Mr. Robert Watkins, Resident Representative of the UNDP, estimated that the creation of public-private partnerships can alleviate the needs of the most underprivileged communities especially in the midst of the financial and economic crisis in which we are living nowadays.
On the 20th of September, at Hotel Phoenicia, Mr.Robert Watkins and Mr.Ghassan Assaf, the general director of BBAC Bank signed a memorandum of understanding in order to launch the second phase of the Live Lebanon project. For the first time, Live Lebanon is engaging in a long term partnership with a private institution.
Thanks to BBAC generosity, Live Lebanon has its sustainability guaranteed for, at least, another additional year.
Live Lebanon believes that this partnership will create new opportunities for improving social and economic circumstances in Lebanon.
In 2009, the Live Lebanon initiative has been launched. In fact; it extended its works to all regions of Lebanon. With the support of local communities, it identifies the priorities of each region according to four criteria: youth (young Lebanon), health (healthy Lebanon), environment (green Lebanon) and the degree of economic prosperity (prosperous Lebanon).
Moreover, this initiative will raise awareness so that the diaspora and Lebanese organizations help in the development of local projects. Once the project is executed, the Live Lebanon project will assess and communicate the benefits of the investments for the community. Between 2011 and 2012, many successes have been achieved: the creation of a website, the commitment of new ambassadors promoting and supporting the UNDP initiative in addition to many projects that had been proposed for Live Lebanon to execute. Actually, 250 projects were submitted whose 42 were selected and 21 projects have been executed. Noting that, in order to be selected, the project must be considered relevant, feasible and sustainable.