Middle East and North Africa

Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) is one of the key UNICEF strategies that aims at promoting healthy and protective behaviours by leveraging the power of community dialogue and participation, the reach and power of mass media and digital platforms, the intimate value of interpersonal communication and the critical influence of social networks and…, Challenge, The continuing compound crisis in Lebanon is having a devastating impact on Lebanon’s children, affecting just about every aspect of their lives. Their health and nutrition status is deteriorating, their education is at risk, and they are increasingly exposed to the risk of violence, child labour and child marriage. The crisis is also taking a…, Resources, Solutions, Social and behavior change approaches such as community engagement and community-led initiatives can play an important role in addressing the multiple challenges facing children, their families and communities. SBC seeks to accelerate achievement of key results in Lebanon through a variety of initiatives: Participation and Advocacy: By increasing…, Our key achievements, UNICEF promotes the adoption of healthy and protective behaviours through community engagement and social mobilization. We achieve this by: Identifying social and cultural barriers and opportunities to inform the response at the community level to end harmful behaviours (e .g. Qudwa SBC initiative to prevent child marriage, child labour, violence…

Challenge, Lebanon is undergoing a severe economic collapse, driven by both a lack of social contract and a sustainable macroeconomic model. As the national currency has collapsed and hyperinflation is in its third year, Lebanon’s unprecedented compound crisis has left families struggling to survive, forcing many to adopt negative coping strategies, such as…, Resources, Solutions, Large-scale economic and financial reforms are needed immediately to address the crisis and its impacts on children and their families. Lebanon needs a national budget, protected allocations for social services, and a progressive tax system. At the same time a major scale-up of social assistance will be critical, to support vulnerable households…, Our Key Achievements, Since the start of the crisis, UNICEF has refocused its programme to support vulnerable children, with a strong response to the economic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and the explosions that devastated swathes of Beirut on August 4, 2020. UNICEF, together with the ILO, supported  the Government to develop Lebanon’s first National Social Protection…

Challenge, The multiple crises that have plagued Lebanon and left most of the population struggling to survive, have stretched the health system to breaking point, with severe repercussions for children. An exodus of medical professionals, a hiring freeze by health facilities and limitations on imports of medications and equipment have severely affected the…, Resources, Solutions, The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), with support from partners, is ensuring availability of quality vaccines in public health settings, to maintain children’s immunity against vaccine preventable diseases. The vaccines are administered to children free of charge. UNICEF is supporting improved access to vaccination services through mobile…, Our key achievements, UNICEF is providing the Ministry of Public Health with all essential routine vaccines that are provided for free in more than 800 public primary health facility and dispensaries UNICEF is reaching out to the most vulnerable communities in life-saving routine vaccines through Mobile Vaccination Units, whereby free vaccination is provided to all…

Challenge, The combined impacts of a devastating socio-economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic have caused a rapid deterioration in access to inclusive and quality education and learning in Lebanon. The unprecedented compound crisis has forced many families to prioritize basic needs, such as food and health, over education. More than 700,000 children are…, Resources, Solutions, Schools are vital to improve the health and mental well-being of children. Investing now in a strong educational system will bring significant dividends in the future by helping build a generation that is well-equipped to contribute to the stability and prosperity of Lebanon. Lebanon’s current General Education 5-year Plan provides a strong basis…, Our key achievements, UNICEF advocates for equitable access to quality education for all children in Lebanon. It subsidizes enrollment fees, including salaries for special contract teachers, school funds and parent council funds ensuring quality education for vulnerable Lebanese and refugee children, provides learning supplies for all students and delivers non-formal…

What is the UNICEF helpline? The UNICEF Helpline aims to answer your questions about programs, services and assistance provided by UNICEF for children and families in Lebanon related to: Education Health Children protection Youth development Water and sewage Social and cash assistance What can you do? You can express your opinions and suggestions…

Challenge, Lebanon’s compounding crises have plunged families into poverty, driven basic services to the brink of collapse and put children at increased risk. The convergence of an economic meltdown, the impact of COVID-19, the aftermath of the 2020 Beirut Port explosions and political instability have left vulnerable children and families with few resources…, Resources, Solutions, Every child has the right to be protected from violence, exploitation and abuse. Protecting children means protecting their physical, mental and psychosocial needs to safeguard their futures. This requires a comprehensive response that cuts across all sectors of society and ensures that child and family welfare systems, legal protections and…, Our key achievements, In 2022, UNICEF reached 249796 children with child protection services. 23,302 individuals supported through Focused Psychosocial support for children and caregivers, supporting individuals at medium to high risk with strengthening positive coping mechanisms, emotional resilience, as well as coping with COVID-specific stressors such as stigma,…

Challenge, Today, the youth population in Lebanon stands at 1.7 million. The deprivations of adolescents and youth are increasing in the context of Lebanon’s economic and financial meltdown, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the disastrous impact of the Beirut Port explosion, as well as the continued impact of the Syrian crisis. The result of these…, Resources, Solutions, Far more needs to be done to support vulnerable youth across the country and prevent the loss of an entire generation. Lebanon’s policy measures should aim at investing and harnessing productivity gains through enhancing the capacity of its young population, including through adequate policies and educational programmes. Lebanon’s policy measures…, Our Key Achievements, The UNICEF Adolescent and Youth programme’s core response to the needs of adolescent and youth in Lebanon focuses on a bottom-up approach comprising policy level strategies such as the TVET National strategic framework and the National Youth Policy; in addition to design and roll out of a holistic and integrated package of services addressing the…

Challenge, Lebanon’s devastating compound crisis has had a massive impact on water and sanitation, with grave consequences for children’s health.  With no end in sight to the multiple crises, more and more families are finding it impossible to access enough safe water.  The water sector itself is on the brink of collapse. Regular power cuts, diesel shortages…, Resources, Solutions, The immediate priority is to restore electricity supply through the national grid and provide fuel for standby generators at key water supply and wastewater treatment facilities. At the same time, essential repairs and maintenance must continue and be expanded, to keep facilities operational to the extent possible.  During the fill of fuel donated…, Our Key Achievements, Lebanon since the onset of the crisis in 2019, providing supplies, consumables and repairs to ensure everyone in the country has access to safe water.   UNICEF:  Contributed to 813 water systems repairs.  Provided supplies, such as pipes and fittings, so the four Water Establishments could conduct urgent network repairs.  Repaired 54 chlorination…

As part of the Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) strategy for 2022-2023 developed by UNICEF Lebanon, the creation and implementation of an office-wide action plan that puts affected populations at the center ensures meaningful services to communities. Accountability to Affected Populations is one of UNICEF’s core commitments and refers…

Beirut, 04 October 2022 – “UNICEF is aware of the concerns raised in relation to the Nabaa Al Tasseh spring, a project led by the South Lebanon Water Establishment (SLWE) and the Ministry of Energy and Water. Today, UNICEF met with representatives from environmental groups and listened to their concerns around the project. UNICEF clarified that…

Beirut, 29 September 2022 – “Lebanon is experiencing an education and learning crisis as the country’s multiple emergencies have put the education system under extreme strain. While we commend the efforts of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) to bring all children back to school after 3 years of disruption, we also observed an…

BEIRUT, 19 Sept 2022 ­– The Municipality of Beirut launched today a Protection from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH) policy and reporting mechanism to address, prevent and respond to sexual exploitation or harassment within the Municipality of Beirut. The policy was designed in partnership with UNICEF following a comprehensive…