Innovative Institutional IDEAS won a contract with UNDP in February 2021 to implement municipal finance assessments as part of the Municipal Empowerment and Resilience Project (MERP). The project aims at strengthening the capacity of municipalities to meet the needs of their communities.
MERP is a joint initiative by the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). The project is being implemented in partnership with the Lebanese Ministry of Interior and Municipalities and funded by the European Union through its Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis.
The project will be implemented over eleven months during which IDEAS will implement in-depth municipal finance assessments for up to eight municipalities and two unions of municipalities in the MERP geographical focus areas in the Tripoli, Metn, and Tyre districts of Lebanon. The municipal assessments will identify the strengths and weaknesses of the municipal administrative, financial, technical, and legal processes and provide recommendations on how to strengthen their capacities moving forward. The assessments will be an important tool to support municipalities as they approach donors and investors to benefit their local communities.