Thread by @AymanMhanna

[THREAD] 1/8 Contributing to the debate around the roles of the State, NGOs & intl partners in aid process post #BeirutBlast. Yes, NGOs can’t replace state institutions & sidelining the State could undermine long-term recovery prospects… BUT

2/8 What are State institutions doing & showing to convince citizens, NGOs & intl partners to engage & re-channel part of the aid through the institutions? Some interesting & promising initiatives live @impact_gov @LebanonAid driven by dedicated teams, open to scrutiny… BUT

3/8 State institutions have shown #Lebanon representatives' disgraceful attitude during the Dec2 intl donors meeting. @General_Aoun’s speech focused more on scoring political points against @saadhariri on gov formation & didn’t address citizens’ pain outlined by NGOs & partners

4/8 Food aid from #Iraq #SriLanka #Mauritania was mismanaged, signaling a kind of racism towards these countries. No #accountability whatsoever on those behind this mismanagement. Also, no measure whatsoever to prevent cross-border contraband.

5/8 Total lack of transparency on processes used by @LebarmyOfficial to map damages, distribute aid. No transparency on what happened with data collected about most vulnerable households. Did they receive the (ridiculously low) 400,000 LBP? When? Who? How?

6/8 Zero legal action against officials who, for years, mismanaged aid from @USAID in agriculture, @UNDP_Lebanon waste management, @euinlebanon water treatment, education, refugees… in addition to those accused of corruption & mismanagement of public funds

7/8 No written commitment to actually use the data collected through @IMPACT_GOV & @LebanonAid as input to #policymaking. If data doesn’t contribute to improving policy making, why then collect it? That commitment is expected to be made PUBLICLY by state institutions

8/8 Trust is a 2-way street. For partners to trust state institutions, incantations and (good) tech tools are not enough. Institutions’ ACTS speak louder and so far, it’s mostly a deafening silence @LamiaMoubayed @CAlsharabati @CarmenGeha @najat_saliba @nasseryassin @samiatallah1