Context
Located on the border with Syria, Wadi Khaled is one of the most impoverished and politically marginalized areas of Lebanon. For many decades, state structures were mostly absent and residents were not registered as Lebanese nationals. Most residents did not receive full citizenship rights until 1994 when the area was officially incorporated into the Lebanese state.
The traditional clan-structured system dominating inter-communal relations in Wadi Khaled, coupled with only limited expertise on good governance among its residents, prevents the newly established municipalities from effectively mitigating conflicts and initiating positive social change in the area. Furthermore, Wadi Khaled also became home to thousands of refugees fleeing the war in neighboring Syria, almost doubling its inhabitants. Despite the relations between the Lebanese and Syrian refugee populations in Wadi Khaled having relatively harmonious, the increase of vulnerable populations has strained the already limited resources and economy in the area, increasing the risks of tensions and potential conflict.
To help address these challenges, Search for Common Ground (Search) started the Diwan project, funded by Global Affairs Canada, giving a platform to marginalized voices, building trust between citizens and local leaders, and mending social divisions. The project ensures that local decision-making processes in the Wadi Khaled area become more inclusive and participatory, encouraging stabilization that is more sustainable, equitable, and accountable.
Project Overview
The Diwan Project was launched in 2017 and aims to contribute to the establishment of inclusive and participatory governance in Wadi Khaled, through which more sustainable, equitable, and accountable development projects can be implemented. In the pursuit of this objective, Phase 1 of the Diwan Project was implemented from April 2017 to June 2019. The project promoted trust and collaboration among municipal leaders and citizens and built municipal capacity based on the principles of accountability, inclusivity, and transparency in governance. Through capacity-building opportunities, round-table discussions, large-scale dialogue sessions, and community initiatives, the project broke down stereotypes and mistrust between different groups in Wadi Khaled. In direct continuation to the activities of the project’s first phase, Search now works to foster stabilization in Wadi Khaled through inclusive governance.
The Diwan Journey
Phase 1: 2017- 2019
Diwan demonstrated to the local communities that inclusivity is not incompatible with their tribal traditions, and thus guaranteed the increasing engagement of women and youth in Wadi Khaled’s public sphere and decision-making processes.
The project promoted trust and collaboration among municipal leaders and citizens and built municipal capacity based on the principles of accountability, inclusivity, and transparency in governance. Through capacity-building opportunities, round-table discussions, large-scale dialogue sessions, and community initiatives, the Project broke down stereotypes and mistrust between different groups in Wadi Khaled.
Nearly 70 percent of the Project’s participants perceive an improvement concerning the responsiveness of local decision-makers toward their constituents.
To celebrate the successes of the project and its champions, the Humans of Wadi Khaled campaign was launched and shone on across Search’s platforms for months.
Phase 2: 2019 – 2021
Building on Phase 1’s achievements, Phase 2 of the Diwan project shifted its aim towards the fostering of stabilization in Wadi Khaled through inclusive governance, which is realized through improved collaboration between local leaders and their constituents in addressing local needs and increasing representation of marginalized groups such as youth and women in addressing local needs (SO2).
This is being pursued by activating the previously developed knowledge, understanding, relationships, and communication channels. Women and youth, empowered through training and the creation of Youth and Women Advisory Boards, have now been granted decision-making power and oversight of municipal management. Through dialogues and town hall meetings, those groups represent the interest of their communities to their local municipal council, and collaborative projects to be implemented in each of the localities were validated and will be overseen by the Women Advisory Board, ensuring that women’s participation in governance structures are further strengthened.
Similarly, the youth groups are leading on the implementation of community initiatives, thus providing the main avenue for mainstreaming and popularizing an inclusive approach to governance and contributing to sustainably shifting social norms and attitudes around governance. The group shone throughout the challenging year of 2020: supported by Search, other locally active international organizations, and their municipalities, the youth directly supported COVID-19 awareness-raising and prevention efforts by delivering health kits across the nine municipalities of the area, as well as ensuring the sanitization of all mosques ahead of the Aid celebrations.
Overall and during this second phase, more than 100 capacity-building and collaborative dialogue events gathering municipal representatives, local leaders, women, and youth, were held. In 2021, Diwan will support the implementation of locally and collaboratively developed projects across the Wadi Khaled territory.
Check Diwan’s initiatives through this playlist:
