US embassy cable - 03AMMAN3308

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 003308 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/NGA AND PRM/ANE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF, PREL, EAID, IZ, LE, JO 
SUBJECT: MONITORING AND EVALUATING ICMC'S HUMANITARIAN 
ASSISTANCE PROJECT FOR VULNERABLE IRAQIS IN LEBANON 
 
REF: A. EXUM/POLASCHIK E-MAIL 1/21/03 
     B. AMMAN 1587 
 
1.  Embassy Beirut cleared this message. 
 
2.  As requested ref a, Regional Refcoord monitored the 
International Catholic Migration Commission's (ICMC) 
humanitarian assistance project for vulnerable Iraqis in 
Lebanon on May 13, 2003.  Report is keyed to questions 
provided ref a. 
 
A.  On May 13, refcoord and Embassy Beirut poloff met with 
ICMC Forced Migration Specialist Jim Kelly, Project Director 
Thomas Vasseur and Caritas/Lebanon Migrants Center Director 
Najla Chahda.  They also held a separate discussion with the 
project's implementing team of one project officer, five 
social workers and one unpaid student intern, focusing on the 
social and economic conditions facing vulnerable Iraqis in 
Lebanon. 
 
B.  Although ICMC was slow in starting the project (see para 
D for details), it is now doing a solid job of providing 
services to vulnerable Iraqis.  ICMC's new outreach to the 
Iraqi community (previously limited to church-based referrals 
among the Iraqi Christian community) has revealed a very 
vulnerable, marginalized population without access to GOL 
services -- and without many other sources of assistance. 
With a current caseload of 60 families per week, ICMC should 
meet its goal of assisting 900 families by the end of the 
grant. 
 
C.  ICMC spent the first four months of this project 
identifying office space and staff.  A new international 
project director (Vasseur) began work on November 15, 2002, 
while key locally hired staff -- including ICMC's first-ever 
Muslim social worker in Lebanon -- began work in January 
2003.  ICMC then conducted staff training and began work in 
earnest in February 2003.  Due to unforeseen difficulties in 
community outreach (see para D), ICMC's initial client base 
was quite limited:  44 families in the first three months of 
the project and 221 families by mid-May.  However, due to 
ICMC's ongoing intensive outreach in the poor Beirut suburbs 
of Hay El Selloun, Burj el Barajneh refugee camp (where many 
poor Iraqis squat in homes abandoned by Palestinian refugees) 
and now in southern Lebanon, ICMC is interviewing 60 cases 
per week.  At the current rate, ICMC most likely will reach 
its planned objective of 900 families by August 31.  As 
outlined in the grant agreement, ICMC is providing outpatient 
and inpatient medical care, as well as basic humanitarian 
assistance packages.  Although ICMC provided primary school 
tuition assistance early in the project, it only began the 
planned informal afternoon school sessions in April 2003, due 
to difficulties in identifying and recruiting qualified 
teachers.  ICMC admits it did not submit the required interim 
report on-time but claims it was submitted to PRM/C in April 
2003.  ICMC has shared with refcoord only draft project 
updates that included neither a detailed breakdown of 
services provided nor any financial information. 
 
D.  As in the similar PRM-funded project in Jordan (ref b), 
ICMC initially had a difficult time reaching out to the Iraqi 
community and advertising its services.  Most Iraqis in 
Lebanon lack legal status and financial resources and 
therefore are either afraid or unable to seek assistance; 
ICMC social workers report that many Iraqis lack even the 
taxi fare to reach the Caritas center in downtown Beirut. 
Although ICMC planned to conduct community outreach via an 
Iraqi Project Advisory Committee (that would include 
representation from the various Iraqi religious and ethnic 
communities present in Lebanon), political sensitivities 
precluded its formation.  ICMC instead sends its social 
workers out into the community to spread word of the project 
and identify prospective beneficiaries.  ICMC reports that 
since it has begun field visits in earnest, its caseload has 
tripled.  Its field work has proven somewhat dangerous in 
southern Lebanon, where a social worker was detained by 
Hizballah and accused of proselytizing. 
 
