Lebanon

The project considers five pairs of countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)/Uganda, Ethiopia/Somalia, Lebanon/Syria, Myanmar/Thailand, and Pakistan/Afghanistan. Research was conducted with partners in the primary focus country of each pair of countries (the first mentioned). This research was attentive to the cross-border dynamics of the protracted displacement economy with the other countries in each pair (the second mentioned). A household survey approach comprising a baseline survey and one follow-up panel survey (except in Myanmar which only had the baseline survey) was a central part of this project’s research.   The 15 research locations (three each from the five primary focus countries) were purposively selected, making sure that both cities and camps providing refuge to the displaced are included, and that there is data for a sampling frame (i.e. a list of all households to be studied) and that the sites are accessible to the researchers. Locations were selected to avoid an exclusive focus on displaced people. In camps (which are exclusive to displaced people), a portion of the local community outside the camp was also surveyed. The purpose was to collect a survey dataset for intra- and cross-country comparisons. Focus groups informed the design of the initial survey instrument, ensuring that questions were as comprehensible as possible and relevant to the local context. The survey instrument comprised a core section that was used across all five countries, with short country- and location-specific additions to reflect the concerns of local stakeholders. The instrument was designed jointly by UK researchers and international partners in English and then translated by international partners into nine other languages. The survey was conducted using tablets and the open-source Kobo Toolkit software with multi-language capability. The questions covered standard short measures of: gender, age, multidimensional poverty and wellbeing, displacement/mobility history, livelihoods, social care, and other support including non-financial support. In addition to these household-level questions, individual questions were included for the respondents on attitudes about contacts with neighbors, collective organisation, sources of emotional support, and plans and hopes for the future. Questions shared across all countries have standard responses which maximise the potential for intra- and cross-country comparison of this dataset.  The survey considered the entire displacement-affected community. The baseline survey in 2021 included 14504 households selected randomly in each of the 15 locations. The selection of individuals from within a household to respond to the questionnaire was fully random, stratified by sex. Two years after the baseline survey, in 2023, 1779 households were re-surveyed in four countries (a repeat survey was not done in Myanmar).

The data was collected using the High Frequency Survey (HFS), the new regional data collection tool & methodology launched in the Americas. The survey allowed for better reaching populations of interest with new remote modalities (phone interviews and self-administered surveys online) and improved sampling guidance and strategies. It includes a set of standardized regional core questions while allowing for operation-specific customizations. The core questions revolve around populations of interest's demographic profile, difficulties during their journey, specific protection needs, access to documentation & regularization, health access, coverage of basic needs, coping capacity & negative mechanisms used, and well-being & local integration. The data collected has been used by countries in their protection monitoring analysis and vulnerability analysis.

The data was collected using the High Frequency Survey (HFS), the new regional data collection tool & methodology launched in the Americas. The survey allowed for better reaching populations of interest with new remote modalities (phone interviews and self-administered surveys online) and improved sampling guidance and strategies. It includes a set of standardized regional core questions while allowing for operation-specific customizations. The core questions revolve around populations of interest's demographic profile, difficulties during their journey, specific protection needs, access to documentation & regularization, health access, coverage of basic needs, coping capacity & negative mechanisms used, and well-being & local integration. The data collected has been used by countries in their protection monitoring analysis and vulnerability analysis.

The data was collected using the High Frequency Survey (HFS), the new regional data collection tool & methodology launched in the Americas. The survey allowed for better reaching populations of interest with new remote modalities (phone interviews and self-administered surveys online) and improved sampling guidance and strategies. It includes a set of standardized regional core questions while allowing for operation-specific customizations. The core questions revolve around populations of interest's demographic profile, difficulties during their journey, specific protection needs, access to documentation & regularization, health access, coverage of basic needs, coping capacity & negative mechanisms used, and well-being & local integration. The data collected has been used by countries in their protection monitoring analysis and vulnerability analysis.

The data was collected using the High Frequency Survey (HFS), the new regional data collection tool & methodology launched in the Americas. The survey allowed for better reaching populations of interest with new remote modalities (phone interviews and self-administered surveys online) and improved sampling guidance and strategies. It includes a set of standardized regional core questions while allowing for operation-specific customizations. The core questions revolve around populations of interest's demographic profile, difficulties during their journey, specific protection needs, access to documentation & regularization, health access, coverage of basic needs, coping capacity & negative mechanisms used, and well-being & local integration. The data collected has been used by countries in their protection monitoring analysis and vulnerability analysis.

