BRIEF PROJECT PROPOSAL Support to Host Communities Increased Livelihoods and Economic

BRIEF PROJECT PROPOSAL – Support to Host Communities Increased Livelihoods and Economic

Opportunities

Support to Host Communities through

Increased Livelihoods and Economic Opportunities

October 2014

1. Impact statement of the Project

Lebanese population and Syrian refugees, especially women, youth and other vulnerable groups, restore their livelihood and economic opportunities through allowances for economic inclusion

1. The Development Challenge

The impact of the Syrian crisis on Lebanon is reaching a scale unprecedented in the history of complex, refugee-driven emergencies. While in April 2012, 32,800 refugees were registered or awaiting registration with UNHCR, in September 2014 that figure jumped sharply to over 1,200,000. This number represents an increase equal to 25% of the entire Lebanese population (4,425 million in 2012, with a density of 400 people/km2). This sudden and large influx of refugees from Syria is now placing enormous pressure on the country and its people, especially those in the poorest areas, where refugee concentrations have been greatest.

As per UNHCR data (April 21, 2014) it is estimated that Syrian refugees are found mainly in North Lebanon (27%), Bekaa (34%), South Lebanon (12%), Mount Lebanon (23%) and Beirut (2.9%).

International recognition to the urgent need to scale up support to Lebanese host communities as part of the response to the Syrian crisis has reached new levels in recent months, from the UN Security Council Presidential Statement in July to the WB/UN Needs Assessment and the September formation of the International Support Group for Lebanon on the margins of the UN General Assembly. A growing consensus among national and international stakeholders is therefore focusing on the need to reframe the current challenges facing Lebanon as representing both humanitarian and multi-dimensional crisis, which requires bridging humanitarian action with medium and longer support to stability, in a resilience-based development approach.

The Syrian crisis is creating a negative impact at the macro and micro economic levels resulting in environmental degradation, decrease in employment opportunities for the Lebanese people, increase of conflicts and disputes between Lebanese and Syrian refugees and huge pressure on local authorities and public services such as water, sanitation, waste management, education, and health care.

Despite these many challenges, the Lebanese people have kept their borders, homes and communities open, showing remarkable generosity and solidarity. The Municipalities are faced with situations where the needs have grown exponentially; meanwhile the current structures are not equipped and capacitated to provide the needed services.

In 2013 and in coordination and coherence with the UN and UNDP's regional response to the Syrian Crisis, UNDP Lebanon launched the “Lebanon Stabilization and Recovery Program: Supporting Resilience in a time of Crisis”, leading the way to directly responding to that need, fully integrated within both the humanitarian Regional Response Plan and the Lebanon Roadmap of Priority Interventions for Stabilization prepared by the Government and endorsed by the International Community following the joint WB/UN Needs Assessment.

The Lebanon Host Communities Support (LHSP) Program, in coordination with the Ministry of Social Affairs (MOSA) is a specific response to stabilize the Lebanese Communities and increase their capacities and ability to host Syrian refugees. The Program aims to strengthen the capacity of national and local government and civil society actors for inclusive priority setting and conflict mitigation, dispute resolution, and participatory service delivery as well reinforcing business skills and marketing opportunities in vulnerable areas, enhancing the dialogue among key stakeholders. The program targets 49 communities (62 municipalities)/242 selected on the base of vulnerability and socio-economic indicators, number of refugees, and ratio between the Lebanese population and the Syrian refugees.

The project aims to achieve three main goals:

1.Increase the livelihoods and economic opportunities in affected areas.

2.Strengthen the capacity of local and national actors to deliver basic services in a participatory and conflict sensitive manner.

3.Improve the local level dispute resolution and community security.

In order to develop an integrated response plan for the targeted localities, LHSP is conducting a conflict sensitive needs assessment adopting the "Maps of Risks and Resources" Methodology (MRR) through a participatory approach with civil society stakeholders and local authorities. The methodology has been adopted by MoSA to be implemented in the majority of the 242 vulnerable communities.

The partners of UNDP LHSP Program include National and Local Institutions (Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE), Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA), Ministry of Interior and Municipalities, Ministry of Agriculture, Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR), selected Municipalities (see Annex A) and Primary Health Care Centers (PHCC) of MoPH Network; UN Agencies (UNHCR, WHO, UNICEF, ILO, OCHA, FAO, UNFPA); and bilateral donors (DFID, Ecuador, EU, Germany, Japan, Italy, Waldesian Church-Italy, Mexico, USA).

