UNDP kicks off three projects aimed at boosting conditions in southern suburbs

BEIRUT: The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on Tuesday launched three projects in the southern suburbs of Beirut aimed at improving local living conditions. UNDP officials, in collaboration with Sweden, inaugurated a women’s center in the Haret Hreik neighborhood. “The center is the first of its kind in Lebanon and it will help women learn new skills,” said Haret Hreik Mayor Samir Daccache. 

He added that UNDP had offered considerable help in reviving the area after heavy damage incurred by Israeli airstrikes during a 34-day war in July-August 2006. The southern suburbs of Beirut were targeted by Israeli forces during the war as they were believed to host the headquarters of Hizbullah. 

A second UNDP project will provide owners of small and medium enterprises with equipment to replace those damaged during the 2006 war. 

The UNDP will also build a station for collecting and pumping wastewater in the Ouzai neighborhood. The project is being funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and the municipality of Bourj al-Barajneh. Mohammad Sadiqi of the Kuwait Fund said the organization would continue to fund similar projects in the area. “We will have other projects that serve development and society,” he said. 

UNDP country director Seifeldin Abbaro stressed the importance of the three projects and said they created job opportunities and would benefit the local Lebanese communities on the social and economic levels. He said that they also helped to empower “marginalized groups of society such as women and unemployed youths.” 

He also thanked the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Austrian government for their support. – The Daily Star