Introduction
This report is based on answers to two surveys carried out in Lebanon in 2018 as part of a project to understand how refugees and humanitarian staff perceive the impact of the reforms enshrined in the Grand Bargain. The first survey was conducted face-to-face with 895 Syrian and Palestinian refugees across all eight governorates of Lebanon. The second included 290 staff members of national and international aid agencies, with data collected using an online survey tool.
The research is a joint effort by Ground Truth Solutions (GTS) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Secretariat with financial support from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID). Lebanon is one of the seven countries covered by this research. The others are Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
Haiti, Iraq, Uganda and Somalia.
This summary covers the key findings from the affected people and humanitarian staff surveys. Detailed answers to all questions are included in subsequent sections, as well as comparisons with the results from previous surveys carried out by Ground Truth Solutions in 2017.
Key findings
A majority of respondents (79%) say aid does not adequately cover their priority needs. They identify food, cash assistance, and shelter support as the most important unmet needs. Those in South Lebanon are most negative, with 98% of respondents there saying aid is insufficient. There is also a prevailing sense among affected people that aid does not reach those who need it most, notably the most vulnerable, widows/ divorcees, and those with medical/health conditions.
Affected people are particularly discouraged about their ability to influence decisions that affect their lives, with lowest scores in South Lebanon, where 99% say that aid providers do not take their opinions into account at all, or not very much. While most respondents indicate that they are aware of how to file a suggestion or complaint, they say the process is complicated and their concerns are unlikely to be taken seriously.
Over half of respondents (52%) feel uninformed about the kind of aid they are entitled to, with lower ratings compared to 2017. Affected people in Mount Lebanon, Nabatieh, and South Lebanon are least aware of the humanitarian assistance available to them. Female-households are also less aware than male-households on this topic. There is a strong preference for face to face information sharing.
Participants tend to feel safe where they live (74%), although both Syrian refugees and Palestinian refugees from Syria less so than Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon. They see relations with host communities as markedly more negative than in 2017 (56% feel ‘not really’ or ‘not at all’ welcome). Larger families feel least welcome. Bad treatment, general anti-refugee public sentiment, and discrimination are the most commonly Shatila refugee camp, Beirut / Kai Kamei (GTS) cited reasons for their poor reception.
On the whole, people still do not feel that the aid they receive empowers them to live independently in the future, with respondents calling for better employment opportunities. Very few say their life is improving. In South Lebanon, nearly all respondents say their lives are getting worse.
The gap is widening between the views of affected people and humanitarian staff on the performance of the aid system. Staff see fairness, participation, and the relevance of aid more positively than they did in 2017, while affected people’s perceptions are increasingly negative.
While quite positive on performance, humanitarian staff are relatively negative about the balance between funding for emergency needs and durable solutions, with the majority of staff members (82%) calling for more investment in durable solutions.
This echoes affected people’s call for greater efforts to facilitate their empowerment through increased employment opportunities. While 100% of respondents say they or their family members have tried to find work in the local economy, some 80% say they are NOT able to make a living and support their families. What are the key challenges? Affected people point to the weak economy and job scarcity, restrictive laws on labour market participation, complex permit requirements, and discrimination against refugees.