The LASERMed project issues its capitalisation report highlighting the main lessons learned and key drivers of effective municipal engagement in local socioeconomic recovery. Read the final report:

The LASERMed project has now been formally closed after over two years of implementation and a successful closing event held in Jordan, last June 2023.  The project has reached over 300 beneficiaries from the four associated municipalities, three of them members of MedCities: Sousse, Tunisia; Zgharta-Ehden, Lebanon; As Salt, Jordan and Oujda, Morocco.

You can find here the capitalisation report of the project, whose purpose is to assess the results of the four pilot projects, the challenges faced by the city councils, and the lessons learned that are relevant to be shared with other councils for future initiatives. More than that, the report aims to take the four pilot experiences as a basis for reflecting on the role of local governments in the implementation of plans and actions for socio-economic recovery, with specific attention to the Mediterranean context. It is also about capturing the expertise generated by the project itself.

In this document, the expert analyses the activities implemented, the challenges, and mitigation measures for each of the four main phases of project implementation. On the other hand, the report outlines the tools and methods that may be interesting for peers in the region:

• With regard to collaboration practices between the actors involved, it is important to emphasize the involvement of local civil society from the beginning, to gain the trust of the population and collect relevant information
• Regarding the organization and implementation of the project, it has been very effective to involve the future beneficiaries in the identification of the actions to be implemented
• In relation to seeking the involvement of the municipality in the economic recovery, it has been key to include in the program of activities of the pilot projects training actions specifically aimed at the municipal teams in order to strengthen their skills in their function of supporting the local economy and specifically to cooperatives and micro-enterprises in the territory.

LASERMed was funded by the Diputació de Barcelona and its global objectives were to promote socio-economic recovery in response to the SARS-CoV-2 crisis through local development projects in sectors of high social and environmental value. The project began with outstanding work by the four cities to identify their priorities and sectors where socio-economic recovery was strategic. For more than a year, the project implemented almost 20 different activities: training and capacity building; public awareness and events; initiatives for social dialogue and citizen participation. Environmental protection has been an important axis of all projects.

The report is now available online and you can contact the Secretariat for any further information you may need.

To know more about the LASERMed objectives and results, check the bilingual brochure of the project and the final video-animation (here for the Arabic version)!