The economic crisis that has hit Lebanon since 2019 coupled with the Covid-19 pandemic and the explosion of the Port of Beirut have deeply impacted the country’s economy making this crisis rank among the worst economic crises globally since the mid-nineteenth century. GDP per capita dropped by 36.5 percent between 2019 and 2021, and in July 2022, Lebanon was reclassified by the World Bank as a lower-middle income country down from upper middle-income status. In this context, Local Economic Development (LED) is vital for any serious attempt at economic response and recovery, especially given the timid and delayed responses at the national level.
A growing feature for sustainable economies
LED is an approach towards economic development which enables and encourages local actors to work together to achieve sustainable economic growth and development, bringing economic benefits and improved quality of life for all residents in a municipal area. At the root of this participatory
