Since its conception in 2005, the LPDC has been working on communicating with representatives of the Palestinian refugees in the various camps and gatherings in Lebanon. During the past few years, focus was made on the camps in the north area, especially following the Nahr el Bared crisis in 2007. The technical team’s action aims at strengthening the interaction between the Lebanese government and the various Palestinian community representatives. Collaboration and coordination aimed at developing and enhancing the overall performance of institutions working on the follow up of Palestinian issues. 

 

During the past few years, communication was neither recurrent nor regular; it was merely driven by need and emergency due to various challenges, mainly the LPDC’s limited capacity in terms of human resources to carry out an exhaustive and regular coverage of all camps on the Lebanese territory.

 

Recently, with the completion of the LPDC technical team in July 2011, the necessity for developing a vision and setting up a regular communication mechanism that reaches out to all parties with no exception has become a vital element. Hence, a field strategy was developed based on LPDC’s mandate, which – the field strategy - will be revisited on regular basis to assess the results and adjust when deemed necessary.

 

1. Rely on  data and info gathered during the filed visits and meetings with all concerned parties, inside and outside the camps; after validating their accuracy;

2. Avoid prejudice, and stigma when it comes to dealing with issues related to Palestinian refugee camps and their residents that are projected without knowledge of the situation, nor understanding of the complex structure inside the camps and the dynamics of interaction with its surroundings;

3. Deal in an open manner with all contributions including studies, assessment, researches, reports, etc. which will be collected and assembled to serve as a data bank that will form a frame of reference on issues related to the Palestinian refugees as well as camps and gatherings in Lebanon;

4. Remain at equal distance with all parties without distinction or preference or exception;

5. Collaborate with all organisations, centers, association, institutions and personalities  working on the dialogue process in order to reach the common goals of improving the Lebanese Palestinian relationships;

6. Coordinate with media outlets to raise awareness concerning Palestinian refugees rights and provide progress update regarding any development on the implementation progress; In addition, increase awareness regarding the LPDC’s role and the follow up process on specific issues related to the Palestinians implemented by the LPDC’s technical team.