The Municipal Empowerment and Resilience Project (MERP) is a joint initiative by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat). The Project is implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities (MoIM) and is funded by the European Union (EU) through EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, the ‘Madad Fund’.

The Project aims to strengthen the long-term resilience of subnational authorities in Lebanon as well as host communities, refugees and displaced persons affected by the Syrian Crisis. To achieve this, the Project engages in a three-pronged approach: MERP aims to 1. strengthen processes, procedures and practices to enable Union of Municipalities (UoMs) and municipalities to deliver effective and efficient services in a transparent and accountable manner; 2. empower UoMs and municipalities to facilitate local economic development (LED) and to deliver basic services that address the needs of both host and refugee populations, and; 3. support communities to engage in municipal processes and procedures to ensure that UoMs and municipalities are responsive to their needs.

The Project’s geographic areas of intervention are the Urban Community Al-Fayhaa, the Federation of Municipalities of the Northern and Coastal Matn, and the Union of Tyre Municipalities with a total of around 91 potential partner municipalities.