24 April 2007
BEIRUT: The Basil Fuleihan Innovative Good Governance (BFIGG) competition crowned three winners of an essay contest in a ceremony at the offices of An-Nahar newspaper earlier this month. Hana Hamadeh, author of "Implementation of Good Governance Reforms in Lebanon: The Lebanese National Social Security Fund (NSS)" came in first place and won a $10,000 prize.
Latifa Reda and Mohammad Hamad Al-Ghanem won second prize. They conducted a study entitled "Establishing Concrete Models of Good Governance in Lebanon through Practical Approaches for Political Reform: A Comparative Approach." They received $5,000.
Nader Houella was third, for "Promoting Good Governance through the Media: from the TV and Radio reaching to the Public and School Classrooms." He won $2,500.
Launched in May 2006, the competition aims to solicit innovative and sustainable ideas from Lebanese youth in the field of public reform.
Out of 21 entries, five submissions had been selected by a committee of governance experts. They finalists were referred to a jury for evaluation.
The five finalists personally presented their papers to the jury, made up of MP Ghassan Tueni, publisher of An-Nahar; Mona Hammam, United Nations Resident Coordinator and UN Development Program (UNDP) Representative in Lebanon; Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh; former Culture Minister Michel Edde; and a number of media and judicial figures.
A televised roundtable discussion was taped at the studios of the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation on Saturday, highlighting the winning competition entries.
The show, hosted by Marcel Ghanem, featured a panel of prominent Lebanese public figures including the first- and third- place winners of the BFIGG competition.
A video montage documentary of the contributions that Fuleihan made during his career to Lebanon's economy was screened and accompanied by a poem read by Yasma Fuleihan, Basil's widow. - The Daily Star
