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Veterinary, agricultural and emergency techniques will be the main CIMIC protagonists in Lebanon within the coming months

Lebanon
February 21, 2020

·       The Operations Command coordinates the Civic Military Cooperation (CIMIC) projects

Within the next two months, different Civic-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) projects will be carried out by the Brigade in Lebanon. These projects will establish ties of closeness and human proximity with society, as well as will help the development of the area, with a direct impact on the adequate progress of the United Nations mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL).To this end, the "Almazara", "Rocinante" and "Galatea" programmes will be implemented, corresponding to veterinary, agricultural and emergency techniques activities, respectively. In addition, the "Sancho Panza" gastronomic program and the "Cervantes" Spanish teaching program will be maintained.

From 24 February to 2 March, the "Almazara" programme will be carried out with the aim of carrying out a project to improve and develop the agricultural activities and techniques of the local Lebanese population, mainly regarding the cultivation of olive trees and the production of oil, basic ingredient of Lebanese cuisine. This activity started at the beginning of 2016 as a collaboration between the Ministry of Defence and some Spanish universities. On this occasion, the programme will be conducted in collaboration with the Schools of Agricultural Engineering of the Universities of Extremadura and Zaragoza.

From 6 March to 19 March, a group of professors from the Schools of Veterinary of the Universities of Murcia and Zaragoza will travel to Lebanon to carry out the "Rocinante" program, which began in 2012 and is developed annually. The objective is to offer training to Lebanese veterinarians, as well as treatments and care to improve the conditions for the livestock farming in southern Lebanon.

From 12 April to 29 April, the Military Emergencies Unit (UME in Spanish), will visit the country in order to train members of the Civil Defence Centres-within the area of operations of the Brigade in Lebanon- in emergency techniques. This collaboration began in 2016 and each year progress is made in terms of training programme contents: modules focused on fighting forest fires, release and rescue techniques in vehicles and vertical rescue techniques.

 Civic-Military Cooperation

One of the best known CIMIC activities are the so-called 'quick impact projects', such as the construction of water wells, donation of educational material for use in schools or the conditioning of small infrastructures, among others. These are quick actions, with positive, tangible and immediate results, which are one of the fundamental tools for a successful mission. Specifically, in 2019, the Spanish Armed Forces carried out 31 projects of this type in Lebanon.

Another type of projects are the long-term development programmes, aiming to consolidate the collaboration with society in the countries where the Spanish troops are deployed.

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