Projects

Short Description:

Overall goal

The project aims at equiping marginalized women, men, and adolescent girls and boys with safeguarding tools and market based skills training to become employable while contributing to the rehabilitation process of Beirut Blast under the Lebanon Reform, Reconstruction and Recovery framework (3RF).

Expected results

Outcome 1: Enhance Food Security through livelihoods assistance and support to light infrastructure rehabilitation in the port area.

Outcome 2: Expanding the provision of protection services and strengthening access to information on protection against sexual exploitation and abuse.

Outcome 3: The most disadvantaged adolescents and young people (15-24 years) increasingly influence policies and engage in quality learning, employment, and healthy lifestyles.

Target group / Beneficiaries

The project will reach a total of 2,383 beneficiaries, including marginalized groups such as migrants, persons with disabilities, elderly at risk, and LGBTIQ+ with skills training, Life skills and psycho-social support (PSS) training, Cash for work, mental health and psychosocial support and protection against sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA).

Activities will be implemented with UNICEF's partner LebRelief and UN Women parters Social Movement, Lebanon Union for People with Physical Disabilities (LUPD) and KAFA.

Project areas are in Beirut (blast area): Ashrafieh, with some other zones in the areas of Rmeil, Karantina, Burj Hammoud, Zukak al Blat, Bashoura, Gemmayze, and Mar Mikhael, and Nabaa.

Activities

UN Women:

- Support vocational training, targeting people from the LGBTQI+ community, people with disabilities and migrant workers.

- Support short-term Cash for Work interventions, targeting people from the LGBTQI+ community, people with disabilities and migrant workers.

- Provide stipend and child care services for participants.

- Support Cash for Work programme adherance to decent work standards according to the ILO Employment Guidelines (contractual agreements, sexual harassment policies, etc).

- COVID-19 personal protective equipment for CFW activities.

- Generate monitoring and analysis report on the impact of cash for work on at risk women and youth.

- Provide technical assistance to women-led SMEs affected by the explosion by improving their online visibility.

- Building the capacity of frontliners and specialized teams on psychological first aid (PFA), management of distress, emotional support for caregivers and raising awareness on PSEA messages, reporting hotlines, and procedures to affected women, men, girls and boys and for front-line actors.

- Provide focused PSS support and mental health: specific focus on LGBTIQ, elderly, migrant domestic workers, and persons with disabilities.

- Roll out the gender sensitive capacity resilience index and develop a report based on its findings targeting both UNW and UNICEF beneficiaries under this project.

- Evaluation the UNW intervention in the program and providing qualitative analysis of the intervention.

UNICEF activities:

- Provide adolescents and youth with non-formal vocational, employability and competency-based training for improved employability.

- Certified competency-based training for improved employability; including psycho-social support, life skills and COVID measures (this includes key awareness messages on COVID-19).

- Cash for work opportunities in the rehabilitation of residential shelters and shops.

- Rehabilitation of residential shelters and shops; including the WASH facilities in coordination with the WASH sector lead.

Under the COVID-19 context, activities will include blended learning where possible to ensure safety of the young people. Moreover, instances and interventions that comprise of face-to-face interaction will cover proper safety protocol, through the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) and hygiene measures, under infection, prevention and control measures to prevent and stop the spread of COVID-19. Lastly, interventions will include COVID-19 awareness messages to ensure that individuals are well informed on preventive measures to break the chains of transmission and mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

Context

The current crisis in Lebanon is unfolding in the context of a collapsed economy, political instability, a surge in COVID-19 cases and the latest explosion at the Beirut Port, in addition to the nine years of Syrian crisis. The complex situation in the country is deepening the poverty incidence among Lebanese and the widening income inequality is adding heavy burden to the already vulnerable Lebanese, Palestinians and Syrians in country, who are unable to afford basic services with lasting impact on food security, livelihoods, mental health and shelter, particularly for women, girls and marginalized groups.

In response, OCHA oversaw the immediate implementation of the Beirut port explosion response as formulated under the Flash Appeal until the end of December 2020. The broader economic recovery plan for the affected populations of the Beirut blast is articulated in the Lebanon Reform, Recovery and Reconstruction Framework (3RF), a joint response plan developed by the UN, EU and World Bank, and heavily informed by the rapid needs assessment. The 3RF is structured around four strategic pillars: 1) improving governance and accountability, 2) jobs and opportunities, 3) social protection, inclusion and culture, and 4) improving services and infrastructure. This proposal works under the 3RF and responds to the needs articulated under pillars two three, and four to address the needs of affected populations in a comprehensive manner.