Governance, oversight and accountability in Lebanon

Project profile

Introduction

Since 2019, Siren has been involved in a comprehensive programme working toward enhancing the Lebanese government’s accountability and governance, while fostering opportunities for increased and more constructive engagement between the public administration, civil society and Lebanese citizens. The “Governance, oversight and accountability in Lebanon” (GOAL) project works on the assumption that change cannot only be prescribed by the street, but also has to come from within the state.

Background

In post-war Lebanon, oversight became a synonym of compliance rather than performance. It focused mostly on sanctioning unprotected low-rung bureaucrats and lower grade civil servants, rather than assessing and monitoring the performance of the public administration as a while.

Central Inspection is Lebanon’s main investigative and inspection agency, and is the cornerstone of the country’s civil service accountability system. The GOAL project seeks to empower CI to fulfil its role of providing effective oversight, driving local development and offering advice to the public administration to improve its efficiency.

In the midst of the crises that Lebanon is facing, a group of young Lebanese talents joined forces with the Central Inspection and brought IMPACT to life. IMPACT, the Inter-Ministerial and Municipal Platform for Assessment, Coordination and Tracking, is a space for exchange among public institutions and administrations. IMPACT is one of the main tools to achieve a vision of strong oversight to limit the spread of corruption. It has grown to become a space for positive initiatives built on scientific, independent and transparent foundations. Watch the video to know more about IMPACT the first e-Governance platform in Lebanon.

Approach

The project supports CI to develop its organisational capability, audit methodology and standards, human resources and coordination with other control institutions.

Intended Outcomes

Improved capability of Central Inspection to perform efficient and effective oversight, and to conduct audits and inspections according to international professional standards.
Enhanced impact of Central Inspection’s reporting and recommendations, achieved by establishing a data-driven approach and fostering constructive collaboration between control institutions and civil society.
Legal and institutional framework for government accountability strengthened by Central Inspection driving the adoption of drafted legislation and supporting its implementation.

Workstreams

Organisational transformation: developing CI’s organisational capacity, improving its audit methodology and standards, re-engineering its processes and workflows, building the capacity of its human resources, and enhancing its communication.
Governance: building inter-institutional collaboration, mapping human resources in the public sector, and digitalising administrative acts to pave the way for e-government in the country.
Development: promoting local development and inter-municipal collaboration, and linking central government with territorial entities in regard to public policy design.
Crisis management: promoting data analysis and sharing to support informed decision making in crisis response; strengthening CI’s role and capacity in response coordination.
Systems and data analysis: enhancing CI’s capabilities to manage data, ensure data privacy and security, and promote access to information and transparency.