The data was collected using the High Frequency Survey (HFS), the new regional data collection tool & methodology launched in the Americas. The survey allowed for better reaching populations of interest with new remote modalities (phone interviews and self-administered surveys online) and improved sampling guidance and strategies. It includes a set of standardized regional core questions while allowing for operation-specific customizations. The core questions revolve around populations of interest's demographic profile, difficulties during their journey, specific protection needs, access to documentation & regularization, health access, coverage of basic needs, coping capacity & negative mechanisms used, and well-being & local integration. The data collected has been used by countries in their protection monitoring analysis and vulnerability analysis.

Data collated by UNHCR, containing information about forcibly displaced populations and stateless persons, spanning across more than 70 years of statistical activities. The data includes the countries / territories of asylum and origin. Specific resources are available for end-year population totals, demographics, asylum applications, decisions, and solutions availed by refugees and IDPs (resettlement, naturalisation or returns).

UNHCR conducts protection monitoring on an ongoing basis to analyze protection trends and the risks that forcibly displaced and stateless persons are facing. Protection monitoring has also the purpose of identifying people who are in need for specific services, support, or information and refer them so that they can receive assistance accordingly to their needs. In the first quarter of 2022, UNHCR conducted at national level interviews with refugee households to elicit their feedback on the overall protection environment in Lebanon. The purpose of the collection was to use the feedback from refugees to inform UNHCR's advocacy and programmatic interventions with the aim of improving refugees' access to protection and essential services, assistance and information.

UNHCR conducts protection monitoring on an ongoing basis to analyze protection trends and the risks that forcibly displaced and stateless persons are facing. Protection monitoring has also the purpose of identifying people who are in need for specific services, support, or information and refer them so that they can receive assistance accordingly to their needs. In the third quarter of 2022, UNHCR conducted at national level interviews with refugee households to elicit their feedback on the overall protection environment in Lebanon. The purpose of the collection was to use the feedback from refugees to inform UNHCR's advocacy and programmatic interventions with the aim of improving refugees' access to protection and essential services, assistance and information.

UNHCR conducts protection monitoring on an ongoing basis to analyze protection trends and the risks that forcibly displaced and stateless persons are facing. Protection monitoring has also the purpose of identifying people who are in need for specific services, support, or information and refer them so that they can receive assistance accordingly to their needs. In the first quarter of 2023, UNHCR conducted at national level interviews with refugee households to elicit their feedback on the overall protection environment in Lebanon. The purpose of the collection was to use the feedback from refugees to inform UNHCR's advocacy and programmatic interventions with the aim of improving refugees' access to protection and essential services, assistance and information.

UNHCR conducts protection monitoring on an ongoing basis to analyze protection trends and the risks that forcibly displaced and stateless persons are facing. Protection monitoring has also the purpose of identifying people who are in need for specific services, support, or information and refer them so that they can receive assistance accordingly to their needs. In the second quarter of 2022, UNHCR conducted at national level interviews with refugee households to elicit their feedback on the overall protection environment in Lebanon. The purpose of the collection was to use the feedback from refugees to inform UNHCR's advocacy and programmatic interventions with the aim of improving refugees' access to protection and essential services, assistance and information.

UNHCR conducts protection monitoring on an ongoing basis to analyze protection trends and the risks that forcibly displaced and stateless persons are facing. Protection monitoring has also the purpose of identifying people who are in need for specific services, support, or information and refer them so that they can receive assistance accordingly to their needs. In the fourth quarter of 2022, UNHCR conducted at national level interviews with refugee households to elicit their feedback on the overall protection environment in Lebanon. The purpose of the collection was to use the feedback from refugees to inform UNHCR's advocacy and programmatic interventions with the aim of improving refugees' access to protection and essential services, assistance and information.

UNHCR conducts protection monitoring on an ongoing basis to analyze protection trends and the risks that forcibly displaced and stateless persons are facing. Protection monitoring has also the purpose of identifying people who are in need for specific services, support, or information and refer them so that they can receive assistance accordingly to their needs. In the fourth quarter of 2021, UNHCR conducted at national level interviews with refugee households to elicit their feedback on the overall protection environment in Lebanon. The purpose of the collection was to use the feedback from refugees to inform UNHCR’s advocacy and programmatic interventions with the aim of improving refugees’ access to protection and essential services, assistance and information.

