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September 2024
Highlights
USAID Partners to Strengthen Emergency Response in Libya
 In recent years, Libya has faced significant challenges from climate change, with rising temperatures, increased sandstorms, and floods impacting daily life and heightening the risk of natural disasters. Local institutions struggle to effectively respond to these crises due to limited expertise and experience. However, events like the COVID-19 pandemic and Storm Daniel underscored the critical role municipal governments and local crisis management services play in preparing for and responding to emergencies.
To address this growing need, USAID’s Taqarib activity partnered with the Ministry of Local Governance, the 1415 call center, the Boy Scouts, the Libyan Red Crescent, and other ministries to host a two-day conference on disaster preparedness and crisis management. The event gathered 165 participants from 80 municipalities across Libya to discuss coordination, urban planning, and disaster prevention strategies.
Minister of Local Government Badr al-Toumi opened the conference, emphasizing the importance of streamlining response efforts and fostering partnerships to ensure effective communication. International and local experts led sessions on using open-source mapping, developing response plans, and improving cooperation between government agencies, volunteers, and municipalities.
USAID highlighted key policy issues needed to strengthen responses to climate change, disaster management, and emergency response. It also shared best practices for coordinating with civil society organizations and volunteers. The conference concluded with a tabletop exercise to hone participants' response skills. Additionally, nine municipalities signed important mutual aid agreements that will enable the sharing of resources during large-scale emergencies.
USAID continues to bolster emergency preparedness and response in Libya through partnerships that support local emergency response centers with training, equipment, and capacity-building to ensure they can effectively manage future crises.
Promoting Stability
Boosting Hospitality Skills in the Murzuq Basin
 As southern Libya emerges from years of violence, tourism is becoming a viable reality again, but many hospitality focused businesses don’t have the needed skills to stand out to customers. In July and August, USAID’s Libya Economic Acceleration Project provided a twenty-day catering and cooking vocational training for the staff of the Al-Karam Tourist Resort in Wadi Etba, located in the Murzuq Basin. The resort hosts scout camps, festivals, school visits, weddings, and corporate events.
Through USAID, resort staff received training in catering fundamentals, tools, and best practices. They also learned how to prepare a variety of traditional and international recipes to enhance the resort’s menu offerings. Special emphasis was placed on cake design techniques to help the resort stand out in the regional market.
The result has been increased bookings and now the resort plans to hire ten additional staff to keep up with demand, supporting job creation in the region. USAID continues to enhance the capacity of businesses to meet increasingly competitive markets, helping to bolster growing tourism, while strengthening economic resilience in southern Libya.
Developing Companies to Help Murzuq Rebuild
Last month, USAID’s Libya Economic Acceleration Project (LEAP) signed a partnership agreement with Taraghin Almadina Construction Company, in southern Libya’s Murzuq Basin. Taraghin Almadina is currently managing several important local contracts in the South, including the maintenance of the Taraghin Health Center, the Nursing College, and the Faculty of Education building at the University of Fezzan.
In response to growing demand, the company is expanding its capabilities by establishing blacksmithing and carpentry workshops and investing in new equipment, such as front loaders and trucks. USAID will assist by training eight new employees and implementing a lean management program to improve operational efficiency. This will ensure the firm is well-positioned to bid on upcoming reconstruction projects in Murzuq and other parts of southern Libya.
USAID is partnering with companies like Taraghin Almadina to ensure they have the necessary capabilities to participate in Murzuq’s reconstruction, improving the local economy. LEAP is part of the U.S. Strategy to Prevent Conflict and Promote Stability and the first U.S. activity solely based in Libya’s South.
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Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance
USAID Supports the Libyan Mediators Network’s Organizational Development
Recently, USAID’s Libyan Reconciliation and Justice Activity (LRJA) hosted an organizational development and strategic planning workshop in Tunis for the Libyan Mediators Network (LMN). Twenty participants came from Murzuq, Sebha, Tawergha, Misrata, Wershfana, Benghazi, and Tripoli. The LMN is dedicated to expansion, and the workshop enhanced its capacity for sustainable growth. The sessions covered team structure and roles, membership growth, project cycle understanding, proposal development, fundraising, communications, and long-term strategic planning. Participants also discussed the need to increase women’s participation in mediation and reconciliation processes.
One participant from Benghazi said, "Supporting women in reconciliation is important as we are among the most affected groups in a conflict. Local reconciliation processes often do not involve or address us when we are not present in tribal social councils or other local bodies. A greater role for women will lead to broader participation and inclusion, making the outcomes more comprehensive and sustainable.”
Through the LRJA, USAID strengthens the capacities of national authorities and local stakeholders to launch reconciliation initiatives that promote peace and redress grievances to advance a durable political transition across Libya.
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