Budget Advocacy with MARC

During the month of April, The Middle East Advocacy and Research Center (MARC) in collaboration with the Lebanese Organization for Studies and Training (LOST), conducted three focus group sessions related to budget advocacy in the Northern Bekaa region. The sessions were held at LOST’s offices in Baalbak, Al Ayn and Bait-Shaama and the participants from each focus group shared with MARC representatives a detailed account of the socio-economic situation in their respective region. After discussing of the issues that currently face the region, the concept of budget advocacy was introduced and discussed with the participants. The sessions were interactive as well as frank when giving an assessment of the obstacles that currently face the region. The participants expressed their interest in future collaboration and the MARC team felt that the representatives of LOST provided a strong foundation for effective budget advocacy in the region.