-    To devise a national social development plan and to monitor its implementation (unfulfilled to date).

-    To carry out the social projects undertaken solely by the state (these projects are very limited and still far from achieving their goals).

-    To care for the disabled and attend to the entities concerned with disabilities (partly fulfilled).  

-    To monitor population movements, understand their causes, organize the efforts of the state and coordinate with the civil society in this regard (unfulfilled).

-    To care for family affairs (unfulfilled).

 

The Ministry is in charge of implementing matters that are herculean and involve the diverse functions of the Ministry, which seem beyond its capability. As a matter of fact, the centers of the Ministry and the non-governmental organizations it enters into contract with serve as its main operational arm. In many areas, these centers and NGOs often undertake the same duties performed by the Ministry, which results in excessive public spending by two different parties to the same end.

 

The social service centers work towards achieving the objectives set by the Ministry of Social Affairs. These centers are in total 87 and have 94 branches distributed by Qada’a as follows:

-    Beirut: 4 medical service centers

-    Matn: 5 medical service centers

-    Baabda: 5 medical service centers, each including a kids’ club and a nursery 

-    Aley: 3 medical service centers

-    El-Shouf: 8 medical service centers, 2 of which host a kids’ club and a nursery each

-    Kessrouan: 4 medical service centers, 3 of which host a kids’ club and a nursery each

-    Jbeil: 3 medical service centers, 1 of which hosts a nursery 

-    Zahle: 1 medical service center 

-    Baalbeck: 7 medical service centers, 2 of which host a nursery each

-    Hermel: 2 medical service centers

-    Western Beqa’a: 2 medical service centers, 1 of them including a nursery

-    Rashaya: 1 medical service center 

 

-    Tripoli: 3 medical service centers, each including a nursery

-    Akkar: 5 medical service centers, 3 of which includes a nursery each

-    Zgharta: 2 medical service centers, 1 of which includes a nursery

-    Batroun: 2 medical service centers

-    Koura: 1 medical service center

-    Bsharri: 1 medical service center including a nursery

-    Mennieh-Dennieh: 3 medical service centers, 1 of which includes a nursery

 

-   Saida: 1 medical service center 

-   Zahrani: 3 medical service centers, 2 of which includes a nursery each

-   Jezzine: 2 medical service centers

-   Tyre: 5 medical service centers

 

-    Bint Jbeil: 3 medical service centers, each including a nursery

-    Nabatieh: 5 medical service centers, 4 of which includes a nursery each

-    Hasbaya: 2 medical service centers, 2 of which includes a kids club

-    Marjeyoun: 4 medical service centers, 1 of which includes a nursery

The Ministry of Social Affairs enters into contracts with a significant number of non-governmental organizations for the purpose of executing joint projects in the fields of social development or healthcare (for example, establishing a dispensary, launching vaccination campaigns, etc.). These projects are partly funded by the Ministry. 

 

The NGOs under contract with the Ministry are in total 250 and are distributed as illustrated in Table 1. However, the main problem is that most of these joint-projects are elusive and non-existent except on paper. While the Ministry undertakes the payment of salaries as well as part of the project’s expenses, the contracted NGO assigns its staff other duties in separate independent projects that are often at the service of the political or religious authority to which it belongs (see Table 2). This shows the futility of the social and development ventures of such NGOs, not to mention that the projects are clearly lacking in remote and underprivileged areas such as Hermel, Akkar, Rashaya, Bsharri and Hasbayya. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the sectarian level, these NGOs are distributed as shown in Table 2. Of these, the largest number belongs to the Maronite community, followed by the Shia’a.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There remain 149 civil associations that are not fully affiliated with any religious and sectarian authorities despite the sectarian alignments of some of their members.

 

The Ministry of Social Affairs has agreements with 185 charities, almost all of which report to religious entities. These charities care for the orphans and the sick. 

-    Beirut: 23

-    Mount Lebanon: 78

-    North: 33

-    Beqa’a: 23

-    South: 18

-    Nabatieh: 10

 

According to the 2012 draft budget law,  the expenditures of the Ministry of Social Affairs stood at roughly LBP 200.3 billion, allocated as follows:

-    LBP 145 billion for 185 charities contracted by the Ministry to teach and train orphans and children with special needs and to shelter and care for the elderly.

-    LBP 9 billion for joint projects with 250 NGOs.

-    LBP 19 billion for the Ministry’s social service centers and their branches, which total 181.

 

Spending these substantial amounts of money is not translated into equally tangible improvements, which implies either a squandering or a mismanagement of funds. While the majority of allocations are being channeled to areas with no pressing needs, the underprivileged towns wallowing in abject poverty attract little, if any, attention, which attests, once again, that both the distribution of centers and contracting of NGOs are governed by political and sectarian considerations rather than by actual needs of the people.

 

N.B: This was the reality of the associations under contract with the Ministry and the joint projects in 2012. In what follows, we shed light on the contributions that the ministry allocated to NGOs in 2014.