Community Support Program in LebanonaaaaaaaaFebruary 2021

Activity Spotlight: CSP Assistance One Year Later

In addition to providing vulnerable towns and villages with essential equipment and other resources, USAID's Community Support Program ensures the sustainability of its support through its technical assistance/capacity building component. CSP is dedicated to offering trainings and other assistance that enable beneficiaries to safely operate, maintain, and maximize the impact of direct community support funded by USAID. For example, in 2019 CSP provided the North Lebanon community of Niha with a skid snowblower, 85 LED streetlights, and 45 upgraded steel waste barrels and lids, and then trained residents on the equipment's operation and maintenance. Last year, Niha used the CSP-provided snowblower to plow its residential streets for the first time, and in January 2021 the village rolled out the snowblower for the second year in a row to ensure that residents could travel safely to, from, and within the village. The snowblower proved essential this year to facilitate the transportation of COVID-19 patients to hospitals. With CSP's assistance, residents say this is the first year in a long time that they did not have to worry about traveling along snow-blocked roads. Subscribe to this newsletter for periodic updates about how communities continue to utilize USAID-funded assistance long after its delivery!

Click Here for a Video of the Snowblower in Action!

Field Highlights

CSP Provides Much-Needed Equipment to Beqaa Farmers CSP is enhancing the livelihoods of 150 farmers and their households in the Beqaa village of Ainata al Arz by providing equipment that decreases production costs while increasing the efficiency of local farming practices. The equipment includes 10 electric pruning shears, five semi-automatic rotary tillers, two wood shredders (shown in the photo above), and two trailers. CSP's assistance is enabling Ainata al Arz farmers to increase the quantity and quality of their crops, including potatoes, walnuts, a range of grains, and fruits like apricots, apples, and cherries. Community Voices: JET Spotlight After receiving CSP's Jobs, Education, and Training (JET) Scholarship, Mohammad is able to complete the final year of his studies in electronics at the Foyer de l'Amitié technical and vocational school in the Beqaa. "Electronics and other technical and vocational fields are needed nowadays despite the crashing economy," Mohammad says. "My scholarship is a source of hope to build a successful future and pursue a good career as I wouldn't have been able to afford to finish my studies otherwise."

Fact of the Month: Guess the Village!

The photo to the left shows the southern village of __________ illuminated by CSP-provided streetlights. CSP replaced 176 nonfunctional lightbulbs in the village with LED bulbs and connected 70 of them to a municipal generator to ensure continued lighting during state-electricity cuts. The project aims to reduce the number of safety incidents occurring due to poor nighttime streetlighting. CSP is also helping this municipality to draft a strategic framework for promoting local development.

Click Here for the Answer !

Photo of the Month

CSP’s technical team trained an olive farmers cooperative (COOP) in Tanbourit, South Lebanon, on the safe operation and maintenance of eight CSP-provided harvesting machines. Pictured to the left, a CSP technical expert coaches COOP members on properly using, cleaning, and storing the harvesters. This photo was taken by Jihad El Cheikh — CSP capacity building officer in South Lebanon. Click Here to Watch a Video About the Activity!

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This newsletter is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The content of this newsletter is the sole responsibility of the Community Support Program (CSP) in Lebanon and does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.