We have been present in Lebanon since 2006, supporting populations in vulnerable conditions by ensuring their access to basic services in the Bekaa, Baalbek-Hermel and Akkar governorates. Our goal is to advance community resilience by reinforcing local agency and enabling the systematic assessment and use of existing skills and resources to achieve sustainable development outcomes.
We prioritise community engagement by offering tailored support to families, raising awareness among their communities about challenges and needs, and adopting a participatory approach for local governance and development.
The Crisis in Lebanon
Lebanon is facing an unprecedented convergence of socioeconomic and political crises since 2019 that continue to erode the population’s well-being and undermine resilience. An estimated 80% of the population now lives in poverty, with more than a third below the extreme poverty line, while unemployment has more than doubled – reaching now 29.6% of the population -, disproportionately affecting women and youth.
By late 2023, the cost of basic food items had surged beyond the reach of many households, contributing to acute food insecurity for more than 1 million people in a country of fewer than 6 million. These vulnerabilities are further exacerbated by the lingering impacts of the Beirut Port explosion, the protracted spillovers from the Syrian crisis, the 2024’s war and the previous and still ongoing attacks by the Israeli army.
All of these dynamics have disrupted essential services. Wider regional instability continues to affect supply chains and livelihoods, deepening the humanitarian needs across the country.
What We Are Doing to Bring Aid and Ensure Protection
We have been working in Lebanon since 2006 with a team composed by more than 50 people, divided into four offices: Beirut, Zahle, Ain, and Kobayat. Our approach is inclusive, engaging rights-holders of all nationalities, with a focus on groups in the most vulnerable conditions, such as refugees, women, youth. We focus on localisation, creating partnerships with local public and private stakeholders to empower local actors and promote sustainability. Moreover, we apply the Humanitarian, Development and Peacebuilding Nexus (HDP Nexus) approach throughout our programs to ensure consistency and effectiveness.
Four Main Areas of Interventions
Our interventions are focused on water governance, education, food security, livelihood, and local development.
- Water Governance: We focus on effective and sustainable water supply through a three-tiered approach:
- Infrastructural improvement: Rehabilitation and expansion of water sources, storage, and distribution facilities.
- Capacity building: Provision of staffing, equipment, and training sessions to Water Establishments’ local offices, focusing on reducing Non-Revenue Water management.
- Community engagement: Improving access to information and fostering accountability by promoting user subscriptions and disconnecting illegal connections. Programs in the Bekaa Valley aim to enhance the entire public water distribution system.
- Education: We ensure inclusive access to education, particularly for children in vulnerable conditions. This includes the rehabilitation and solarisation of schools, adapting facilities for accessibility and organising training sessions for teachers on different topics, to enhance retention in formal education. All our efforts are carried out in collaboration with the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education.
- Food Security and Livelihood: We have contributed to food security for Lebanese and Syrian refugees in vulnerable conditions, including people with disabilities, through food parcels and vouchers distribution. We create livelihood opportunities by offering vocational training and implementing Cash for Work projects, supporting individuals in starting small businesses.
- Social Stability and Local Economic Development: We focus on long-term local development and enhancing social cohesion by generating income and creating decent job opportunities along the agri-food value chain. Initiatives in the Northeast Bekaa and Akkar regions, following the HDP Nexus, promote income opportunities by diversifying the local economy and increasing regional competitiveness.
The interventions are structured around three main pillars.
The first focuses on improving sustainable access to and management of resources, which includes the rehabilitation and construction of essential infrastructure for agricultural production, such as irrigation canals, rural roads, and cooling units.
The second pillar centres on enhancing the capacities of youth and local businesses - namely cooperatives, MSMEs, and producers’ organisations - through a range of tailored training programmes designed to strengthen their technical, managerial, and entrepreneurial skills.
The third pillar aims to improve local governance by adopting a participatory approach that engages community members directly in the development of strategic plans, ensuring that local priorities and perspectives guide decision-making processes.
Promoting Local Development and Resilience: The HDP Nexus
In Lebanon, our focus on localisation and the Humanitarian, Development, and Peacebuilding Nexus ensures sustainability and alignment with community priorities. This framework addresses transversal needs and promotes local economic development. By focusing on revitalising the local economy and strengthening public and private capacities to compete nationally and internationally, we tackle main barriers limiting productivity and profitability in the agri-food sectors.
Learn more about our localisation strategy and initiatives here.
The Crisis Seen Through The Eyes Of The Population
In Lebanon, the stories we collect are not data points. They are testimonies. Accounts of people living displacement, war, precarity and lack of access to basic services, while trying to build a better future for them and their families. For us, people are always at the centre. Through our projects, we listen and document. Because behind every number, there is a person. Behind every statistic, a context. Our commitment is to give these people, and their every day’s lives space, within a mediatic scenario that tends to neglect them.
“Each day feels like a heavy weight. My son does what he can, but it’s never enough. Without the cash assistance we are receiving, I don’t know how we would survive.” – Mariam, Al Sehle, Akkar, Northern Lebanon 
Faces from Akkar: the people that we support in starting their own income generating activities, and provide in a sustainable way for their families. 
Faces from Akkar: the people that we support in starting their own income generating activities, and provide in a sustainable way for their families. 
Hanan, Akkar, North Lebanon. Elderly and unwell, she and her husband struggle to afford medication and basic needs for their family of five. She received our support through cash transfers, to ensure her and her family access to basic needs. 
Faces from Baalbek-Hermel: the people that we support in continuing their own income generating activities, and provide in a sustainable way for their families. 
Faces from Akkar: the children and adolescents whose right to a quality, inclusive and safe education we are committed in. 
Faces from Akkar: the children and adolescents whose right to a quality, inclusive and safe education we are committed in.
