Better services to the people for stability, peace and prosperity in Libya

Sandra Goffin, Head of Cooperation

Delegation of the European Union to Libya

Dear readers,

Municipalities are often the first reference point for people seeking access to a public service, be it social or health services, water and electricity supply, education, issues related to civil status or even the collection of garbage. Municipalities are taking care of many different aspects of our everyday lives.

This is no different in Libya, where municipalities across the country are catering for the needs of an ever-increasing number of people. In many areas, the decentralisation of government functions is still at the beginning and Libya is working to reform its system of local governance. The European Union is offering its support to Libyan municipalities in this process, as in our experience, strong and efficient local administrations have a major impact for people’s well-being and the communities’ prosperity.

Since 2017 the European Union has invested approximately 140M € in more than 60 Libyan municipalities to help improve access to basic public services. We offer support in training municipal employees and modernising administrative structures. We foster partnerships between municipalities in Libya and Europe to promote opportunities for peers and colleagues to exchange experiences and expertise. We run programmes in support of entrepreneurship and boosting local economic development, and we supported municipalities to improve basic services such as water and electricity supply, garbage management and access to health services.

The EU’s REBUILD project is designed to assist municipalities in developing qualitative local public services in Libya and respond efficiently to the needs of their population. REBUILD will help create networks among municipal staff within Libya and beyond its borders. I am particularly proud that we will be able to introduce a university-based continuous learning system for Libyan municipalities and their staff through REBUILD.

I would like to particularly thank our Libyan partner municipalities of Azzawiya, Benghazi, Beni Walid, Gharyan, Sabha, Sirte, Tobruk, Tripoli Centre, Zintan, and Zliten for their trust and confidence, and our two European partners, the Autonomous Province of Trento and the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia as well as the International Cooperation Centre for their commitment to the REBUILD project. It is great to see how Libyan mayors and municipal staff as well as university lecturers from cities across Libya come together under this project as they realise that in the end, they share the same vision: better services to the people for stability, peace and prosperity in Libya.

Yours sincerely,

Sandra Goffin

—

Read the other articles of the first newsletter:

1. Activate change to address local needs – Mattia Gottardi, Councilor responsible for Local authorities and relations with the Province Council, Autonomous Province of Trento

3. Building capacities of the employees of all Libyan municipalities – Tamim Al Na’as, Deputy Secretary General, Supreme Council of Local Administration – Libya

4. Friuli Venezia Giulia region in the “REBUILD” project – Presidency of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, General direction, International Relations and European Programming Service

5. The training proposed by the Centre for International Cooperation – Andrea Anselmi, Senior training and facilitation officer, International Cooperation Centre