How the Civil Service Board is reshaping Lebanon’s public sector

Lebanon’s public sector has been associated with mounting vacancies, outdated job descriptions, and a prolonged freeze on public recruitment, especially since 2019.

Yet behind the scenes, the Civil Service Board (CSB) has been undertaking one of the country’s most extensive administrative reform efforts, seeking not only to eliminate obsolete positions but also to modernize the structure of government employment and rebuild merit-based recruitment.

Eliminating over 5,000 obsolete positions without dismissing employees

In an interview with The Beiruter, CSB President Nisrine Machmouchi outlined a reform agenda that focuses on the abolition of thousands of outdated public sector positions that no longer serve today’s administrative needs.

In December 2025, Decree No. 2069 abolished 2,457 administrative positions across ministries after a comprehensive review of government staffing. The measure targeted job titles whose functions had become obsolete, duplicated, or incompatible with contemporary public administration.

For the first time, we reviewed the purpose of every position.

The review covered traditional occupations such as clerks, typists, various grades of copyists, document distributors, assistant accounting positions, translators’ assistants, surveying titles with overlapping responsibilities, and several manual administrative functions whose duties have largely been replaced by digital systems and modern organizational structures.

The reform did not stop there. Following the activation of Lebanon’s Civil Aviation Regulatory Authority, Machmouchi noted that the former Directorate General of Civil Aviation was dissolved, automatically eliminating an additional 881 positions as responsibilities were transferred to the newly established aviation institutions. More recently, she added, the Council of Ministers approved the abolition of approximately 1,800 positions within the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) as part of another restructuring exercise designed to remove duplicated functions after several public hospitals became independent public institutions.

Combined, Machmouchi asserted that these measures represent more than 5,100 abolished positions, making the current restructuring effort one of the largest administrative reorganizations undertaken in the Lebanese state. “We are a small country,” she explained, noting that “instead of having 28,099 positions, following these abolishments, the number will be reduced to 22,960.” She stressed that “the state must adapt to new realities” by aligning its administrative structure with current needs and available resources.

Crucially, she noted that none of these reforms resulted in the dismissal of existing civil servants. Employees occupying abolished positions retain their jobs until retirement, resignation, or the legal end of their service. Their financial and administrative rights remain fully protected, while those eligible for promotion may be transferred to active positions within the same employment category. Instead of eliminating people, the CSB eliminated positions that had gradually lost their practical purpose.

The reform targets positions, not people. We did not want to harm employees’ rights.

According to Machmouchi, this is the first time Lebanon has systematically evaluated whether every public sector position continues to serve a genuine administrative need.

Building a public administration for the digital era

The restructuring goes beyond removing outdated positions. The CSB, Machmouchi said, is simultaneously creating entirely new professions designed around modern governance.

We are moving toward specialized positions. We are introducing jobs that the state urgently needs.

Among the new positions being introduced are specialists in public procurement to implement Lebanon’s Public Procurement Law, cybersecurity experts, internal auditors, human resources professionals, data analysts, digital systems specialists, electronic applications experts, laboratory specialists, sampling experts, and specialized scientific positions in emerging technical fields.

Moreover, Machmouchi stated that the CSB has also standardized job titles across government institutions. Previously, identical professions often carried different names depending on the ministry, complicating recruitment, promotion, and workforce planning. By unifying job titles and preparing standardized job descriptions, the CSB aims to establish clearer career paths and facilitate future human resource management throughout the public sector.

The reforms are also intended to improve succession planning, employee performance evaluation, competency-based training, and long-term workforce planning; areas that have historically received limited institutional attention.

Recruitment resumes after years of stagnation

While Lebanon imposed a broad recruitment freeze through the 2019 state budget, Machmouchi mentioned that the CSB was tasked with conducting a nationwide staffing survey before new hiring could resume.

The Board collected workforce data from ministries, public institutions, municipalities, public hospitals, water establishments, and other public bodies before publishing a comprehensive assessment of public employment. The survey documented permanent staff, contractual employees, wage earners, vacancies, and cases of irregular recruitment, creating the first comprehensive picture of Lebanon’s public workforce in years.

According to Machmouchi, vacancy rates reached around 75%. The shortage has affected key categories of employees, including senior administrative grades responsible for preparing studies and supporting government decision-making.

Although the legal framework later permitted recruitment to replace retiring employees, Cabinet approvals only began to resume during 2025, allowing the CSB to restart competitive examinations.

Since then, Machmouchi highlighted recruitment competitions have expanded steadily. The CSB has conducted or launched examinations for the Court of Audit, Ministry of Public Health inspectors, pharmacists, physicians, the Traffic Management Authority, Ministry of Labor inspectors, digital documentation specialists, information technology experts, programmers, the Anti-Loss Authority, the Public Procurement Authority, the Lebanese University, Tripoli Municipality, the Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Economy, and even the CSB itself, where vacancies currently stand at approximately 91%.

These competitions seek to fill positions through open merit-based examinations rather than political appointments.

We can now return to merit-based hiring, while reopening the door for Lebanese youth.

A new approach to public examinations

The CSB is simultaneously fundamentally changing how candidates are selected.

Traditional examinations based largely on memorization are being replaced by competency-based assessments that better reflect the actual skills required for public service. Candidates now undergo anonymous multiple-choice examinations, logical reasoning tests, analytical written assessments, practical case studies, and competency evaluations tailored to each profession.

Competence must come before memorization, focusing on skills, analysis, and practical abilities.

According to Machmouchi, recruitment is increasingly being designed around the competencies required for each position rather than academic credentials alone, aligning Lebanon’s public recruitment process with more contemporary international human resource practices.

A legacy institution driving administrative reform

Established in 1959 under Legislative Decree No. 114 during President Fouad Chehab’s administrative reform program, the CSB was created as one of the state’s central oversight bodies responsible for strengthening professionalism and accountability across the public administration.

Today, the CSB oversees human resource management across all government ministries, public administrations, 15 public institutions, and 10 municipalities, including the 8 governorate capitals alongside the municipalities of Bourj Hammoud and Mina.

Although much of its work takes place outside the public spotlight, the CSB remains one of Lebanon’s principal oversight institutions, seeking to redefine how Lebanon’s public administration functions for years to come.