Governance Structure of the LHSP Program:

A Steering Committee including representatives of the Prime Minister’s Office, MoSA, UNDP, CDR, the Ministries of Interior and Municipalities, Health, and Education, as well as key donors is formed to provide overall governance for the LHSP. UNDP provides secretariat functions to the steering committee, including periodic reporting on programme activities and financial delivery, ensuring visibility of both Government ownership and donor support. The representative of the Italian cooperation will full participate at the Steering Committee Meetings and events.

Livelihood and Economic opportunities: the Impact of the Crisis

Lebanon has a free market regime that encourages foreign investment. The Lebanese economy is trade- service-oriented (approximately 73% of GDP); main growth sectors including banking, and tourism. The Agriculture, although important, has become less significant over the years (approximately 5% of GDP). Family businesses accounted for more than a million jobs, with women constituting 16.8% of entrepreneurs (assessment UNWOMEN – August 2013). In 2010, prior to the start of the crisis in Syria, the Lebanese economy grew by eight percent, one of the highest rates achieved during the global recession. Lebanon struggles since the end of the civil war with a very high debt to GDP averaging140%. The economy endures structural deficiencies including sectoral and regional imbalances, jobless growth, predominance of non-tradable (non-exportable) goods and services, weak labor productivity and relatively high cost of production (UNDP assessment – October 2013).

Due to the dependence on imports and services, economic productivity in Lebanon is highly influenced by regional and international shocks. Therefore the Syrian crisis has had a severe impact on the Lebanese economy at all levels, negatively affecting the key sectors such as trade, real estate, energy and construction, attributed to plummeting investors’ and consumers’ confidence due to uncertainty about the security situation, as well as the closure of strategic export/import routes for Lebanese products to Syria and the Gulf countries. Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis, the tourism sector witnessed a decline by 24% in 2011 and 18% in 2012 (ESCWA assessment – June 2013). As a result, real GDP growth rates have plummeted, with an expected loss of nearly 3% for each year over the 2012-2014 period due to the crisis. The financial deficit resulting from decreased revenue and increased expenditure on public services has been projected at around USD 2.6 billion (SEIS – September 2013). It’s important to note that Lebanon’s trade in goods deficit shrank in the first eight months of 2013 as a result of increased exports to Syria and decreased fuel imports.

By end-2014, as a result of the Syrian crisis, some 170,000 additional Lebanese will be pushed into poverty, an increase of nearly 20%. There are significant regional inequalities in terms of access to public services, employment and infrastructure. Border communities who have depended on Syria for health, trade and education have been especially affected due to the simultaneous loss of access to these resources and the high burden of hosting refugees (SEIS – September 2013). An additional 220,000-324,000 Lebanese are expected to lose their jobs, representing a doubling in unemployment levels, with the greatest impact falling on youth, women and the unskilled. (SEIS – September 2013). The increase of available labor supply has caused more competition between Lebanese host communities and refugees, particularly affecting the wages and income opportunities of low skilled labors in the agricultural, service and construction sectors. Due to the weakened investments and diminishing job opportunities in Lebanon, the Syrian refugees’ influx is creating a substitutionary effect in the Lebanese Job Market.

Although the presence of Syrian nationals on the Lebanese labor market precedes the recent crisis and was generally accepted by the Lebanese, the unprecedented high influx of refugees in Lebanon has not only resulted in strong competition for jobs on the labor market but also has raised the cost of living due to increased expenditures which led to increased tensions at the community level. For example, approximately more than 60% of Syrian refugees live in rented accommodation which increases competition for housing and therefore increasing the cost of housing for Lebanese residents (UNDP assessment – October 2013). It was also reported that the expenditures for food, education, transport and utilities have increased. However it is important to note that clear disparities in price increases exist at the local level and differ from region to region (UNDP assessment – August 2012).

To cope with the financial results of Syrian crisis on Lebanese household budget, Lebanese households resorted to several coping mechanisms, the most quoted of which were: purchasing of food on credit, borrowing food, reducing quality of food, buying only “can afford to” food, taking loans, spending from savings and selling assets. The last two measures are of specific concern since they deplete the households’ capacity to generate revenues on the medium to long term and thus render communities vulnerable to further shocks (UNDP assessment – August 2012).

