LEBANON - Lebanon’s Ministry of State for Administrative Development organized an open day to introduce its Matchmaking Portal, a platform designed to connect public institutions with students, academics, professionals, and experts who can contribute to projects addressing public-sector needs.

The event was held at the ministry’s Behavioral Insights and Digital Transformation Innovation Lab, BIND-Leb, with the participation of the Minister of State for Administrative Development, Dr. Fadi Makki, university students, professors, specialists, and experts.

Connecting Public Institutions With Expertise

The Matchmaking Portal aims to create practical links between the needs of public institutions and the skills and expertise available among students, graduates, academics, and professionals in Lebanon and abroad.

Through the platform, public institutions can publish opportunities based on specific needs and invite qualified individuals to contribute to projects related to the development of public administration and services.

The platform has so far registered more than 666 users, 145 published opportunities, 491 participation requests and 53 matches, involving 26 public-sector entities.

Available opportunities cover areas including digital transformation, engineering, data, communications, legal work, research, process improvement and archiving, depending on the needs identified by participating institutions.

Minister Highlights Practical Cooperation

Minister Makki said the initiative aims to go beyond creating new opportunities for cooperation by establishing a mechanism through which the public administration can access expertise and skills available both in Lebanon and abroad.

“The goal is not only to open new opportunities for cooperation, but to establish a practical mechanism that enables the public administration to benefit from the talents and expertise available in Lebanon and abroad and connect them with actual needs within public institutions,” Minister Makki said.

The open day also allowed participants to explore the platform, provide feedback, and discuss ways to expand cooperation between universities and public institutions.

Universities as Partners

The ministry highlighted the role of universities as key partners in the initiative, including through their students, professors, researchers and graduates, as well as career offices and student clubs.

The platform is intended to provide institutions with access to a broader pool of expertise while giving members of the academic and professional community opportunities to contribute to real public-sector projects.

The event also focused on the platform’s “Challenges” feature, which allows public institutions to present specific problems or challenges and invite people with relevant skills and expertise to propose ideas and develop solutions in collaboration with the institutions.

Expanding Public-Sector Expertise

The Matchmaking Portal forms part of the ministry’s broader efforts to expand the pool of expertise available to Lebanon’s public administration and establish practical channels of cooperation between public institutions, universities and specialists.

By linking identified institutional needs with relevant skills and expertise, the platform seeks to support capacity development, address operational challenges and contribute to improvements in public services.