SWOT Analysis

Questions used to prepare the SWOT analysis of Sub-TopicsSWOT Analysis and Proposal of Co-operationProject MED PACT - PAMLEDCOOPERATION SOUGHT AND OFFERED: SUMMARYPartner:PrioritiesPolicy experiencesand practices to sharein PAMLEDSin El Fil Municipality1) Offering job opportunities for fresh graduates and therebylimiting youth immigration.2) Preparing a 20 years urban strategic plan in order to providethe basic needs of citizens.3) Developing a spirit of solidarity, conviviality, and mutual aidbetween the inhabitants of the area.a) Providing us with expertise related to the projects we consideras our priorities (Strategic Plan, Incubator, and Cultural Events).b) Beneficing of the European partners expertise in order toavoid facing the same problems they already faced with similarprojects.OBJECTIVEThe aim of this analysis is twofold:- On the one hand, to provide the basic information concerning the local context (socioeconomicsituation, its recent evolution, institutions, the role/organisation ofMunicipality/City, problems, priorities, potentialities, policies, etc.- On the other hand, to justify, on the local needs, the choice of specific cooperationproposals within PAMLED ProjectSection 1. Introduction: Local ContextSin El Fil is located in the north-eastern suburbs of Beirut, the capital. Its approximate surfaceis about 2.5 square km. It is separated from Beirut, by the river known under thedenomination of river of Beirut. The East suburbs of Beirut have 75000 inhabitants. It rises 50meters above the sea level and is distant 6 km from the IAB (International Airport of Beirut).Administratively, Sin El Fil is related to the Mount Lebanon Circumscription, one of the sixcircumscriptions of the country, it is situated under the Metn Casa.Section 2. Partner ProfileThe complexity of this cosmopolitan city is defined by the multiplicity of its identitiesenumerated herein:- A commercial cachet with arrows of shops and boutiques and great shopping centres.- An industrial cachet.- A cultural cachet featured by the inauguration of its cultural centre and the existenceof the national academy of music.- A cachet of connectivity, a gateway city.2

- A residential cachet.- A tourism cachet with the emergence of the outstanding Habtour and Metropolitanhotels, as well as Padova Hotel.- A sporting cachet featured by the future project to establish sports arenas and yards.Section 3. Problems and Potentialities – Overall SWOT AnalysisThe Swot Analysis shall focus on the main socio-economic and environmentalissues:Internal FactorsStrengths- A geographical Site connecting Beirut to Metn (geographical situation)- The economy of the region is under development due to the existence of the:• The largest companies of the country (Fattal, Tamer, Jabra)• Important Hotels (Habtour Grand Hotel, Metropolitan, Padova …)• The largest Hospitals (Levant, Hayek, Lebanese-Canadian)• Worshiping Places (Saint Rita , Saint Doumit and Saydet El Bir- Maronite; SaintElie Greek Orthodox; Saydet El Himaya, Greek- Catholic; Saint Antoine dePadoue- Latin; Saint Marc, Copt; and Evangelist churches).• Largest shopping malls (Futuroscope, Habtour)• Filming companies (Beirut Hall)• Public and private schools and universities (Sin El Fil Public School; EssorSchool; Lycée d'Orient; Adab Haditha School; American Language Center; MBAand C&E University; Lebanese University faculty of Agronomy and DentalStudies).• Libraries and Bookstores (Orientale, Samir, and Antoine).• Printing houses (Arz, Paklayan, Chemali, and Khalifé).• Cultural Centers (Municipal Cultural Center, Lebanese National Conservatoire,and Ivoire Theater).• Syndicates and unions (Nurses syndicate, actors syndicate, and Musicianssyndicate).• Banks (Libano Française. Liban et d’outre mer, Bank of Beirut, SGBL, Audi) andmany other companies operating in various sectors and industries, such asinsurance, technical, and tourism.• Humanitarian associations and NGO's (Caritas, World Vision, SIDC, SocialMovement, Scouts du Liban, Libami, Affel, and others).Weaknesses- Non controlled and non profitable souks like Souk el Ahad and vegetables souk.- The surface of these 2 projects is approximately 14000 m 2 .- The pollution of the river by the discharges of the sewers and the industrial wastewhich generate odors and insects.- Pollution of the area by:• Cars fumes because of the circulation flow.• Traffic sound and Traffic Jam.- Chocking discrepancies in lifestyle, very poor social classes living mainly in the regionknown as New Sin El Fil and very wealthy people living in Horsh Tabet. We consider3