Separately, ICMC also seems to have gotten a slow start in 
implementing the project due largely to its focus on helping 
Caritas Lebanon identify new space for its Migrants Center 
and implementing three other projects that were funded at 
roughly the same time.  (The projects include an EU-funded 
human rights for asylum seeker project; a G/TIP-funded safe 
house; and a separate PRM-funded legal and social protection 
project for non-Palestinian refugees, reported septel.)  ICMC 
reports that it simply was unable to accommodate all four new 
programs in Caritas' existing office space. In addition to 
space constraints, Embassy Beirut and refcoord suspect that 
ICMC may have taken on more projects and funding than it 
could handle. 
 
E.  ICMC currently has eight staff working on this project: 
Kelly, Chahda and the project implementation team of one 
project officer, five social workers and an unpaid student 
intern.  Kelly and Vasseur (who left the project in late May 
to work for the UN in Iraq) have shared the role of project 
management.  Although Kelly initially planned to oversee the 
project on his own, ICMC decided to bring in an additional 
international employee (Vasseur) to manage this project after 
ICMC was awarded several other grants at the same time.  ICMC 
reports that only one half of one international salary was 
paid by this grant, as stipulated in the cooperative 
agreement.  Separately, ICMC has rotated the project officer 
position between two individuals, who have been detailed 
periodically to Syria to assist in the establishment of a 
similar Caritas project there.  ICMC reports that the project 
officer's salary has been paid with PRM funds only for work 
performed in Lebanon.  The personnel appear to be fully and 
gainfully employed. 
 
F.  ICMC's project is run from Caritas' brand-new Migrants 
Center.  The center is spacious and well-equipped with new 
furniture and furnishings, all of which appear to be in 
working condition.  Four offices were equipped and furnished 
by this grant, and an acceptable inventory control system is 
in place. 
 
G.  N/A 
 
H.  ICMC plans to seek funding to extend this project for an 
additional 12 months, both to continue providing assistance 
to vulnerable Iraqis and to help this particular group 
prepare for a return to Iraq.  ICMC is in discussions now 
with partners Catholic Relief Services and International 
Orthodox Christian Charities to fold this particular project 
(as well as the similar PRM-funded project in Jordan) into a 
larger regional return plan.  Given the difficult 
circumstances facing Iraqis resident in Lebanon (illegal 
status, limited work opportunities and no access to GOL 
services) as well as the Lebanese Government's likely 
unwillingness to allow any local integration of this 
population, vulnerable Iraqis will continue to need basic 
humanitarian assistance as well as extra assistance in 
planning their eventual return to Iraq. 
 
Although ICMC's implementation of the current project has 
been far from perfect, refcoord believes that a 12-month 
extension of this project would advance PRM's regional policy 
goals.  There are very few NGOs in Lebanon with existing 
Iraqi assistance programs and ICMC is therefore better 
positioned than most to take on eventual return assistance 
programs.  Rather than wasting months in start-up time with a 
new NGO partner, PRM could benefit from the existing, 
well-trained staff and infrastructure funded by this grant. 
Strong words from PRM regarding ICMC's reporting 
responsibilities hopefully would encourage ICMC to meet its 
obligations in a more timely fashion.  Refcoord therefore 
recommends that PRM favorably consider ICMC's proposal. 
Embassy Beirut agrees that ICMC appears to have overcome its 
slow start on this project and is likely to meet the project 
goal of assisting 900 Iraqi families.  ICMC social workers 
are establishing a credible track-record among the Iraqi 
community and are well-positioned to provide assistance to 
this group and prepare them for eventual return.  Embassy 
Beirut supports Refcoord,s recommendation for a 12-month 
extension of this project and strict reporting requirements 
for ICMC. 
GNEHM