Italian Agency for Development Cooperation

Italian Agency for Development Cooperation in Lebanon

The solidarity, the cooperation and the collaboration between Italy and Lebanon started in 1983. In fact, the first agreement was signed to support the reconstruction of Lebanon during the civil war. The government of Italy funded the public water pumping station in Debayeh, vital for the provision of water to Beirut city, which is still functional and operational.
Since then, the Italian Cooperation has been working actively with the Lebanese Institutions and the civil society for the reconstruction of the country after the civil war and to support the most vulnerable communities.

The turning point for the Italian Cooperation was after the 2006 war, strengthening the already existing commitment of Italy through an Office in Lebanon.

Nowadays, the Italian Cooperation, with the spirit of the new law, is funding several programs and projects that are implemented by the Lebanese Government, the International Organizations and Italian NGOs. In addition, the Italian Cooperation is building networks among different stakeholders of the cooperation in Italy, Europa and Lebanon (International Organizations, private sector, associations, citizens, local authorities, universities and others ...)

On one hand, the Italian Cooperation is supporting the efforts for the progressive stabilization and development of the socio-economic and political conditions of the country, valorizing the important role of the private sector.

On the other hand, the Italian Cooperation is one of the important partners of the Lebanese Government, being one of the privileged interlocutors in different sectors, including the support to the Syrian Crisis in the country.

In these years, different bilateral initiatives were funded aiming to Institutional Capacity Building for the development of social policies (support to youth, to women and gender mainstreaming and improvement of health services), of environment protection (improvement of the environment conditions, development for renewable energies, sustainable management of the natural resources, of the infrastructures related to water management (water depuration implants, waste water management, irrigation canals) and of solid waste management, of rural and agriculture development and of protection and valorization of the cultural heritage.

After the initiation of the conflict in Syria in 2011, the Italian Cooperation strategy was to merge, in a coordinated manner, the interventions of the humanitarian aid and those of the development in order to support activities in the different sectors that have been heavily impacted by the crisis all over the country.

The Italian Cooperation has contributed to the response of the International Community.
Initially, the Italian Cooperation funded emergency projects and then interventions towards resilience of the displaced population as well as the hosting communities.
In the last 2 years, new innovative initiatives in some sectors were studied in order to be funded through the soft loans (Paris III and London Conference), such as programs in the development of the industrial districts, the eco sustainable tourism and the management of the marginalized coastal areas.