/IT2_WorkshopReportBeirut_EN

Final Report On the ART-ISI@MED Launching and training Workshops 2012 Beirut, Lebanon, 30-31 May 2012 -From best practices to evidence based policy choice The Use of ICT for Local Development

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ART-ISI@MED Launching and training Workshops 2012 From best practices to evidence based policy choice: The Use of ICT for Local Development Beirut, Lebanon, 30-31 May 2012 Date of report: June 18, 2012

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Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4 Context and Background........................................................................................................................... 5 The workshop: Methodology and main outcomes ....................................................................................... 7 Knowledge sharing and training on the use of the handbook.................................................................. 7 General methodology of the training ....................................................................................................... 7 Agenda and main outcomes: DAY 1 .......................................................................................................... 9 Agenda and main outcomes: DAY 2 ........................................................................................................ 15 After the workshop: Next steps, towards phase II of the ART/ ISI@MED Initiative ................................... 21 The workshop: Evaluation from participants.............................................................................................. 22 Methodology........................................................................................................................................... 22 All answers received per category .......................................................................................................... 22 The workshop: Media and Communication................................................................................................ 24 Annexes ....................................................................................................................................................... 26 Useful links .................................................................................................................................................. 26

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Introduction From best practices to evidence based policy choices The ART-ISI@MED MENA Best Practice Symposium and Workshop was held in Beirut, Lebanon, on 30-31 May 2012. The event was co-organized by the Municipality of Tripoli (Lebanon), the Union of Municipalities of Al Fayhaa, UNDP ART Initiative (Geneva and Lebanon) and CMI, with the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs through its Delegation for External Action of Local and Regional Authorities (DAECT). The aim of this international event was to reach key strategic objectives relating to the progress over the past two years of the ART-ISI@MED initiative. On the one hand the workshop focused on sharing with peers the experience of Tripoli, Lebanon, by showcasing and launching the Tripoli GIS platform developed under the ART-ISI@MED Initiative with the support of the City of Malaga, Spain. On the other hand it provided participants with a practical training on how they can take advantage of the use of the ART-ISI@MED Handbook to be able to formulate and implement similar ART-ISI@MED Initiatives in their own cities and regions.

The overall objectives of the workshop were to demonstrate the rationale of the ART-ISI@MED Initiative, that is working through a bottom-up approach relying on the power and the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for local development. The expected results of the workshop were i) to deliver concrete methodology based on field evidence (bottom-up approach) and best practices on the use of ICT to improve strategic planning and local decision-making in the Mediterranean region, ii) to lay the ground for a network of stakeholders and iii) to initiate the framework of collaboration through Triangular and South-South cooperation.

More than 100 local and international participants from Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Kosovo, Albania, Syria and France attended the two-day workshop. The aim of this report is to reflect the active participation of all attendees and the main outcome of some of the key discussions that occurred during the seminar. Of course, the report is not meant to transcribe all debates that took place, but rather to pursue the logic of knowledge sharing by offering a concise, specific document that highlights the speakers’ positions, and the main ideas and specific proposals that came up towards the next phase of implementation of the ART-ISI@MED Initiative.

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Context and Background The ART-ISI@MED Initiative ART-ISI@MED was developed by the UNDP office in Geneva, under the ART Global Initiative, capitalizing on the existing innovative framework which uses the local/subnational approaches to address MDG achievement. The Initiative was launched by UNDP in 2009 and later made part of the Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI) platform in 2010.

ART-ISI@MED is designed to support and contribute to the capacity building of local public policy makers and economic actors in the Mediterranean region. Through the use of Information and Communication Technologies, the initiative is providing innovative tools and ways to address the planning, implementation and monitoring of sustainable development policies at the local level.

In December 2010, UNDP and CMI held the first Workshop of the ART-ISI@MED Initiative in Marseille during the Mediterranean Economic Week. The meeting provided the opportunity to open up a dialogue and knowledge sharing mechanism among Mediterranean sub-national decision makers on the role of ICT for local development in the Region. President of Regions, Mayors, and other high level representatives from Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, France, Spain, Senegal and Mauritania gathered for two days. The outcomes of their discussions and exchanges formed the foundation of the ART-ISI@MED Handbook.

The ART-ISI@MED Handbook “Harnessing the Power and the Potential of ICT for Local Development: A Practical Handbook for Local Mediterranean Policy Makers” is a joint flagship knowledge product between UNDP Geneva and CMI. The primary objective of this publication – available in Arabic, English and French- is to provide local decision makers across the Mediterranean Region with a set of concrete and easy-to-use guidelines based on lessons learned and results-based evidence on why and how ICTs should be integrated into local development policy plans.

