Development Cooperation Handbook/Stories/Diffusing Conflicts

MDG8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

⇒ playlist on Youtube
⇒ Lebanon 2 - Italian civilian-military cooperation
⇒ Episode 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Diffusing Conflicts
Project implemented by UNIFIL
Lebanon , November 2010
UN project, co-financed by the Ministry for External Affairs, Government of Italy

Diffusing Conflicts - playlist

Not only do non-government organisations work in international cooperation projects; military personnel too are very active.
Although there is criticism concerning the employment of people, trained for fighting, in projects that aim at restoring peace, the United Nations encourages the participation of military units in activities of cooperation that require sophisticated expertise and strict discipline.

In November 2010, we went to South Lebanon to see the work being done by Italian forces along the country's border with Israel. The Italian forces were part of UNIFIL or the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

UNIFIL was created to help restore peace and security along Lebanon's border with Israel.

Besides acting as a buffer force between the Israeli army and the Hezbollah militias, the tasks of UNIFIL include clearing land mines and providing humanitarian assistance to the poor communities in South Lebanon.

While humanitarian work is sometimes carried out directly by military units working in bilateral or intergovernmental cooperation projects, development cooperation involves civil society organisations that are more experienced in involving local stakeholders for designing and managing projects. In Bint Jbeil, there is a huge waste disposal area where you can also find the debris of Lebanese buildings that were destroyed by the 2006 Israeli air attacks. Here, the Italian army, COSV, an Italian NGO working in the field of development and the agency of the Italian government for development cooperation, have together assisted the municipality of Bint Jbeil in building a waste treatment plant, introducing composting technologies and raising awareness amongst the local population on differentiated waste collection methods.