UNHCR conducts protection monitoring on an ongoing basis to analyze protection trends and the risks that forcibly displaced and stateless persons are facing. Protection monitoring has also the purpose of identifying people who are in need for specific services, support, or information and refer them so that they can receive assistance accordingly to their needs. In the third quarter of 2021, UNHCR conducted at national level interviews with refugee households to elicit their feedback on the overall protection environment in Lebanon. The purpose of the collection was to use the feedback from refugees to inform UNHCR’s advocacy and programmatic interventions with the aim of improving refugees’ access to protection and essential services, assistance and information.

UNHCR conducts protection monitoring on an ongoing basis to analyze protection trends and the risks that forcibly displaced and stateless persons are facing. Protection monitoring has also the purpose of identifying people who are in need for specific services, support, or information and refer them so that they can receive assistance accordingly to their needs. In the fourth quarter of 2020, UNHCR conducted at national level interviews with refugee households to elicit their feedback on the overall protection environment in Lebanon. The purpose of the collection was to use the feedback from refugees to inform UNHCR’s advocacy and programmatic interventions with the aim of improving refugees’ access to protection and essential services, assistance and information.

UNHCR conducts protection monitoring on an ongoing basis to analyze protection trends and the risks that forcibly displaced and stateless persons are facing. Protection monitoring has also the purpose of identifying people who are in need for specific services, support, or information and refer them so that they can receive assistance accordingly to their needs. In the first quarter of 2021, UNHCR conducted at national level interviews with refugee households to elicit their feedback on the overall protection environment in Lebanon. The purpose of the collection was to use the feedback from refugees to inform UNHCR’s advocacy and programmatic interventions with the aim of improving refugees’ access to protection and essential services, assistance and information.

UNHCR conducts protection monitoring on an ongoing basis to analyze protection trends and the risks that forcibly displaced and stateless persons are facing. Protection monitoring has also the purpose of identifying people who are in need for specific services, support, or information and refer them so that they can receive assistance accordingly to their needs. In the second quarter of 2021, UNHCR conducted at national level interviews with refugee households to elicit their feedback on the overall protection environment in Lebanon. The purpose of the collection was to use the feedback from refugees to inform UNHCR’s advocacy and programmatic interventions with the aim of improving refugees’ access to protection and essential services, assistance and information.

Eleven years into the Syrian conflict, Lebanon ranks the highest in per capita population of refugees in the world, with over 1.5 million displaced Syrians within its borders. Specifically, the Syrian refugee population in Lebanon remains one of the largest concentrations of refugees per capita in the world. A series of overlapping political, economic and social crises in Lebanon has underpinned the vastly growing level of need across populations in the country. On the macroeconomic front, at the beginning of July 2022 the World Bank downgraded Lebanon to a lower-middle-income country for the first time in 27 years, after Lebanon’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had decreased from $55 billion in 2018 to $20.5 billion in 2021.1 The Lebanese lira has continued to lose value in 2022, reaching exchange rates close to LBP 43,000 to the United States dollar in the informal market in December 2022. The country depends heavily on imports, paid for in dollars; fluctuations in exchange rates thus have significant impacts on the prices of goods and services in the country. Inflation is still on the rise: between October 2019 and the time of data collection in June 2022 the Consumer Price Index, which measures the average change of prices over time, rose by 1,066 per cent. In addition to these factors, the COVID-19 and more recent Cholera outbreaks have stretched the country’s health sector and resources to breaking point. As a result, Lebanon’s financial and humanitarian situation ranks among the most severe crises in the world today. The 2022 Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon (VASyR) is the tenth annual representative survey assessing the situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, with the aim to identify changes and trends in their vulnerabilities. Since its first round of data collection and assessment, the VASyR has become an essential tool for planning, shaping decision-making and the design of needs-based programmes. The results of the VASyR are used by the 10 sectors in partnership under the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP), in order to understand the situational changes in Lebanon and advocate for funding. The VASyR has also been used to build targeting models, for instance to predict socioeconomic vulnerability and allocate assistance accordingly. Furthermore, the results of the VASyR reveal the geographical differences in vulnerabilities at governorate and district levels, which then feed into the situation analysis.

