A consultative workshop entitled “Towards Promoting the role of Tripoli Environment and Development Observatory (TEDO)”, was held on Tuesday 18 January 2011 in Tripoli city.
This observatory generates city-level data and indicators since 2000 and as part of the City Development Strategy Project (funded by Cities Alliance), UN-HABITAT is providing since 2009-2010 technical support to the observatory with the two aims of strengthening the role of the observatory in policy formulation at city level as well as monitoring the CDS implementation after its adoption by local stakeholders
In order to achieve this, UN-HABITAT organized the consultative meeting and participants took part in recommending key actions to help the observatory play a more prominent role in local planning.
This activity is of key concern to UN-HABITAT work in Lebanon, which is focusing on supporting cities to carry out necessary planning and improving local governance. Observatories represent one of the key local planning tools that could contribute achieve
“More than a decade after its initiation in Lebanon, the observatory has gained a prominent national position with accumulated knowledge and expertise in monitoring and reporting on various urban challenges in Al Fayhaa Cities”. With this statement, Dr. Nader Ghazal, President of Al Fayhaa Union of Municipalities (AFUOM) and Mayor of Tripoli city opened the workshop.
Organized jointly between UN-HABITAT, Al Fayhaa Union of Municipalities and TEDO, this initiative came as part of the Al Fayhaa City Development Strategy (AFCDS) project, which is funded by Cities Alliance and implemented by a number of partners, mainly, the World Bank, Agence Française de Développement, Medcities Network and the Municipalities of Barcelona and Marseilles.
Being one of project partners, the role of UN-HABITAT focuses on strengthening the capacities of the AFUOM, Tripoli Environment and Development Observatory (TEDO) and local stakeholders to enable them to engage actively in the AFCDS implementation and monitoring processes.
As part of its contribution to AFCDS, UN-HABITAT carried out in summer 2010 a thorough field assessment with the aim of reviewing and analyzing the overall performance of TEDO, examining key shortfalls and recommending feasible actions to enhance TEDO performance. The preliminary findings of the assessment were presented and validated during the consultative workshop and recommendations and concrete actions were gathered.
“The workshop represented a vital opportunity during this crucial transition stage where efforts are concentrating on laying the proper basis to allow TEDO play a more prominent role in monitoring and evaluating AFCDS, once adopted, and to become one of the key tools to facilitate local decision making and planning processes”, stated Mr. Abdallah Abdulwahab, AFUOM Director.
As a follow up, in the frame of its contribution to the CDS, UN-HABITAT will be providing during the coming months necessary support to contribute to strengthening TEDO governance and institutional set up and to develop the technical capacities of existing staff. This intervention is an integral part of UN-HABITAT strategic area of intervention aiming at improving monitoring of sustainable urbanization conditions and trends in Lebanon. |