The Tripoli GIS platform The city of Malaga supported the Tripoli Municipality in Lebanon to develop a Geographic Information System (GIS). The partnership between the municipalities of Malaga and Tripoli underscores the significant role of decentralized cooperation in linking communities together, fostering social dialogue among them and promoting development within their regions. The experience of Malaga has been shared with their Lebanese counterparts in Tripoli, fostering a sense of collaboration and cooperation between the two cities.

The Initiative, launched in February 2010, set up a GIS platform for managing street names and postal addresses that provided the City of Tripoli with a powerful, customizable and technologically advanced system for creating and maintaining a directory of the municipality’s streets and postal addresses, as well as for enabling better strategic planning of the municipal services delivered to citizens.

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A snapshot on the buildings application from the Tripoli GIS Platform

The numbering of the streets in Tripoli, under the ART-ISI@MED GIS Application

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The workshop: Methodology and main outcomes

Knowledge sharing and training on the use of the handbook The two days of the seminar and all the sessions were designed and held based on a method of sharing and acquiring knowledge intended to meet the specific requirements of the workshop key objectives.

The opening ceremony and sessions 1 and 2 were organized to respond to the first objective of the event: the launching of the GIS platform, developed in recent months in Tripoli as part of the ART/ISI@MED initiative. Sessions 3, 4, 5 and 6 were held with a view to meeting the second and third objectives of the event: the presentation of the Handbook and the training in using this practical tool as a way to think of the next phase of the Initiative (South/South cooperation).

General methodology of the training The workshop was also designed and organized to share key information on the Initiative with partners and participants, but also in a way to meet specific training requirement in order to provide participants with concrete training sessions for them to: Understand: Familiarize with the ART/ISI@MED framework and ICT4D concepts as well as with the typology and functioning of decentralized cooperation.

Learn: Learn how to use the Handbook as a concrete and practical tool to develop ART-ISI@MED Initiatives.

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Develop new skills: Transform the information received during the workshop into knowledge.

Develop the needed skills for the implementation of ICT4D based local initiatives. Participate in a role game to develop a fictional whole life cycle of a local development initiative: diagnosis, needs’ assessment, project formulation, implementation, etc.

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Agenda and main outcomes: DAY 1 Opening Ceremony Speakers Dr. Nader al-Ghazal, Mayor of Tripoli Ms. Amal Karaki, Council for Development and Reconstruction, Lebanon Mr. Jean Michel Despax, Head of the French Delegation for External Action of Local and Regional Authorities, Mr. Luca Renda, Country Director, UNDP Lebanon Ms. Najat Rochdi, Deputy Director, UNDP Geneva Moderator: Ms. Mona El Yassir, UNDP Communications Officer Rationale of the session The opening ceremony was prepared with the view of giving to ART/ISI@MED partners a space to present how they have contributed to the achievement of the objectives set by the ART/ISI@MED Lebanon Initiative. All partners presented their commitment to the Initiative, the features of the partnership that make it a win/win exchange and their interest in continuing the partnership, particularly to support South-South and triangular cooperation.

The ceremony was then the occasion for the official launch of the GIS ART/ISI@MED Tripoli platform.

Main Outcomes “My city now has a powerful, customizable and technologically advanced GIS system for creating and maintaining a directory of our streets and addresses. Tripoli is the second-largest city in Lebanon, and it needs new technology to provide better services for its citizens.”

- Nader al-Ghazal, Mayor of Tripoli “The tremendous value of the ART Framework is that it brings different partners and stakeholders together in a dynamic that is crucial to reinforcing development at the local level.”

- Amal Karaki, Council for Development and Reconstruction, Lebanon “The French ministry of Foreign Affairs through its DAECT is working together with UNDP Geneva in Morocco and Lebanon to demonstrate the relevance of the ART territorial approach to development using ICT initiatives; an approach that is coming out from the territories and goes back to them.”

Jean Michel Despax, Head of the French DAECT “Given the needs and gaps in north Lebanon, this intervention as well as other similar ones might be an effective agent contributing to development and pulling out more communities from the social and economic margins of the country.”

- Luca Renda, Country Director, UNDP Lebanon

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“We need to significantly increase the application of these innovative models to the needs of the poor and vulnerable people. We need to invest in people as the greatest resource and the most precious asset if we are to shape, and not just be shaped by, the challenges we face.”

- Najat Rochdi, Deputy Director, UNDP Geneva

Day 1 -- Session 1: ART Framework: from principles to actions

Speaker Mr. Giovanni Camilleri, ART International Coordinator, UNDP Geneva Moderator: Ms. Amal Karaki, Council for Development and Reconstruction, Lebanon

Rationale of the session A 15-minute presentation, with visuals and figures, by the ART International Coordinator enabled participants to understand the framework in terms of institutions and programmes for the ART/ISI@MED Lebanon Initiative and workshop.