UNHCR conducts Protection Monitoring with partners to analyze trends in the protection environment and situation of refugees in all regions of Lebanon on an ongoing basis. With the outbreak of COVID-19 in Lebanon and the introduction of movement and other restrictions aimed at preventing and containing the spread of the virus, UNHCR and its Protection Monitoring partners Caritas, Intersos and Sheild developed a specific questionnaire to elicit feedback from refugees on the impact of the COVID-19 response on their protection and well-being. The feedback from refugees is used to inform advocacy and programmatic interventions and modes of implementation with the aim of improving refugees' access to protection and essential services, assistance and information.

Ten years into the Syria conflict, Lebanon remains at the forefront of one of the worst humanitarian crises. The economic downturn, steep inflation, COVID-19 and finally the Beirut blast have pushed vulnerable communities in Lebanon - including Syrian refugees - to the brink, with thousands of families sinking further into poverty. The Government of Lebanon (GoL) estimates that the country hosts 1.5 million of the 6.6 million Syrians who have fled the conflict since 2011. The Syrian refugee population in Lebanon remains one of the largest concentration of refugees per capita in the world. The 2021 Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon (VASyR) was the ninth annual survey assessing the situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon to identify changes and trends in their vulnerabilities. Considering the prolonged socio-economic status in Lebanon and COVID-19, it was crucial to provide needs-based estimates on Syrian refugees in the country. Since VASyR 2021 was one of the few assessments that were conducted face-to-face, the implementation was accompanied by a comprehensive protocol to ensure the safety of families and field workers. The criticality of conducting the VASyR 2021 was to provide insights about Syrian refugees impacted by the political and economic crisis that hit Lebanon in late 2019 and by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Since 2016, the Vulnerability Assessment of Refugees of Other Nationalities (VARON) has been a key tool for advocacy and program design. The survey aims to represent non-Syrian refugee households. For over five decades, refugees from the Middle East and Africa have sought protection in Lebanon. These include refugees from Iraq, Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Yemen and other countries, many of which have been in Lebanon prior to the Syrian crisis. The compounded crisis in Lebanon, including economic deterioration and rising inflation, COVID-19 outbreak and the Beirut port blast has impacted all persons living in Lebanon, including refugees of all nationalities. The key objectives of the VARON include: • Providing a multi-sectoral update of the situation of refugees from Iraq and other countries in Lebanon through an annual household survey. The survey covers key indicators related to multiple sectors including protection, shelter, water and hygiene, health, livelihoods, socio-economic vulnerability, food security and more • Enhancing the targeting for the provision of multipurpose cash assistance. The data gathered through the VARON, particularly on expenditure, is used to build econometric models, which are used to determine eligibility for multi-purpose cash and food assistance

The socio-economic desk score dataset includes the socio-economic scores of the households that have taken the 2020 Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees (VASyR) assessment. The desk score is a Proxy Means Test (PMT) score, available for all population, that predicts the economic vulnerability of households. The dataset includes the desk scores of the case numbers since 2016. In Lebanon, the desk score is revised annually and used by Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP) cash actors for the identification and selection of beneficiaries for multi-purpose cash assistance.

The assistance dataset includes the assistance history of the households that have taken the 2020 Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees (VASyR) assessment. The dataset is extracted from Refugees Assistance Information System (RAIS) which is an online Inter-Agency web application used by Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP) partners in Lebanon for tracking and reporting assistance provided to persons of concern to UNHCR.

The Monitoring of the Effects of the Economic Deterioration on Refugee Households dataset is a Phone survey of Syrian and non-Syrian households to monitor the changes over time in key areas in the context of the deteriorating economic situation in Lebanon. This wave focuses on: livelihoods, economic vulnerability, living conditions, access to health services, food and livelihood coping strategies, covid-19. This dataset includes only the non-Syrian refugees cases.

The Monitoring of the Effects of the Economic Deterioration on Refugee Households dataset is a Phone survey of Syrian and non-Syrian households to monitor the changes over time in key areas in the context of the deteriorating economic situation in Lebanon. This wave focuses on: livelihoods, economic vulnerability, living conditions, access to health services, food and livelihood coping strategies, covid-19. This dataset includes only the Syrian refugees cases.