) was the sole funding source for the 2 projects.
In the first project costing approximately Euros 700,000, UN-HABITAT teamed up with the Municipality of Choueifat, the Ministry of Social affairs and local neighborhood committees. It closed in December last year. The second project, which wound up February 15 2008, and worth about EUR 400,000, was implemented by the Danish Refugee Council and other partners working in 30 municipalities in southern Lebanon and Bekaa. Mr. Adnan Hammound, a beneficiary in Beit Lif village said, “the project has achieved what we were dreaming of. Lands were surveyed and maps were drawn…we can do nothing but thank them for what they did.”  Mr. Bassam Raad, Mayor of Baalbak, said “we consider this project essential, which came to respond to war consequences. We wish this to continue with this project so that the city of Baalbak will become more organized and more developed”.
Since November 2006, UN-HABITAT in Lebanon was able to secure some EUR 3 million from a several donors, mainly from ECHO and the governments of The Netherlands, Cyprus and Finland All projects were in line with UN-HABITAT’s mandate in post crisis environs: to respond to recovery and reconstruction efforts, contributing to strengthening local authorities, community based organizations and affected communities and laying the foundation for long-term sustainable recovery of the war-affected areas. |
