Thread by @SirenAssociates

1/7 This piece by @sewella @chehayebk highlights well the #transparency concerns of bypassing the state in aid coordination. The valuations given by French & UN officials on total aid received wld be impossible to calculate w/out @LebanonAid & its unclear how they were calculated

https://twitter.com/newhumanitarian/status/1336964127819001857

2/7 The UN says that $340m has been disbursed to #Lebanon since Aug. but only tracks $154.9m on its system, which covers only aid channeled thru UN agencies. The French-led aid initiative meanwhile defers to UN for tracking & hasn’t broken down what each donor country has given.

3/7 Contributions from many Lebanon’s largest donors including Algeria, Greece, Spain, Morocco, UK, Hungary, Russia & Turkey are therefore not accounted for on @OCHALebanon’s system. They are however captured on Cabinet’s Donor Coordination Platform @LebanonAid

4/7 But there is overlap. @LebanonAid tracks $233m. Added to the amount tracked by the UN, we arrive at a total of $387.9m, pointing to a $47.9m overlap. To get to the $340m quoted by French and UN officials one currently has to compare the two data sets & merge duplicates…

5/7 Confused? Here’s the nub. Having two systems undermines #transparency & leaves space for the diversion of funds. Yet the intl community continues to sideline the state, deciding last week to channel reconstruction aid through a yet-to-be created independent financing facility

6/7 If the intl community is serious about #accountability and #goodgovernance all donors inc UN agencies should immediately be brought onto @LebanonAid. Not only is it more inclusive than the current set-up but it offers greater granularity on needs & aid distribution practices

7/7 State institutions are logically best positioned to track aid. With tools like @LebanonAid the state can be empowered to link aid to needs more effectively & transparently, and create better informed strategies to help Lebanon weather a rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis.

@zeinaakar @rochdi_najat @crampling @DRM_Lebanon @GermanEmbBeirut @UNSeverine_Rey @AFD_France @ItalyinLebanon @ArthurGermond @grillo_anne @EUAmbLebanon @MoyroudUN @CChastenay @SafirAustralia @SarojJha001 @sami_halabi @ifi_aub @LCPSLebanon @mahamyahya