this fact as a weakness since we believe in the principal of equality between ourcitizens, but also a strength since it provides a unique diversity of mentalities andareas accordingly a richness of ideas and a solidarity between neighbourhoods.External ElementsOpportunitiesWe, at Sin El Fil Municipality, consider that the above mentioned companies, malls, banks,schools, universities and other departments are our best opportunity to develop and grow. Weare doing our best to change the concept of traditional municipal activity and turned it moretowards cultural and social problems as well as environmental problems beside our daily work.Threats- Political Situation in Lebanon is unstable; it causes sometimes the delay of events. Inaddition, recently, Sin El Fil and in particular Horsh Tabet, one of Sin El Fil Streets was thevictim of a bomb attack that attacked and killed the Deputy Antoine Ghanem, injured andkilled several civilians, and caused a lot of damage in the buildings, companies, and stores ofthe region.- Earthquakes: Due to the old buildings built 50 years ago and their weak structures.- Floods: The overflowing of sewer due to abundant rain.- Fire Risk in the timeworn buildings.- Electric Danger due to the electricity lines forming a spider like net over the houses.Section 4. Priorities and Cooperation SoughtFor each priority (i.e. water, waste disposal, urban planning, tourism, smallbusiness development, etc. please develop one by one and separately, thefollowing arguments:A) Problems’ specification• Provide a short description of the problem (overall and sub-topic/priority) to beaddressed;We, at Sin El Fil Municipality, are working on three projects, each having its particularproblems. First of all, the Urban Plan Project is a big project that requires a lot of fund, nearly200 000 $ as our studies showed. In addition, we ought to cooperate with the NationalCouncil of Urbanism and submit our suggestions and new zoning criteria to it. However, itmight not approve on our suggestions since it might have other criteria to take intoconsideration, and we, as municipality, can not function until obtaining its approval.As for the Incubator, Sin El Municipality found the ground on which the building will beconstructed, it’s actually a land owned by the Municipality itself, the problem now is to findenough fund to start the construction. Actually, the Municipal Board is studying the possibilityof providing a small amount of money from the Municipality budget to cover the expenses. Inaddition, the Municipality needs the expertise of the European Partners in this domain.As for the Cultural Events Project, Sin El Fil Municipality will apply for the Call for Proposalproposed by the European Commission for fund, and shall also need the expertise of theEuropean Partners in this domain.4

• Specify specific areas of localisation (areas and territories of implementation ofthe sub-topic/priority identified) and people involved.All our projects will be inducted at Sin El Fil, and would be reachable to all the citizensdisregarding of their social, intellectual, or financial status. We also aim at making the cultureavailable for everyone, relatively to their age groups and interests.In Detail:▪Is the issue/problem analyzed relevant and can i t be resolved better at Municipal level?At suburb level? Why is it so?This issue can only be analyzed on the Municipal Level because it is directly and closelyrelated to the needs and characteristics of this particular region, Sin El Fil.▪Who are the relevan t actors at local level or at other levels of Government/Territorywhom have an active role in the sub-topic/priority identified?The Municipality of Sin El Fil alone is working on these projects without any assistance onother Government levels. On the ground, Sin El Fil Municipality, stakeholders, and local NGO'sare the parties fully involved in our projects (Incubator, Urban Plan, and Cultural Centre).B) Current situation: Responsibilities/Roles in dealing with the problems identifiedand with the corresponding delivery of policies/services• Specify the role of the local authority for service planning and implementationas far as the selected sub-topic/priority, and according to the currentlegislation existing;Sin El Fil Municipality deals alone with different kinds of identified problems except whenthese problems are related to big projects handled by the Government itself such as bridges,electricity, water, and waste disposal. Sin El Fil Municipality applies the Municipalities laws thatabide by the Lebanese Constitution respectively to the different specific fields. TheMunicipality of Sin El Fil is the sole responsible of these projects, and of resolving all theproblems that may occur. As far as it concerns the Incubator Project, the Municipality isworking alone. As for the Urban Plan and the Cultural Events Projects, the Municipality isworking alone also but is cooperating with the Higher Council of Urbanism and the LebaneseNational Conservatoire respectively.• Specify other level of responsibilities for service planning and implementationeventually including central government, other public agencies, etc.In Detail:▪ What is the general context of the Municipality in respect of the sub-topics/prioritiesidentified: is there a policy or guidelines at the national level or regional in the matter?The National Higher Council of Urbanism is responsible for fixing standards to allmunicipalities. Therefore, each municipality, and certainly Sin El Fil Municipality, has its ownrules based on the region location, nature, special conditions, and main use. No construction5