Main outcomes “The goal of the ART Initiative is to empower citizens and local authorities to plan and manage their own development. Computers and the Internet, when properly harnessed, are doing just that – empowering people with the tools, technology – and most importantly, access to information that can facilitate development cooperation and expedite local development.”

- Giovanni Camilleri, ART International Coordinator, UNDP Geneva

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Day 1 -- Session 2: ART and its ISI@MED Initiative in Lebanon

Speakers Mr. Francesco Bicciato, Chief Technical Advisor, UNDP ART Lebanon Ms. Dima Homsi, Urban community of Al Fayhaa, Lebanon Moderator: Ms. Najat Rochdi, Deputy Director, UNDP Geneva

Rationale of the session This session aimed at helping participants to understand the actions being carried out in Lebanon by the ART team. The presentation was specifically focused on the particular features of the Lebanese context (political background, decentralization, decentralized cooperation), the objectives of the ART Lebanon Programme in the light of this context, achievements to date, the difficulties to be addressed, and the prospects for developing the Initiative further in the short, medium and long term.

Main outcomes During this session participants understood that: - Capacity building and decentralized cooperation are the two pillars of ART Lebanon; - ART Lebanon’s overall aim is helping to strengthen local authorities’ capacities; - The ART/ISI@MED strategy in Lebanon is relying on the participatory approach, the technical assistance and the transfer of resources; - The ART/ISI@MED project developed in Tripoli is a best practice that shows the essential role of decentralized cooperation; - Through ART/ISI@MED, a lot of key data regarding the city development were collected and integrated into a specific system that show poverty zones, population density, ruins, commercial activities, properties distribution; - Capacity building of staff was fundamental to conduct the project and to acquaint them with the concept and application of Geographic Information System platform; - Importance to start with a pilot and then expand and replicate to other areas and regions. ‘’The software is flexible for customization and changes depending on the needs of the Union; the personnel is now able to perform these changes.”

“There is an idea to transfer this knowledge into phone application for guiding people to exact addresses.

“We have to start somewhere, not sit and wait” - Dima Hosni, Urban community of Al Fayhaa, Lebanon

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Day 1 -- Session 3: Case studies from Morocco, Kosovo and EDUMONDE Speakers Mr. Youssef Jaafar, Technical Advisor at the General Directorate for Local Communities (DGCL), Ministry of Interior, Morocco Ms. Kaltrina Salihu, UNDP ART Kosovo Mr. Laurent Pellegrin, Edumonde President Moderator: Mr. Adam Rogers, Senior Communications Advisor, UNDP Geneva Rationale of the session This “case study” session was organised into three parts. The first part was devoted to the presentation of the Moroccan pilot ART/ISI@MED Initiative, while the second part to the presentation of an Initiative also using ICT for local development in a region other than the MENA Region – Kosovo – for which it is useful to understand the key factors in its success. The third part was dedicated to the presentation of EduMonde Initiative, as an example of good practice in ICT and education for local development.

Main outcomes During this session participants understood that: The ART/ ISI@MED Initiative in Morocco is focusing on the use of ICT for public services’ modernization and improved service delivery to citizens. The city of Malaga, Spain, was paired up with the cities of Oujda and Chefchaouen, Morocco through this approach: Malaga provided software and training to the Moroccan cities to manage their human resources, as well as an advanced document management system to manage everything from birth certificates to drivers’ licenses.

- In Morocco some regions are working hard to enhance local development in partnership with national authorities; - The need to increase the quality of service to citizens in an efficient way and at the same time to decrease cost is fundamental and at the heart of the strategy developed; - Capacity building is not only key but a major component of the strategy; - Through ART Morocco, a lot of expertise exchanges took place with decentralized cooperation partners; - ICT is meant to enhance the capacities of public entities, SMEs in accordance with the national strategy, making them more efficient, accountable and responsive to constituent priorities; - Both the political situation at the national and local level is to be taken into account together with the infrastructures’ issues, as this is the context that will also facilitate or complicate the project; - The best practices developed in Morocco and presented in the Handbook will definitely serve other local development projects through South-South cooperation.

ART Kosovo Programme's overall objectives are to support the process of decentralization and local socio-economic development and the delivery of responsive citizen service in the Kosovo Municipalities.

This to be carried out through the promotion and establishment of territorial partnerships between 12

Kosovo municipalities and a worldwide network of local authorities/organizations and the implementation of mechanisms for social dialogue and the participatory involvement of local actors in policy-making processes.

