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The UNIFIL, in collaboration with the Association of the Friends of Ibrahim AbdEl Al (AFIAL), and the local authorities launched on the 8th of December 2011, an awareness campaign in Southern Lebanon about conservation and protection of water resources. The campaign aimed at educating the public in general, and the youth present in the area in particular. The campaign will initially cover 24 intermediate high schools located in towns and villages along the Blue Line and subsequently across UNIFIL’S Area of Operation, in Southern Lebanon. Local authorities and middle school directors have encourage and showed keen support to the project.
The Association organized a field trip to the Litani project with the representative of the Kuwait Fund for Economic Development in Lebanon, Engineer Nawaf El Dabbous. The objective of the trip was to familiarize Dabbous with the existing projects on the Litani River. Moreover, the Association portrayed to Dabbous the future 800m project, which consists of taking 120 million M3 of water from the Quaraon lake to the south of Lebanon, for irrigation and potable water.
Water for cities: Responding to the Urban Challenge
Venue: 22 March 2011- UN House Main Conference Hall- Beirut, Lebanon
- A joint event organized by the Association of the Friends of Ibrahim Abd El Al, ESCWA, and BGR.
- Producing a TV spot ( 30 seconds), that will be diffused on the national channels and during the conference.
- Producing a documentary film ( 20 minutes), that will be diffused on the World Water Day on national channels, and during the conference.
- The Beirut event will be linked by Teleconference with the official event in Cape Town, and the Association will represent Lebanon on this day
AFIAL, as Governor in the World Water Council, participated in the meeting of the Arab Committee responsible for the preparation for the 6th World Water Forum, which will be held in Marseille, France, in 2010. The Arab Committee was assigned by the Council of Arab Water Ministers, in the Arab League. The Committee discussed the themes that may concern the Arab Region and decided on the process to follow to assess and confirm an Arab Region within the Forum organization.
Afial was invited to participate in the workshop on regional cooperation for sustainable water management. The workshop was held at Sanliurfa, Turkey on 26-27 September. The participants recommended the establishment of a cooperation council. The workshop was hosted by the Strategic Foresight Group and co-hosted by AK Party of Turkey and the General Directorate of State hydraulic Works (DSI). It was supported by Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) with Political Affairs Division IV (Human Security) of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Swedish Agency for International Development (SIDA). The participants included prominent decision makers, parliamentarians and opinion makers from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.
The Association of the Friends of Ibrahim Abdel Al organized in November 2009 a roundtable entitled:
“Arab Strategy for preserving Arab Water Rights on the Jordan River Basin”
Speakers from Arab Riparian countries presented papers on the historical, present and future scenarios related to this issue.
The Association will issue soon a publication compiling these presentations.
Under the patronage of his Excellency the President of the Republic General Michel Suleiman, a ceremony was held in the University of Notre Dame Louaize, on the 10th of December 2009, to inaugurate the statue of Ibrahim Abdel Al on the occasion of Abdel Al’s 50th memorial. Allocations were presented by several speakers, showing the importance of late engineer Abdel Al in the field of Water and Energy in Lebanon, and in the region.
The Association of the Friends of Ibrahim Abd El Al produced a 30-second TV spot on Water quality.
This film, with a recommendation of the Ministry of Information which backs up the Association, was broadcasted on all National TV channels in Lebanon, as part of the Awareness Campaign.
The broadcast took place during the whole month of March with a special focus on the 22nd of March, as a celebration of the World Water Day.
In addition to that, the Association partnered with “Le Service de Coopération et d’Action Culturelle” of the French Embassy in Lebanon to organize an inter-disciplinary project with French schools in Lebanon concerning the issues of water and how to preserve this valuable resource. The ceremony of the distribution of prizes took place at the French Embassy on the occasion of World Water Day on the 22nd of March.
The Association has commenced its regular field trips to the Litani River. This year’s trips were targeting public schools to enrich the students’ knowledge on water issues in general and in particular on the Litani River itself, especially with the effect of climate change.
The Association showed a PowerPoint presentation to the Faculties of Engineering in various Lebanese Universities. The presentation included a physical description of the Litani, along with the pressures on it and the importance of implementing future projects on the national economy.
This project is funded by the Government of Spain through the Lebanon Recovery Fund (LRF) that was established shortly after the 2006 war on Lebanon. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is managing the funds and implementation of this project in close collaboration with the national partners, the Litani River Authority and the Association of the Friends of Ibrahim Abd El Al, which initiated the project. AFIAL is responsible for the creation, preparation of legislation, and implementation of the Water Users Association.
Under the patronage of the President of the Lebanese National Assembly, H.E. Mr. Nabih Berry, the Association has organized on May 13 – May 15, 2010, in collaboration with the World Water Council, a regional forum on Water issues and promoting the concept of the Parliamentarians’ helpdesk which was an outcome of the Istanbul World Water Forum.
The Association of the Friends of Ibrahim Abd El Al, represented by its Treasurer Mrs. Iman Abd El Al, has acquired a seat in the new World Water Council Board of Governors, in which Lebanon was represented in for the first time ever. The elections took place on October 15, 2009 in Marseille, France, where WWC Members elected their new Board of Governors, which will oversee and guide the Council's work for the coming three years.
The process took place during the triennial General Assembly for which more than 280 members had gathered. Through majority rule voting, the members elected the 36 Governors from 74 candidates and appointed Loic Fauchon to continue to serve as President of the World Water Council.
The Association took part in a joint project between UNDP, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, and the Development and Reconstruction Council. 101 Stories, published in Arabic was part of the 4th National Human Development Report, it constituted of different stories shedding the light on various civil society initiative which promotes positive reform. The publication reveals the importance of the civil society in its effective role in advocating citizens’ rights and promoting awareness and its partnership with governmental institutions in policy implementing and reforming.
Ibrahim Abd El Al 100th Birthday:
The Lebanese American University organized a conference titled “A Visionary from Lebanon” honoring the memory of Ibrahim Abd El Al on his 100th birthday. The conference was divided into three panels, the first panel titled “Ibrahim Abd El Al, The Way I Knew Him” delivered by the President of the Press Syndicate Mohamad Baalbaki and former Minister Mohamad Ghaziri. The second panel titled “Holistic View of Abd El Al’s Vision on Water in Lebanon” and the third panel titled “The Litani River Project” in addition to other water projects in Lebanon.
