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As can be seen from the sketch above, a leading active role will be reserved to university undergraduates, who will be called upon to search, collect and analyze all the information that will be needed to build up the eighteen sector plans that make up the National Plan. They will be assisted and guided in this task by a wide range of volunteer citizens’ associations, members of liberal professions, international consultants and experts, municipal authorities, and local political parties, as well as ministry staff and directors. But the most significant contribution in this domain is expected to be provided by the CDR, the Center for Research and Development which has replaced, since 1990, the previous Planning Ministry.

All the citizens will be strongly encouraged to take part in the plan building process by registering with us, choosing one specific sector they are particularly interested in, and forwarding by email their ideas and their suggestions. These will be reviewed by an “Advising and Evaluation Committee” composed of representatives of the main groups mentioned above. The recommendations that are approved by the Committee will be taken into consideration and get included in the Plan.

Most of the research work will be conducted on the web. The citizens can contact us anytime by email. We can arrange for certain meetings and discussions to take place in our office.

7.     WHO SHOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR MONITORING THE ELABORATION AND THE EXECUTION OF THE PLAN?

The readers who have followed me so far have certainly not failed to realize the complexity of the project that faces us. I am sure that, on several occasions they must have been tempted to object to the fact that we expect some young, relatively inexperienced, and untrained undergraduates to assume such hard and complex undertaking.

To allay their fears, let me state at the outset that these undergraduates will not be left to tackle their job alone. Each team of undergraduates will have an experienced team leader who will coordinate and supervise their work.

In addition, the advising and evaluation committees mentioned at the end of the preceding paragraph will provide the undergraduates with advices, suggestions, and recommendations.

8. HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE TO STUDY AND ELABORATE THE NATIONAL PLAN?

We shall strive to complete the entire project by the end of May 2013, one month before the start of the parliamentary elections. The following tentative time tables should guide us during the entire period of the project.

9. WHAT ARE THE BROAD OBJECTIVES AND THE ADVANTAGES OF THE NATIONAL PLAN?

The implementation of a result oriented Lebanese National Plan will allow the Authorities to:

1. Substitute a policy of crisis prevention through forward planning to the haphazard reactions to crisis that have been the norm in our Administration.

2.     Carry on a sustainable and balanced national economic development and pursue an effective employment growth policy.

3. Plan for an effective and scheduled overhaul of the country’s infrastructure.

4. Allow all citizens an easy access to superior quality education and health services.

5. Promote Social Inclusion and assist the underprivileged members of society.

6. Lay down the foundations of an effective, fair and balanced fiscal strategy.

7. Build some sound financial and monetary policies

8. Consider a new approach to public debt containment.

9. Review and agree upon a clear privatization strategy.

10. Accurately evaluate the prospects of the latest oil and gas discoveries along the shores of Lebanon and pursue actively the confirmation of our rights to exploit these resources.

11. Share with our DIASPORA the task and the means to reform our Society and our Institutions.

12. Effectively combat corruption in all its forms.

13.- Last, but not least, the LNP will serve to convince the Authorities to recognize the natural rights of the citizens,  associate them directly to the governance process through clear and transparent dissemination of information,  and encourage them to monitor, on a regular basis, the implementation of the National Plan. In this way we aim to fulfill the recommendation given by Thomas Jefferson to his people in 1781 that we quoted at the outset of this report, and heed the call made two centuries later by President John Kennedy: "And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

10. Additional Notes

I would like to add the following comments:

1.     I believe that building a Plan in nine months (before the June 2013 elections) is doable:

1)      Half of the eighteen sector plans already exist, in some form or another.

2)      A great deal of information on the subject is available in Lebanon and abroad. The job will consist in seeking it, collecting it, and analyzing it. That can be done by the undergraduates during the first twenty one weeks of the project (see paragraph 8)

3)      Provided we have the support of the University heads, recruiting the necessary number of undergraduates for such a mission should not be particularly difficult.

4)      Securing the cooperation and the participation of economists, experts, ministry directors and their staff, international institutions, foreign and local NGOs, employers associations, and employee syndicates, even political parties, is of course a large undertaking, though I believe that it can be done.

5)      The need to ask literally everybody to pitch in is obvious when we consider the present fragmentation of our society. Unless everybody or nearly everybody becomes conscious of the necessity of having a PLAN, we shall not be able to implement it successfully.

