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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.