permit is given without the approval of the Municipality’s architect. Once the Municipalitysigns the permit, the project is transferred to the National Higher Council of Urbanism to signit.▪Are there synergies of action with other actors that might be exploited?As the work on the projects progresses, there would be some synergies of action with otheractors, but this is not applied till this instant.▪What is the legal background in respect to the sub-topics/priorities, particularly inrelation to water management, waste, environment, social-economic developmen tterritory enhancement, etc.?Sin El Fil Municipality, and relatively to all of its actions and taken measures, applies theMunicipalities laws that in their turn abide by the Lebanese Constitution.▪How does the Municipality/City interacts with the actors responsible of the publicutility services (water and waste), energy, environment, of the social economic sector,and of city marketing?The Municipal Council launched a project to recycle wastes and bought, in collaboration with aneighbour municipality a piece of land and equipped it with all the necessary recyclingmaterials and equipments, but unfortunately it bumped into an obstacle that forced it to stopthe whole project. It discovered that there is an explicit law forbidding the Municipal Councilfrom going through with this project since Sukleen a private company licensed by theGovernment is in charge of collecting wastes, recycling it, and even controlling the amount ofwastes produced by each city. Therefore, the project was stopped until the above mentionedlaw is modified.On the other hand, and as we previously mentioned, drinking water is provided by theGovernment to the citizens relatively to the needs of each house for an annual fee collectedby Government personnel.As for the environment sector, Sin El Fil Municipality planted trees and flowers in all the publicplaces, and removed all the industrial shops situated along the Beirut River sides in anattempt to prevent the river pollution, stop people from throwing wastes in it, and transferringthe region into a residential and commercial region rather than an industrial one.As for the social economic sector, the Municipal Council is counting on the stakeholders of theregion that are actively participating in developing the region, and that are working side byside with the Municipality on developing social projects. The Municipality focuses a lot on thesocial economic sector that, once it develops, will in return have a positive impact on the citymarketing.▪What is the role of the Municipality/City in dealing with specific policies and itscapability to act in this respect?Since the municipality issues specific licenses, all the different companies’ policies andconditions are controlled when the licenses requests are submitted, i.e. at the foundation ofthe different businesses.6

▪Is it possible for the Municipality to insert rules or obligations to reduce theuncontrolled use of water or to improve waste management? Otherwise who, amongthe government authorities, has the right to do so?It is not possible for the Municipality to insert rules or obligations to reduce the uncontrolleduse of water or to improve waste management because both the water and the wastemanagement services are in the Government hands and the Municipality has no delegatedauthorities or control over them.• What are the competences tha t may be activated in the Municipality/City of…………..and among the stakeholders for the development of the activities concerning the subtopics/prioritiesidentified?We, at Sin El Fil Municipality, have very limited competences, but, whenever there is a need,we do not hesitate to ask for an outside opinion or expertise on both the local and theinternational levels.C) Proposed approach for changing- Benefitting of the European Union (MED-PACT PAMLED) financial aid to implement theprojects to the best interest of Sin El Fil citizens.- Sharing expertise and learning from other European partners’ previous experiences, each inits knowledge domain.D) Expected results or expectations on improvementsWe, and based on our vision for the future, and due to the continuous efforts of our unifiedworking team, expect to achieve the best results and to succeed in our projects.Section 5. Practices and Experiences• Describe briefly the good practice managed by your local authority incollaboration with other stakeholders. The following questions should providean outline of the issues to be considered (where applicable):o What is the problem/issue addressed?o When a specific action begun to take place?o What have been the main activities carried out during this period to addressthe problem?o To which target beneficiary groups activities have been referred?o How has the role of local authority evolved during time? What is the presentrole of the local authority?o How has the role of other stakeholders evolved during time? What is theirpresent role?• Main results achieved – Describe shortly, pointing out issues such as innovation,and impact;7