- In Kosovo, part of the ART Programme is developed in order facilitate community empowerment and the dialogue among authorities and communities; - ICT played here an extraordinary role in allowing more transparency in order to serve the whole community interest and not only personal interest; - ICT is helping to solve the problem of low communication in the territory, as it helped exchange of information amongst communities and inclusion of women though online participation, in addition to easier monitoring and reporting process (online); - The project with its little budget (8,900 €) made a difference in people’s lives and proved that ICT can promote transparency, women participation and democracy.

EduMonde is a privately owned, socially driven company. It is a subsidiary of Worldview Global Media Holdings, a Swiss company that has over 12 years’ experience in making use of communications for education and social development projects across Asia and Africa.

- Edumonde is a Digital solution for Education; - Information changes people’s lives, particularly over the situation of economy, for example in the case of India where life changes with the introduction of cable Television, thus with information introduction; - The simplest technology you use the better you reach your objectives; - Training for teachers to embrace new technology and thus work with children on adopting it, is at the heart of such an Initiative; - Interactive content allow initiatives to get closer to people; - The key success for this type of project is to adapt the content to the local context and make use of local tools, ensuring the physical premises and infrastructure is enabled to deal with new technology, while the existing system is also being used; - Teachers trained and competition amongst different schools is used to enhance human development through higher quality education; - The project outreached 10,000 schools for 2 millions $, that is big results for few money.

“Sometimes we become too impatient about ICT and immediately start with the process and forget that people resist change. Therefore, pilot period is needed.”

- Laurent Pellegrin, Edumonde President

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Day 1 -- Session 4: Training part 1: The Handbook and its ART-ISI@MED Methodology

Speakers Ms. Najet Tenoutit, Lead Trainer, Marseille Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI)-UNDP Programme Coordinator Ms. Kelly Papadaki, ART Programme Analyst, UNDP Geneva Rationale of the session This session was at the heart of the training methodology on the use of the Handbook. It aimed at teaching participants how to use the Handbook as a practical tool to spark consideration of their future Initiatives using ICT for their local development.

Main outcomes After a contextual presentation of the Handbook’s origin and objectives, the content of the practical tool was detailed to participants (presentation and full explanations of each chapter).

Through this presentation the attendees got the opportunity to learn how to use the Handbook, particularly its practical sheets. What is the methodology for consideration? How to get started with the practical sheets? What are the first steps of the life-cycle of this kind of Initiative?

The session was therefore the occasion to explain how the Handbook was designed in order to be used as a very concrete and practical tool to support local development initiatives in the field of strategic urban planning, economic development and community empowerment.

“ICT is a very powerful tool for the development of territorial projects, therefore, local authorities should have a guide/tool on its use. Going from field to objectives, the handbook is a practical tool for local decision makers.”

- Najet Tenoutit, Lead Trainer, Marseille Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI)-UNDP Programme Coordinator

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Agenda and main outcomes: DAY 2 Session 5: Case Studies from Lebanon and Albania Speakers Ms. Mirela Koci, Executive Director of LEDA "AULEDA", Vlore, Albania (via skype) Mr. Arturo Rodriguez, City of Malaga, Spain Mr. Abdallah Muhieddine, North Area Manager, UNDP ART Lebanon Mr. Frederic Olivo, City of Marseille, France & Ms. Fabienne Marty, City of Marseille, France Moderator: Mr. Giovanni Camilleri, ART International Coordinator, UNDP Geneva Rationale of the session Following on the rationale of session 3, this second case-study session was divided into 4 presentations; the first one was the occasion to learn from the Initiative being developed in Albania. Then, participants were invited to listen and to ask questions to the representatives of the Cities of Malaga and Tripoli on the ART/ISI@MED challenges in Tripoli. Finally, the representative from the City of Marseille explained how ICTs are supporting them in developing their own territories and that they are ready to share and work on adapting this knowledge to the context of the Initiative in Tripoli.

Main outcomes AULEDA is the Regional Development Agency of the Vlora region, Albania. It is an autonomous, nonprofit, public-private association, which is part of the Albanian LEDAs. AULEDA aims at providing services and realizing initiatives and projects for economic, social, technological, cultural, environmental and touristic development of the Vlora Region.

- In Albania, the project was developed to raise awareness among the small and medium sized enterprises and Public Authorities about the advantages of ICT - The project’s strength is that it relies on Public-Private-Partnership cooperation - ICT is supporting SMEs in being more competitive Three years after the 1st Agreement was signed between UNDP and the Municipality of Malaga, the ICT initiatives in Lebanon and Morocco have been successfully implemented, and the capacity building of local authorities, municipality employees and decision makers has been effectively realized. Overall, the partnership is seen as a best practice and current results pave the way for further collaboration.

