Community health projects to reconcile and rebuild post-conflict communities: A Lebanese case

One of the most horrendous effects of the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) was the problem of Internal Displaced Persons (IDPs). A total of 949 towns, 90,000 families, and 810,000 persons, almost a third of the population, were internally displaced. This displacement resulted in the religious sorting of the population towards harmonious religious areas. Mount-Lebanon, a religiously mixed area, witnessed massive massacres between the Christian and Muslim communities and was consequently the most affected by the forced displacement.

The return rate of the IDPs of Mount-Lebanon remains below 40% despite the efforts of the government, and of both the national and international organizations over the last 16 years. Multiple factors impeded the return and the reintegration of the IDPs in their areas of origin. A major factor is the intergroup intolerance between the various religious communities. The war-induced psychological and geographical divisions made the reconciliation and the reconstruction of inter-religious network more challenging.

This paper is based on the field interventions of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for the Reintegration and Socio-economic Rehabilitation of the Displaced (UN-RSRD) in Mount-Lebanon. It attempts to show how community health projects can relieve the intergroup intolerance between conflicted communities. The participation of the communities in health projects is a key factor to rebuild post-conflict communities. Involving the community catalyzes the reconciliation and relieves intergroup intolerance. On the contrary, a failure to involve the communities can exacerbate the situation by feeding tensions and weakening connections.