By Carol Olechowski

ndless lines, inadequate staffing, and �the clerk who went to lunch just as I reached the head of the line� are the stuff of bureaucratic lore. But picture yourself trying to obtain a building permit or pay taxes in a nation splintered by a 16-year civil war that decentralized government offices and disrupted services. You might find yourself completing different steps of the application process at far-flung offices and waiting months for your documentation, or paying a higher property tax than a neighbor with a more expensive home — and confronting petty functionaries not immune to bribery and other forms of corruption.

Such was the case in Lebanon — until the University at Albany�s Center for Legislative Development (CLD) stepped in to remedy the situation. Founded in 1970 as the Comparative Development Studies Center and located at Rockefeller College, CLD adopted a mission of academic and applied studies in the administration of legislative organizations and in legislative research and information technology. As the premier U.S.-based institution with this focus, the center is recognized internationally for its work in mounting training and technical assistance programs that aid government institutions, particularly legislatures, in setting up and sustaining democracies.

Over the past three decades, CLD has successfully implemented projects in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Central Europe, and the Middle East. In Lebanon, the challenge was to determine �the needs of the government at the legislative, executive, and local levels� while making known to citizens their rights and responsibilities under the law, according to CLD director and UAlbany faculty member Abdo Baaklini.

That task began in Lebanon in 1993, when the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) awarded the center funding for a multi-year project to resurrect basic governmental institutions. Local elections had ceased in the 1960s (they were not reintroduced until June 1998, when they were held in 708 of Lebanon�s 768 municipalities), and the Lebanese civil war erupted in 1975. As a result, explained Baaklini, many of the services formerly rendered by the federal government — such as highway maintenance, the furnishing of electricity and water, and the collection of federal taxes - were taken over at the local level by agencies ill-equipped to provide them. Already understaffed municipal governments remained accountable for collecting local taxes, issuing building permits, and taking care of other city-related services.

In addition, many federal offices, banks, restaurants, and other public institutions and private businesses formerly situated in the capital, Beirut, relocated to Jounieh, a city 15 kilometers to the north. And while many Americans might wish for that sort of economic boom in their own hometowns, it had dire ramifications for Jounieh. Within 10 years, �Jounieh changed from a small, peaceful town to a bustling metropolis,� observed Baaklini. Its infrastructure became strained, and the national government further eroded.

The consequences radiated throughout Lebanon. But Baaklini and the CLD staff were able to �rejuvenate� local government in scores of cities, including Jounieh. �By the end of 2002,� the director stated, �we will have worked with more than 100 municipalities. The project is expected to be extended for four additional years to cover 200 more cities.� As it continues, the CLD colleagues will address such issues as �human resource management, training, excessive administrative practices that hamper inter-municipal and municipal-central agency operations, and inadequate revenue collection,� added Baaklini.

The Daily Star, an English-language newspaper in Lebanon, recently praised CLD for its work with USAID and the Lebanese government in �taking an existing administrative mess, and restructuring, reshuffling, and reorganizing it one rusty old file at a time.� The article noted that computers, printers, copiers, faxes, and software programs were provided, as was �basic employee training in computer literacy and the use of newly installed software and workshops on how administrative procedures, based on existing laws, can be implemented.�

While the Lebanese have benefited from the CLD project, the center itself and the University also have much to be grateful for. Said Baaklini: �We have a number of partners. Our primary resources are our fantastic faculty, not only at the Graduate School of Public Affairs, but across the disciplines and in our libraries. We also rely on many individuals in New York State government who work for us on projects or receive international visitors. Of course, our students work closely with us, both here and in the field.�

In turn, faculty and students alike �have access to our research,� he continued. �We translate many of our experiences with these projects into graduate courses. Over the years, we have given many scholarships and assistantships to our students, who gain practical experience by working with us. In fact, we sometimes hire our graduates as full-time staff members. Others become part of an international group of advisers; they work with us overseas.�

Nan Carroll, CLD�s deputy director, observed that center activities attract students from all over the country — and the world — to UAlbany. Many former students, she adds, �are sending their kids, and their grandchildren, to study with us now. We have a second generation coming here specifically because of the work we are doing.�

�Oh, that makes me feel old,� sighed Baaklini, with a chuckle.

The Center for Legislative Development (CLD) at the University at Albany has been awarded a $17.26 million grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to continue its efforts to strengthen municipal institutions in Lebanon and increase their effectiveness in support of democracy. Over the last two years, CLD, supported by a cooperative agreement with USAID, has provided technical assistance for 82 municipalities in Lebanon toward achieving these goals. As part of the Lebanon Project, CLD has helped to streamline key central government oversight agencies that create regulations deemed necessary to strengthen the role of municipalities. This new USAID award expands CLD's assistance to all of the remaining 700 Lebanese municipalities. "This grant is an integral part of the foreign assistance program to Lebanon to foster economic growth and enhance citizen participation in the political process," said Jon Breslar, USAID Lebanon mission director. "This project will enhance this newly emerging democratic process and strengthen the relationship between citizens and their elected institutions." "This will, in turn, protect the emerging democratic process from certain negative aspects that were a result of 16 years of civil war in Lebanon," said CLD Director Dr. Abdo I. Baaklini, who also directs the Lebanon project. He noted that, with the 1998 municipal election in Lebanon, the first in 35 years, more than 7,000 municipal council members were elected to design and implement local public policies in the country's municipalities. "Municipalities, the intermediary government, the various oversight agencies, as well as the Lebanese Parliament will act capably and efficiently, by modern standards, once certain weaknesses in their structure have been addressed," said Baaklini. "The USAID and CLD program will usher in a new era in local government in Lebanon." UAlbany President Karen R. Hitchcock said, "this latest expansion of CLD's Lebanon Project is a striking example of the critical difference a research university can make by infusing global perspectives throughout its academic programs. Under the leadership of Dr. Baaklini, our Center for Legislative Development has compiled an extraordinary 30-year record of facilitating efficient self-government in emerging democracies across four continents. Along the way, it has brought invaluable educational experiences in public administration to more than 1,000 students from America and abroad." CLD's goals in Lebanon are to simplify municipal administrative procedures, standardize municipal budget revenue and expenditures, and utilize information technology to allow municipalities to provide services to their citizens in a transparent, efficient, and accountable manner. CLD will work with central government oversight agencies and the Lebanese Parliament on updating decentralization laws and improving intergovernmental procedures. Mahmoud Batlouni, Lebanon Project Director for CLD, noted that, because of its extensive experience in Lebanon, CLD has developed "superb working relationships with all the principal actors in Lebanon. We do not need any start-up time to begin implementation of the project, since the required project implementation structure is in place." Batlouni, a computer engineer with 15 years of system development experience, added, "We have developed most of the required information systems and databases for the municipalities. After minor modification to meet regional and district government needs, they will be ready for implementation. This will bring significant savings in resources and will permit immediate implementation." CLD is the primary institution in the U.S. offering academic and applied studies in the administration of legislative organizations and in legislative research and information technology. For three decades, it has mounted training and technical assistance programs aimed at strengthening the capacity of governmental institutions-particularly legislatures-to support democratic development. Successful activities and projects have been implemented in such diverse areas as Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Central Europe, and the Middle East. CLD has worked with USAID in Lebanon since 1993 to implement the "Lebanon Relief and Redevelopment Project." Contact: Vincent Reda, 518-437-4985