- The support of the city of Malaga to ART/ISI@MED in Lebanon was divided into several phases, which are on the one hand the setting up of the working plan and on the other hand the implementation of the project - Some fundamentals, such as developing an open source tool, are at the heart of the strategy implemented in Tripoli in partnership with the city of Malaga “A ‘Territory’ is a parcel which permits to separate the public spaces from the urban spaces” 15

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Arturo Rodriguez, City of Malaga, Spain

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Within the context of North Lebanon and North Bekaa that are considered as the poorest areas in Lebanon, whereas 58% of the people live in deprived living conditions, it is not always easy to talk about ICT; It is therefore critical to show that an Initiative such as ART/ISI@MED is designed to reach an overall objective that is fighting poverty through better service delivery, capacity building and community empowerment; Job creation and the role of the youth in developing their city, region or even their country are made even easier and powerful through the use of ICT.

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“The goal is to build teams that are skilled in IT, to be trained and become trainers in order to create strong institutions and at the same time strengthening their local institutions.”

- Abdallah Muhieddine, North Area Manager, UNDP ART Lebanon -

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From the experience of the City of Marseille, it is essential to provide support and have permanent dialogue with Southern counterpart cities in the Mediterranean; this is the way the City of Marseille wants to participate to a more integrated Mediterranean Region; Being involved in such multilateral project is also a great value added for the City of Marseille as it is not only a partnership with counterpart cities, but also with multilateral agencies such as UNDP.

“The key to the success of this cooperation was the trust, sustainability and community engagement.

The engagement in Tripoli had all the above elements and this is very important, politically and technically” - Frederic Olivo, City of Marseille, France

Day 2 -- Session 6: Training part 2: From best practices to evidence based policy choice - Working groups

Speakers Ms. Najet Tenoutit, Lead Trainer, CMI-UNDP Programme Coordinator Ms. Kelly Papadaki, ART Programme Analyst, UNDP Geneva Mr. Arturo Rodriguez, City of Malaga, Spain Moderator: Mr. Francesco Bicciato, Chief Technical Advisor, UNDP ART Lebanon

Rationale of the session In order to meet the objective of developing new skills through the use of the Handbook, participants were provided with a fictional case drawn up in such a way as to cover all the tools referred to during the seminar. At the end of the working session, each group was required to make a proposal of three 16

key elements on how to envisage starting up an ART/ISI@MED Initiative in the fictional territory in question.

Elements of the fictional case Participants were divided into two groups and asked to imagine that they are part of a team that has to identify solutions and take decisions to contribute to the local development of a fictional city called Libania. Each of the two groups was then divided into sub-groups, as if each one of the participants was either a representative of the local or national authorities, the private sector or civil society. Participants were asked to use the Handbook as a tool to support them in responding to the critical issues the city of Libania is facing that are quite similar to some of the problems encountered by the city of Oujda and some of those encountered by the city of Tripoli.

Libania is a city of 30,000 inhabitants that is looking for a better way to: - Organize the strategic urban planning of the city, as most of the streets do not have official names but are only given names by communities (that can even be different from a community to another); - Improve human resources management, as the city is employing about 3,000 staff and is still managing its relation to them on paper.

Main outcomes The session was very lively and participants got very well into the role play. It was a well received opportunity for them to think of the situation of this fictional city by comparing it to the challenge and constraints they also have to face in their own cities. Relying on the best practices and case studies that were presented to them during previous sessions and with the support of the tools they found in the handbook, their discussions led both groups to some similar conclusion on: (i) The key role of ICT as transversal tool to support the preparation and implementation of a local development project that is critical for a local entity; (ii) The life cycle of a project within the ART/ISI@MED framework is providing concrete methodology on the key milestones to conduct such a project from identification of stakeholders, project management, implementation, follow up to the evaluation and reporting of the project (iii) The critical role of training and capacity building to design and implement local development Initiatives “The participants were so involved in the discussion that they kept simulating the Libania exercise by opening new subjects instead of closing the debate in only three main points. They were so much involved in the discussion and so interested that they wanted to cancel the lunch break.�

- -Kelly Papadaki, ART Programme Analyst, UNDP Geneva

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Day 2 -- Open discussion: Feedback on the Handbook and ART-ISI@MED Phase II - Towards SouthSouth and Triangular cooperation Speakers Ms. Najat Rochdi, Deputy Director, UNDP Geneva Ms. Najet Tenoutit, Lead Trainer, CMI-UNDP Programme Coordinator Mr. Abdallah Muhieddine, North Area Manager, UNDP ART Lebanon Moderator: Mr. Francesco Bicciato, Chief Technical Advisor ART Lebanon Evaluation: Ms. Fadia Jradi, Programme Officer, UNDP ART Lebanon Each break-out Group presented their case-study and the actions recommended Main outcomes of the open discussion In a very open to discussion and lively way, Najat Rochdi set up the framework of this session by: - Presenting to participants the necessary information and the prerequisites for implementing initiatives within a South-South and triangular cooperation scheme; - Demonstrating the strategic value of pooling resources (human, technical and financial) for implementing South-South and triangular cooperation of this type; - Illustrating the concrete value added of South-South and triangular cooperation projects; - Highlighting how much South-South and triangular cooperation constitutes a strong political message and a further step towards solidarity and peace among peoples of the Mediterranean and sub-Saharan Africa.

The vital points for effective south-south cooperation are the following as raised by participants: - Cultural openness and sharing of knowledge are needed: there are both part of the prerequisites; - Sharing of information is also important in order to be aware of similar projects within the same country or countries within the ART/ISI@MED Initiative; - Need to focus on and plan in advance the sustainability of the Initiatives undertaken; - The different Initiatives undertaken are a way to achieve dialogue among communities, respect and trust with each other: in fact, all these points preserve peace among communities; - South-South cooperation is a win-win cooperation: (i) for the support of the projects implemented and the transfer of experiences, (ii) because of the expertise and (iii) the engagement of decentralized cooperation.

Elements and questions that rose during the open discussions: A representative from Morocco asked: How many youths go to these centers (IT) and how long do they spend there (in North Lebanon)? He explained how in Morocco they helped the population have a larger access to Internet by facilitating the access to Internet and by lowering its cost. He insisted that the action shouldn’t only be limited to the local level but also should be national.

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Mr. Abdallah Muhieddine responded by clarifying that the IT centers that he was talking about earlier were not only equipped with computers. These centers aim at attracting the youth community with some social activities. The problem isn’t how much time these young people spend in the IT centers, but what they learn while being there. The aim isn’t to waste their time in chatting activities. Therefore, these centers have a curriculum on teaching Internet applications” “It is only with expertise that we can reach very concrete results” - Abdallah Muhieddine, North Area Manager, UNDP ART Lebanon A representative of the Municipality of Zahle spoke about the importance of starting somewhere. He said that it would be easier to replicate the project on other cities, as it has already been developed in Tripoli and the difficulties have already been confronted in the first project (like in Tripoli in this case). He insisted that it should therefore be much easier to transfer. The representative talked then about the importance of this conference, because until the day before, in the municipality of Zahle no one knew that they were organizing the streets in Tripoli. He, therefore, added that it is very important to share information with other Municipalities. He insisted on the importance of sharing experience, and added that it might be the role of UNDP to make it known to the community and the Municipalities that the same work is being done by different Municipalities.

Then the representative of the Municipality of Tripoli took the floor saying that they needed to customize the software not just replicate what was done in Malaga. She insisted that Tripoli was willing to help Zahle and to share its information, because maybe what applied in Malaga, Spain, didn’t apply 100% in Tripoli, but what applies in Tripoli surely applies in Zahle, at least 99%.

Another participant asked the representatives coming from Malaga what did it bring to the city to help Tripoli organize its streets? The representative answered by saying that it’s “une fenetre sur le monde de la ville”; which means that it’s an opening to the urban world. He also added that both, Malaga and Tripoli, benefited. It was a “win-win” cooperation.

Ms. Najat Rochdi, deputy director, UNDP Geneva, insisted “it’s not the role of UNDP to coordinate the projects on behalf of the municipalities. It is the role of the Municipality to be at the heart of the project and involved other municipalities in every milestone. UNDP is a facilitator”.

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Closing session

Speakers Mr. Francesco Bicciato, Chief Technical Advisor, UNDP ART Lebanon Ms. Dima Homsi, Urban community of Al Fayhaa, Lebanon Mr. Raghed Assi, Social and Local Development Portfolio Manager, UNDP Lebanon

Main outcomes of the closing session At the closing session, all speakers reiterated the significance of the ART/ISI@MED Initiative in Tripoli, namely, in enabling municipal authorities to better manage service delivery. They urged replication of the project elsewhere in the country. The GIS software that Malaga enabled its customization to fit the country context and needs, can be adopted by any local municipal authority, Dima Homsi explained.