2.     In the end, we should look at it this way:

Let us not fool ourselves. There is no doubt that the Plan that will emerge on the 30^th of May 2013 will be far from perfect, however:

                                                      i.       It will be the first attempt at a comprehensive and detailed Lebanese Plan since President Fouad Chehab’s groundwork in the nineteen sixties.

                                                    ii.       Nothing prevents us from modifying or improving upon it as we go along during the four years period of its implementation. No Plan is ever final and perfect.

                                                  iii.       It is absolutely essential that the execution of the Plan should be monitored by Civil Society on a monthly basis.

                                                  iv.       The Plan will enable the government to ascertain as accurately as possible the funds that will be needed to implement all the proposed initiatives.

                                                    v.       In short, the Plan will serve to identify the initiatives needed to achieve the projected objectives and the means that should be set aside for that purpose.

George Sabat (ACMA)

9/4/2012

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3. WHAT ARE THE MAIN SECTOR PLANS THAT MAKE UP THE LEBANESE NATIONAL PLAN?

The following sketch illustrates our view of the proposed contents of the Lebanese National Plan, LNP. Naturally, we may decide, at a later stage, to modify this list, if it proves necessary:

4. WHY DID ALL PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS AT PLANNING FAIL DURING THE PAST DECADE?

The following sector Plans were studied and elaborated by different governments during the period from 2005 to date.

1.     « The Education and Higher Education Plan » 2010 authored by HE Hassan Mneimne

2.     The « Social Pact » 2011 authored by HE Elie Sayegh

3.     The Agriculture Plan, 2005 authored by HE Aly Hassan El Khalil

4.     The Industry Plan, 2006 authored by HE the late Pierre Gemayel

5.     The Tourism study, 1996 undertaken by the UNDP

6.     The Water Policy 2011 authored by HE Gebran Bassil

7.     The Electricity Policy 2010, authored by HE Gebran Bassil

8.     The Transport study, 2011 authored by HE Ghazi El Aridi but not yet published.

9.     The Environment Mission Program, 2011 authored by HE Nazem El Khoury

We note with regret that all the above plans, as well as many other plans that preceded them, have failed to this day to be suitably implemented. Most plans were born dead or did not survive after the departure from office of the Minister who authored them. Others have not been executed due to lack of funding or “political will”. Some plans also broke down because their authors did not keep in mind the big picture. They omitted to recognize the fact that the eighteen individual sector plans that make up the National Plan are all interrelated and interdependent. One cannot reform one sector alone and ignore the others. In other instances, the plans crashed because their authors did not go through the five basic elaboration processes described in paragraph 1 above. But, above all, the plans fell short because the citizens were not directly associated to the plan building course. We shall comment on this last remark later in the report.

5. WHICH ARE THE MAIN STEPS TO FOLLOW IN DEVELOPPING A NATIONAL PLAN? 

A. - PLAN PREPARATORY PHASE

1. Study the existing Lebanese Plans

2. Study the Irish Plan and some other successful foreign Plans

3. Agree upon a unified approach to Plan study

4. Agree upon a single basic Plan architecture

5. Allocate Plans among teams and team members

9. Draw up some lists of potential collaborators/participants

B. - INFORMATION, COLLECTION, STUDY & EVALUATION PHASE

10. Collect information from available sources (see attached list)

11. Evaluate information obtained

12. Discuss evaluated information with outside collaborators

13. Draw up preliminary execution programs

14. Discuss preliminary programs with outside collaborators

C. - PLAN ELABORATION PHASE

19. Receive and study all written suggestions

20. Introduce modifications as needed

21. Redraw draft plans and distribute to all concerned

22. Study the draft plans with UNDP/CDR/Experts

23. Study the draft plans with consultants

24. Study the draft plans with the parliamentary commissions

25. Study the draft plans with the Minister and his assistants

26. Redraw the final draft plan and forward to the Council of Ministers

Additional commitments

1.      We shall study attentively all the concerned sectors and collect all available related information.

2.      We shall diagnose the weaknesses in each sector and identify all the initiatives capable of addressing them.

3.      In particular we shall take into consideration how other countries have solved some similar problems. For this purpose we shall study a number of foreign plans in so far as these solutions can be applicable to the local conditions in Lebanon.

4.      In all cases we shall strive to identify, assess, and, as far as possible, quantify the goals and the objectives that we ought to achieve.

