On December 4, 1997, and with support from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the LCPS undertook a study and held a workshop on "Transparency and Accountability In The Provision Of Public Services". The studies which were prepared, presented and discussed during the workshop included:
The studies focus on the interface points between the citizen and the public administration. As the citizen shoulders the financial burden of the state and all its services, he or she is both the patron and the client of the state. More often, however, the citizen is treated as a supplicant and the civil servant behaves as a favor-granting lord. The culture of civil service-citizen relations requires review and change. The procedures for interacting with the public administration and securing deserved public services are unnecessarily and, often, intentionally complicated, time consuming, and designed to force the citizen into a position of dependency. The studies also look into the delays that are imposed on citizens as well as the bribes and commissions that are rendered necessary to secure services.
The one-day workshop was inaugurated by the Minister of Administrative Reform, Mr. Bishara Merhej, and recommendations were presented at the end of the workshop, and published in local newspapers. The final draft of the papers along with the recommendations are published in a proceedings report.