Transition Initiatives: Lebanon Fact Sheet
November 2007
USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI) launched the OTI/Lebanon program in September 2007 to target peace and stability objectives. Initial program funding is $7 million, using $5 million in Transition Initiative Funds and $2 million in Economic Support Funds.
Lebanon’s present political impasse has its roots in the 1943 national pact that established an unwritten agreement allocating political power on a confessional system based on the 1932 census. Under the terms of the agreement, the President is a Maronite Christian; the Prime Minster, a Sunni Muslim; and the Speaker of Parliament, a Shia Muslim. Additionally, strict ratios between Maronite Christians and Sunni and Shia Muslims are used for representation purposes in parliament and in the government bureaucracy. The ratios and power sharing arrangements were last modified in 1990 as part of an agreement to end Lebanon’s long-running civil war and have resulted in a volatile system of governance. Due to entrenched political interests, the governing system itself appears resistant to major changes in the status quo and recent events have highlighted ongoing political tensions in the country.
The OTI/Lebanon program is designed to address the political strains of Lebanon’s confessional political dynamic by mitigating tensions that threaten to destabilize the country’s democratic system. Working closely with government authorities, nongovernmental organizations, formal and informal community groups, and local media, OTI/Lebanon will provide fast, flexible, short-term assistance targeted at key stabilization needs.
The guiding theme of OTI’s initial involvement will be “protecting and expanding national democratic space.” In close coordination with the U.S. Embassy and the USAID Mission in Beirut, OTI/Lebanon will use an in-kind small-grants mechanism to support interconfessional cooperation at the local level aimed at mitigating conflict and, as needed, will be in a position to use its flexible programming capability to respond to contingent opportunities both at the local and national levels.
To assist with implementation of this program, OTI has selected Chemonics International Inc. and Macfadden & Associates Inc. as its partners in Lebanon. USAID/OTI anticipates managing this program through September 2010.
OTI/Lebanon Contact: Contact: Jennifer Boggs Serfass, Program Manager, (202) 712-1004, jboggs@usaid.gov
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