Since 1998, SRI International has worked on a host of activities, under USAID sponsorship, aimed at improving Lebanon’s competitiveness in leading export industries through collaboration with private sector and government stakeholders. Targeted sectors include Agro-Industry; Tourism; Financial and Business Services; and more recently, Information and Communication Technologies. SRI’s initiatives in Lebanon are based on the industry cluster approach, which encourages stakeholders to think competitively and act collaboratively. The cluster process engages stakeholders in the target industries to identify initiatives that would enhance industry performance, and encourages collaborative actions among the public and private sectors to take ownership of the cluster initiatives.

SRI’s USAID-sponsored cluster activities have provided a much-needed push for Lebanon’s public and private sector stakeholders to work together to address many of the country’s competitiveness issues. SRI’s approach is to elicit growth and competitiveness initiatives from industry stakeholders, place these ideas “in the market,” and facilitate their implementation by stakeholders. In the initial stages of the project, cluster working groups were created with over 100 stakeholders, and 35 different high-priority cluster development initiatives were identified. The activities and accomplishments of SRI’s cluster project since 1998 have been oriented fundamentally toward utilizing this new collaborative spirit to implement action initiatives to improve cluster competitiveness and push for sustained and accelerated economic growth. 

In 2002, SRI’s work in Lebanon entered a new phase, focusing on full-scale implementation of high-priority initiatives identified in the initial stages of the project. Click here to read more about SRI’s current USAID-sponsored activities in Lebanon.