Page two

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.