While emphasizing the importance of the project to the country, Francesco Bicciato attributed its success to the strong partnership that brought the different stakeholders to work collectively in a coordinated and holistic manner. With this strength, Raghed Assi expressed confidence that they will continue to move the GIS platform project further. In recognition of the impact of ICTs in local development, Assi pointed out that the Local Economic Development Agencies supported by UNDP can serve to promote the use of ICTs among small enterprises and cooperatives in order to optimize their marketing efforts and increase revenue.

The session ended with expressing profound appreciation and gratitude for all partners and with thanking profusely all those involved in the organization of the two-day workshop/conference.

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After the workshop: Next steps, towards phase II of the ART/ ISI@MED Initiative With this workshop, local, national and international participants were presented with the critical role of ICT in the field of local development. The workshop focused on sharing new skills to be able to use the ART-ISI@MED Handbook with a view to designing and supporting each community’s own local development projects.

Following the Lebanon workshop, the next phase involvesfurther developing South-South and Triangular cooperation with respect to the Handbook and the experience in Tripoli. As discussed during the workshop and further explained in the Handbook, South-South and Triangular cooperation is a key milestone for all decentralized cooperation initiatives developed under the ART Framework. As such, there are two important steps to be taken into account.

The first step concerns the meetings and field missions that will take place over the next few months to replicate and scale up similar initiatives in Tunisia and in other countries under consideration within the ART/ISI@MED Framework. With the support of UNDP and CMI, local authorities will enter into a new phase of cooperation by integrating a third dimension to their classical North-South partnerships. This will be done by capitalizing on the work and knowledge acquired through the ART-ISI@MED pilot initiatives implemented so far in Morocco and Lebanon.

The second concerns the final workshop to be organized in Marseille in October 2012 during the Mediterranean Economic Week that will focus on the third service line of the ART-ISI@MED Initiative: community empowerment through the use of ICT.

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The workshop: Evaluation from participants Methodology During the end of open discussion, the participants were invited to give their feedback on the two days of the workshop. Delegates to the workshop provided their comments anonymously based on the following categories: 1. Something I liked about the workshop, 2. I have a comment to share about the workshop, 3. I am confused because‌, and 4. Something to improve about the workshop.

All answers received per category Something I liked about the workshop: 1. It was a good and well organized workshop. We hope we can further benefit from it.

2. The decentralized cooperation is becoming important as it overcame the protocol aspect and exchange of visits towards real work, results and exchange of experience.

3. Sharing experiences is very important.

4. Good organization of very interesting topics. Great and very interesting transfer of knowledge of experience from different countries: Tunisia, Albania, Kosovo.

5. Better understanding of the ART and ISI@MED approach. Exchange of experiences: Lebanon, Morocco, Kosovo, etc.

6. Interaction between countries.

7. Positive points: sharing of experiences and ART/ISI@MED methodology. The template of project document is going to help me in my future projects. Negative points: problem with the microphones.

8. It was one of the most interesting workshops I have assisted in. It is the collaboration between different parties that I found the most important in this workshop.

9. Something I liked is the sharing of new good ideas. I also liked the mingling of people from different areas within Lebanon, but also people coming from different countries.

10. The experience sharing which is diversified and practical helped me to enrich my knowledge regarding different issues that have one main goal: economic and social development.

11. I liked the topics discussed. The workshop was organized in a good way.

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12. This workshop was very fruitful. I saw a lot of diversification and integration within local, national and international authorities. Many important key points were discussed and were open to be given added value. The action of street addressing is a good idea. I hope it will be implemented successfully.

13. I liked the different case-studies presented by different countries that participated in ICT initiatives and programs. In addition, I liked the dialogue and sharing process fostered between different participants.

14. I liked the sharing of experiences in many countries and projects. I also liked the evaluation tool.

15. I liked participation from different countries and sharing of experiences.

16. Useful workshop. Excellent way of transferring technology. Efficient way of interaction. Good way of exchanging ideas.

17. I liked the organization of the workshop content. I also liked the importance of ICT for local development: attention given to this component is very important for people’s lives and wellbeing, but still invisible. I liked the opportunity to share experiences to find out that other countries face similar problems and you can learn from their solutions and actually walk together through them.

18. It was an opportunity for partners to meet and share information and ideas about what is going on in other cities in Lebanon concerning GIS and ICT. I have a comment to share about the workshop: 1. Provide a framework for different usages of ICT and potential partnerships among decentralized cooperation partners.

2. The time dedicated to the different discussions had to be longer and be based on the operational initiatives.

I am confused because‌ 1. Is the workshop aiming at putting a map with the addresses and numbers or aiming at local development in general?

2. Why didn’t everybody know that similar GIS projects exist in different areas of Lebanon?

3. I am confused about the street addressing action plan! Since I think it lacks a lot of expertise in Lebanon, you must be assisted by Google Earth!

