UNDP and Executive Magazine to Host a Series of Expert Roundtables on Corruption Challenges in Lebanon

September 3, 2020

Beirut - 3 September 2020, The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is partnering with Executive Magazine to convene, during this month, four virtual expert roundtables that will examine key corruption challenges in Lebanon, including transparency and accountability in international assistance (9 September); constitutional challenges to the fight against impunity (16 September); prevention of corruption in autonomous public institutions (23 September); and integrity safeguards in financing elections and political parties (30 September).

The webinars will interactively connect distinguished Lebanese and international expert panellists with a wider pool of pre-registered participants including policymakers, international partners, development agencies, civil society, academicians and the media. The event will also be livestreamed for the benefit of a wider audience.

“The recent Beirut Port explosion has brought to the forefront many of Lebanon’s longstanding challenges that need to be addressed with urgency and a renewed sense of purpose,” said Celine Moyroud, UNDP Resident Representative in Lebanon. “There is consensus that anti-corruption comes high on the list of priorities. Corruption has impeded Lebanon’s economy, its institutions and the aspirations of its people to bring about meaningful reforms.”

Efforts to significantly address corruption in Lebanon seem to have fallen short, despite some partial yet significant recent steps, including the adoption of the country’s first-ever national anti-corruption strategy in May 2020. The webinar series will draw from the national strategy to guide the discussion on future efforts against corruption.

“The thorny issue of corruption in Lebanon has been a concern of Executive Magazine’s since the early 2000s, both in terms of analysis and advocacy. Today, it is a survival need for our economy and the country,” stressed Yasser Akkaoui, editor-in-chief of Executive Magazine. “We plan to capture the rich proceedings of these webinars in a second instalment of the special report on anti-corruption in Lebanon, which we plan to publish in October 2020 in cooperation with the UNDP”.

The webinars are organised under the recently announced partnership between UNDP and Executive Magazine to expand public dialogue on systemic corruption challenges in Lebanon through evidence-based analyses and realistic recommendations to address them. The first fruit of this partnership was the special report on anti-corruption published in the July/August issue of Executive Magazine.

For more information, please contact

In UNDP – Lebanon        |  Rana Moughabghab   |  rana.moughabghab@undp.org   | +961 3 835 351

In Executive Magazine   |  Maguy Ghorayeb        |  maguy@executive.com.lb            | +961 3 707096

UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet.

Opportunities for registration

The first webinar on “ Transparency and Accountability in International Assistance” will take place on Wednesday 9 September, 2020 at 5:00 PM Beirut time (GMT 3+), and is now open for registration on the following link.

It will also be live streamed on the UNDP’s Facebook channel. Executive Magazine will re-publish the roundtables discussion on its own online platforms following the event.

Questions to the moderator

We want to hear your voice. If you have questions that you would like to ask our panel of experts, please send them to lara@executive.com.lb at least one week before the relevant event, and we will do our best to have our moderator address each one.