• Why would you describe the practice as a good one? Are there externalfactors/elements to confirm that a specific practice is recognized as a good one?(such as international or national standards applied as reference, etc.?)Sin El Fil Municipal Board is constituted of 18 members each sharing the same target: makingour city a better place for our children to grow up. The council noticed among its citizenssome gaps on the cultural level, so it focused its efforts on this domain and created theCultural Centre. This centre is a place to access the sources of knowledge and culture. Itdevelops a spirit of solidarity, conviviality, and mutual aid between the inhabitants of the area.This space is managed by “the committee of the cultural centre” constituted of volunteers ofthe area and members of the Municipal Board.The Centre presents free activities to different age groups, it has a data processing andcomputer centre with internet access that provides computer sessions, it has audio-visualequipments, it has a conference room with a capacity to hold 250 seats and which can beequipped for expositions, it also has a conference room for work groups and workshops, and alibrary that offers a free subscription for books and magazines available in French, English,Spanish, and Arabic.In addition, and in collaboration with the ESCWA and the Arab Town Organization (ATO), themunicipality has established a local urban observatory. Its goal is to calculate the indicators inorder to create an urban plan for the town. Till now, the municipality has installed GIS on itssystems to better depict the problems and work on solving them.Till now, the cultural centre has proven to be a real success, all the NGO’s working in Lebanonseek to organize events there. Therefore, and due to our successful experience with theCultural Centre, we intend to follow the same work methodology with the other projects.In realizing its projects, Sin EL Fil Municipality is cooperating with several European partners.Concerning the Incubator Project, it is cooperating with the City of Skopje. Concerning theUrban Plan, it is cooperating with the City of Skopje as well as with the Municipality ofBrtonigla, as for the Cultural Events Projects, its cooperating with the Municipality of Prato.Section 6. Final remarks and information sourcesBriefly speaking:• Which are the main issues that you wish to address in the exchange ofexperience with the other MEDA and European Project Partners?Sin El Fil Municipality seek to benefit from the European Partners expertise and advancedknowledge in the implementation of our three projects (Incubator, Urban Plan, and CulturalCentre).Other issues:• With regard to sustainable development, is there the possibility to providesystems for water harvesting (among the actors involved for example)?As we previously mentioned, there is no possibility to provide systems for water harvesting asthe water matter is in the hands of the Government. We, at Sin El Fil Municipality, arefocusing on social and cultural projects.8

• Which are the potential obstacles to the development of theseactions/activities?As far as it concerns the Urban Plan Project, we might face some obstacles when submittingsome of our ideas to the National Council of Urbanism for approval. But for the both theIncubator and the Cultural Events Projects, we don’t expect to face any obstacles as thesetwo projects are internal and do not require the approval nor intervention of any exteriorauthority.• At Municipal/City level are there feasibility studies available on the subtopics/prioritiesidentified? List and describe any document material availableabout the experience (projects, actions, particular events, etc.), please list anyavailable documentation.Concerning our three projects (Incubator, Urban Plan, and Cultural Centre), we are in themiddle of preparing a feasibility study, and we already have a few finished studies that wouldbe annexed in the form of diagrams, maps, and charts.9

Conducted Survey Results1- Proposed Projects2- Types of schools10

3- Domicile’s situation4- Family Problems11

5- Family income value6- Healthy insurance resource12

7- Present wastewater8- Status of surveys13