Lebanon

Economic collapse is the latest of many threats facing Lebanon, a country that, by some estimates, hosts at least 1.5 million refugees.¹

The World Bank noted that Lebanon’s financial collapse and its fallout -- –inflation rates, decreased property value, the rise of widespread and extreme poverty, and bank insolvency -- –is one of the most severe economic crises since the mid-nineteenth century². These profound economic woes are compounded by decades of political instability and corruption, fuel and electricity scarcity, medical supply and staff shortages, the continued COVID-19 pandemic, and decay of state-provided social services³. These challenges unfold one year after the devastating explosion in the port of Beirut that killed at least 200 people and damaged countless homes, health facilities, and businesses.

The multiple, intersecting, and escalating crises affecting Lebanon also create SRH service gaps, which the following community-based organizations are dedicated to serving:

• ABAAD, Resource Center for Gender Equality, aims to achieve gender equality as an essential condition to sustainable social and economic development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
• Arab Institute for Women at the Lebanese American University advances women’s empowerment and gender equality through research, education, development programs, and outreach.
• Basmeh and Zeitooneh (B&Z) develops and runs community centers for Syrian refugees in the camp and urban settings in Lebanon, Turkey, and Kurdistan, and empowers Syrians in exile to be able to live lives of dignity.
• Collective for Research and Training on Development Action (CRTDA) seeks to contribute to citizenship, social justice, and gender equality, including the right of Lebanese women to enjoy their full citizenship, through transmitting their Lebanese nationality to their children and spouses.
• Frontiers Ruwad (FR) aims to enhance human rights embodied in the International Bill of Rights and in the Lebanese Constitution on both the individual and collective levels and currently has two main operating programs: migration and statelessness. FR also works with the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights in the fight for gender-equal nationality rights.
• Himaya is a specialized NGO in the child protection sector, working to prevent violence against children and offer the support needed for abused children on a psychosocial and legal level, eventually allowing them to be reintegrated as productive and active members of society.
• KAFA’s Anti-trafficking and Exploitation Unit works to build public opinion against trafficking and exploitation of two groups of women vulnerable to these forms of violence: women migrant domestic workers and women in prostitution.
• Lebanese Association for Self-Advocacy (LASA) is run by and for persons with intellectual disabilities; its members are dedicated to raising awareness about the rights of persons with disabilities in Lebanon, including the rights of Iraqi and Syrian refugees who are living in Beirut. LASA self-advocates have designed and delivered training for refugees with disabilities and their families and strengthened protective peer networks to reduce gender-based violence risks.
• The Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering (RDFL) is an advocacy and service-based organization that calls for the equality of Lebanese women and, in particular, offers programming and opportunities targeted at eliminating gender-based violence. The NGO also runs a robust food delivery programming for in-need families.
• Lebanon Family Planning Association for Development and Family Empowerment (LFPADE) operates a series of clinics that, for more than 50 years, have provided reproductive health (RH) services for adolescent and adult women and men throughout Lebanon, including survivors of displacement.
• Marsa Sexual Health Center is a Beirut-based sexual health clinic that aims to provide stigma-free care, including pap smears, HIV testing, and counseling.
• Mosaic, the MENA Organization for Services, Advocacy, Integration, and Capacity Building, is a holistic program committed to improving the health and wellness of marginalized groups. It provides comprehensive services for marginalized groups, researches, and advocates for policy reform, builds knowledge and capacities on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) issues, and engages communities in the fight against human rights violations.
• SHEILD Social, Humanitarian, Economical Intervention for Local Development is a local, national humanitarian nongovernmental association that promotes economic development by supporting livelihood and capacity building of marginalized community groups, with women and children as the main focus.
• Women Now for Development focuses on empowering Syrian women displaced in Lebanon. The organization provides empowerment programming for these refugee women, operates as a research hub, and engages in advocacy insisting on respecting the full rights of refugee women in Lebanon.

Know of other organizations advancing SRH and humanitarian response in Lebanon? Submit a CBO organization recommendation here as we build our list of community-led efforts.

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We are also eager to share related events, news, and resources that may help those on the ground in Lebanon. Please complete the form to publish related materials below.