EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This is the report for the Cross-sectoral formative research – Knowledge, attitude and practice study, hereafter KAP Study, which was conducted by researchers from Malmö University, Sweden, on behalf of the country office of UNICEF Lebanon.
The purpose of the KAP Study is,
To establish a baseline for UNICEF Lebanon’s Country Programme Document for the period 2017 to 2020
To recommend C4D interventions that are successful in removing barriers to the adoption of positive practices with regard to education, child survival, child protection, child rights and social inclusion
The background for the KAP Study is the impact of the Syrian crisis. Lebanon has received more international refugees per capita than any other country in the world. This has created an immense stress on Lebanon’s institutional capacities. Over one million children in Lebanon are directly affected by the crisis. They are in need of basic services like education, health care, clean water, as well as of protection and inclusion.
The empirical scope of the KAP Study has been
To include Lebanese residents, Syrian refugees registered with UNHCR, Syrian refugees living in informal settlements and Palestine refugees living in Lebanon’s designated camps
To cover each mohafaza (governorate) in Lebanon
To include female and male respondents of all age groups
To provide results on indicators for each of UNICEF Lebanon’s programme areas
The data for the KAP Study were collected using three methods, one quantitative and two qualitative:
Questionnaire-based interviews with 7,000 households
48 focus group discussions
42 key informant interviews
From the collected data on the various indicators could be drawn conclusions about knowledge gaps and barriers to positive attitudes and practice, both among external stakeholders (caregivers and children) and internal stakeholders (providers of public services, including UNICEF and partners):
External stakeholders
Attitudinal challenges and knowledge gaps with regard to gender differences
Knowledge gaps on vaccinations, breastfeeding and menstruation
Attitudinal challenges because of intensifying and spreading conservative norms, for example with regard to child marriage, family planning and forced pregnancies
Gap between favourable attitudes towards positive discipline and persisting practice of negative discipline
Lack of knowledge: children and caregivers do not know that child rights, in addition to a right to basic services, also include the right of expression, participation in decision-making and social inclusion
Alarming knowledge gap with regard to disabilities
Internal stakeholders
Capacity gaps in the field of medical ethics
Capacity gaps in the delivery of clean water and the treatment of wastewater
Insufficient capacities in the field of education
Inadequate practices in the field of child protection, especially insufficient protection against violence
Insufficient capacities to build trust, so that women are ready to report incidents of GBV and CP violations to formal authorities
Insufficient capacity to professionally identify disabilities
Insufficient integration of disability perspectives with other programmes
Need for more participatory C4D initiatives