Something to improve about the workshop: 1. The sound system needs to be improved.

2. I wish more audience from Lebanon has attended.

3. For participants representing local authorities, it is very important to go straight forward for that. They were absent during the second day, although it was much better.

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The workshop: Media and Communication

Lebanon Hosts International UNDP Workshop on ICT Best Practices in Urban Management More than 100 Officials from Across the Mediterranean Convene in Beirut to Share Solutions Beirut: 4 June 2012 – City authorities from across the Middle East and North Africa convened in Beirut recently to hear how UNDP is helping to improve local development through bits and bytes. The local authorities shared experiences and heard success stories in everything from advanced Geographic Information Systems to software solutions that manage public documents.

The initiative is a cornerstone of the Information Society Initiative for the Mediterranean (ISI@MED), under the umbrella of UNDP’s ART programme - Articulating Territorial and Thematic Networks for Human Development, and was developed in partnership with the Marseille Center for Mediterranean Integration (CMI) and the World Bank.

“The goal of the ART Initiative is to empower citizens and local authorities to plan and manage their own development,” said ART Global Coordinator Giovanni Camilleri. “Computers and the Internet, when properly harnessed, are doing just that – empowering people with the tools, technology – and most importantly, access to information that can facilitate development cooperation and expedite local development.”

Amal Karaki, Head of the Social and Economic Planning Unit of the Lebanese Government’s Council of Development and Reconstruction said the “tremendous value” of the ART Framework is that it “brings different partners and stakeholders together in a dynamic that is crucial to reinforcing development at the local level.”

UNDP Lebanon Country Director Luca Renda added that the ART programme is a great example of “partnership in action” and one that demonstrates how small investments can have “big impacts on local development – such as that exemplified by the ISI@MED Initiative.

The centerpiece of the Beirut symposium was the success of a partnership between Malaga, Spain and Tripoli, Lebanon, to develop a GIS system for the city that has improved how city authorities are able to plan for the delivery of services to citizens. “My city now has a powerful, customizable and technologically advanced GIS system for creating and maintaining a directory of our streets and addresses,” said Tripoli Mayor Nader al-Ghazal. “Most importantly, it has dramatically improved how we are able to respond to the needs of our citizens.”

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Geneva Director Najat Rochdi said technology is transforming the traditional map of development, expanding people’s horizons, dramatically shrinking learning curves, and creating the potential to realize, in a decade, progress that required a time span of generations in the past. “We need to significantly increase the application of these innovative models to the needs of the poor and vulnerable people,” she said. “We need to invest in people as the greatest resource and the most precious asset if we are to shape, and not just be shaped by, the challenges we face. This is of much importance in a networked world where efficiency, speed of delivery and optimization are the key ingredients of competitiveness.”

Caption: Hassan Khazaal, head of the youth association of Tibnin, in Southern Lebanon, uses computer networks to organize youth activities throughout the region. UNDP photo by Adam Rogers Contact (Beirut): Ms. Ola Kobeissi; Reports and Information Officer, UNDP ART GOLD Lebanon; Mobile: +961 70-179 303; [ola.kobeissi@undp-lebprojects.org] Contact (Geneva): Adam Rogers; Senior Advisor; UNDP. Mobile: +41 79 849 0679 ### ### ### UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in 177 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations. ### ### ###

Press Release in English on UNDP corporate website: http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2012/06/04/lebanon-hostsinternational-undp-workshop-on-ict-best-practices-in-urban-management/ Press Release in French on UNDP corporate website: http://www.undp.org/content/undp/fr/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2012/06/04/lebanon-hostsinternational-undp-workshop-on-ict-best-practices-in-urban-management/ Press Release in Spanish on UNDP corporate website: http://www.undp.org/content/undp/es/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2012/06/04/lebanon-hostsinternational-undp-workshop-on-ict-best-practices-in-urban-management/ ### ### ###

The Workshop photos, Videos of workshop sessions and Interviews will be shortly uploaded to UNDP Geneva website: http://web.undp.org/geneva/ART/isi_med/ Also visit the CMI website link: www.cmimarseille.org

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Annexes

1. Workshop Agenda (EN) 2. Workshop Concept note (EN, FR) 3. Workshop Methodology Note for the Training (EN, FR) 4. Workshop list of participants (local, national, international level) 5. Workshop Official Ceremony Speeches (EN, AR) 6. Workshop Presentations 7. Workshop Communication material 8. Workshop practical info – logistics note 9. Handbook Executive summary (EN, FR, AR) 10. Handbook Training templates (EN, FR, AR)

Useful links 1. http://vimeo.com/24913522 CMI online community (information and methodology)

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