5.      The CDR, the Center for Development and Research can offer invaluable assistance in that respect because they have already drawn plans for most sectors of the infrastructure and the economy. It is imperative to ensure their cooperation.

6.      Workers and employers must be encouraged to participate in the elaboration of the National Plan.

7.      We shall ask a group of experts to thoroughly evaluate our conclusions and monitor the project throughout the entire process.

8.      We shall call on all public officials, municipal authorities, faculty heads, NGOs and religious institutions to take an active part in this National undertaking.

9.      We shall encourage all the Lebanese citizens to participate in the plan building process to the best of their ability and offer suggestions and recommendations

6. WHO SHOULD BE INVOLVED IN BUILDING THE PLAN?

To this question we should summarily answer everyone. Let us explain what we actually mean by that expression and why we have decided to adopt that approach. Participative governance and participative planning are slowly but gradually forming part of a globally recognized state building process.  In the Middle East, the “Arab Spring” revolutions occurred because the fake democratic systems that were in place did not allow for participative governance and its natural offshoot, participative planning. Decision making was monopolized by the rulers and their entourage. The citizens were neither informed nor consulted. In the end, the greediness, the hunger for exclusive power, and the short sightedness of the tyrants and their cohorts brought the people to rise against them.

For all these reasons, we believe that the citizens in our country should be authorized and even encouraged to take an active part in the planning process as well as in monitoring the execution of the plans.

Our project provides for a wide range of citizens’ groups to participate actively in the various processes of the planning operation. The sketch below best illustrates this proposed planning participation.

 

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The Lebanese National Plan (LNP) 2013-2017

aSOCIAL AND ECONOMIC development program FOR THE NATION

1.   What is planning?

According to the business dictionary, planning is a basic management function involving formulation of one or more detailed plans to achieve optimum balance of needs or demands with the available resources. The planning process: (1) identifies the goals or objectives to be achieved, (2) formulates strategies to achieve them, (3) arranges or creates the means required, (4) identifies the individuals or the organizations who will be involved in the process. (5) Implements, directs, and monitors all steps in their proper sequence.

2. WHY DO WE NEED A PLAN IN LEBANON?

In addition to the obvious economic and social incentives that plainly justify all efforts to revise and improve upon our current policies, there are other important considerations that make it imperative for our government to introduce within the public Administration, along with some urgently needed reforms, a modern system of participative planning.

 Lebanon is a relatively small country with a population estimated at four and a half million inhabitants. The citizens belong to a mosaic of eighteen different religious communities. The political system in place is, what you may call, the closest thing to democracy in a region where dictatorship was until recently the norm. However, a small ruling business class in Lebanon has monopolized most of the economic advantages to the detriment of the underprivileged majority. At election time, several opposing political parties led by clan heads or “zaims” vie to entice the voters by offering them monetary inducements instead of a political program. To make matters worse, corruption has reached unprecedented heights at all levels of the public Administration. Few formalities can be conducted smoothly without bribes or a personal recommendation or “wasta” provided by some public official

All the efforts to fight these huge challenges have, so far, proved unsuccessful.

The adoption of a National Plan primarily aims at addressing these obstacles by offering the citizens some viable alternatives.

1.     Focusing attention upon achieving defined objectives

The in-depth study that will be required to develop the National Plan will allow us to identify precisely what is going wrong in our country and how it should be rectified. It will make it possible to single out and ascertain the objectives that ought to be achieved over a definite period of time, at some specified cost.

2.     Fighting corruption

The study will also expose the extent of the corruption that mines the Administration and its harmful consequences. It will reveal ways and means to fight and eradicate this corruption.

3.     Gaining hope for a better Lebanon

The National Plan, once it is formally adopted and enters its implementation phase, will boost the morale of the population and the Civil Administration alike.

4.     Improving governance

Good planning will allow the Authorities to anticipate and prevent crises rather than rushing to solve them after they occur.

5.     Providing a platform for the 2013 parliamentary elections

Probably the most valid “raison d’etre” for the National Plan is that it will provide the voters in the June 2013 forthcoming parliamentary elections, with an action plan and a yardstick to gauge the claims and the promises of the different candidates.  

"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rules of the people alone. The people themselves therefore are its only safe depositories." Thomas Jefferson: notes on the State of Virginia, 1781