In summary, communities are faced with unprecedented challenges and do not have the mechanisms to absorb those external shocks and therefore it is critical to implement programmes that aim to stabilize livelihoods and promote local economic development (LED).

1. The Development Strategy supported by the project

The project will support and complement the Government's efforts by mobilizing resources to support the resilience of host-communities and the recovery of livelihood and economic development at local level, mitigating tensions between host communities and Syrian refugees.

The immediate objective is to mitigate the impact of the Syrian crisis on the local economies of the most severely affected communities by stimulating rapid and sustainable employment creation for particularly women and youth.

Families in host communities are faced with decreased incomes and increased expenses. Employment opportunities have become scarcer and especially women and youth run an increased risk to be pushed into (extreme) poverty. This is in addition to the strains on basic service supply including education, health, water, sanitation, human settlements, and waste management systems. Therefore, it is important to provide families access to coping mechanisms such as short term rapid employment to earn an income in the immediate future to relieve stress and adapt to the changing environment. Also, output of rapid employment schemes can contribute to reducing the burden on basic and social service delivery by prioritizing different kinds of activities.

Unemployment and increased cost of living is contributing to increased tensions at the community level where perceptions fuel the idea that Syrians receive more support than Lebanese families. To boost the purchasing power and reduce vulnerability, the strategy of the Project will be based on rapid employment schemes for hosting communities and Syrian refugees through Cash for Work, in close partnership with municipalities to provide extra income at the household level and to enhance mutual understanding at the community level, through Cash for Work modality (Annex 1: Cash for Work standard features).

Modalities for Cash for work

Cash for Work is a modality for the implementation of a project identified by the local communities to meet local community needs. As mentioned above, UNDP has already identified communities’ needs (MRR methodology) that can be met through the modality of CFW. In this project, UNDP will utilize the CFW modality to meet the identified needs of local communities in North and South regarding environment and health related matters.

The Cash for Work activities will be assigned by UNDP to identified Local entities/NGOS that meeting set standards and criteria mentions in the ToRs. Criteria will include a pre-defined capacity to deliver CFW activities through a controlled platform that ensures the presence of capable staff to monitor on the field implementation of CFW activities based on the set SoPs in terms of working hours, days, and dissemination of salaries. UNDP local and national staff will evaluate the performance of the Local Government/NGO in terms of adhering to the set criteria. Moreover, UNDP will assign local consultants to support in monitoring and evaluating CFW activity in addition to analyzing its impact on the beneficiaries and the local community. The Local Government/NGO, undertaking the CFW activity, should present UNDP with a controlled modality to minimize the risk regarding the disbursement of cash/ salaries of the beneficiaries. UNDP financial staff will also be monitoring the accuracy of the documentation submitted by the NGO to ensure that there is no acts of fraud or theft.

The project will facilitate the participation of Italian territories for the identification of sharing experiences and practices at Municipal and Union of Municipalities level.

1. The Assets of the Project

Some UNDP assets create the enabling environment for the success and impact of the Project’s implementation:

• UNDP is a trusted long-standing partner of the Government of Lebanon. It has implemented recovery programmes after the July war in 2006 and has extensive experience in the implementation of development programmes across the country in areas such as poverty reduction, energy and environment and crisis prevention.
• UNDP is present at territorial level in six geographic areas of the countries (Bekaa and West Bekaa, North Lebanon, South Lebanon, Nabatieh, Mount Lebanon) since 2000, working on territorial development with local authorities and civil society organizations.
• In these areas, UNDP has already developed solid programmatic experience and relationships, which guarantee rapid results.
• UNDP is implementing with local stakeholders of the public and private sectors a conflict sensitive needs assessment (Maps of Risks and Resources) that allow the participatory identification of priorities and projects at local level.
• UNDP supported the establishment of Four Local Economic Development Agencies (LEDAs) in the North, Bekaa, Mount Lebanon and the South. These LEDAs are capable of implementing different LED activities & initiatives.
• UNDP is working closely with the relevant ministries to guarantee that local interventions are supported in the framework of national priorities

1. Location and Timeframe:

The Project will intervene in the North and South of Lebanon, targeting 600 youth (women and men) and 400 women.

The project will be implemented over a period of 12 months.

1. Specific Objective, Outputs, Targets, Identification of Beneficiaries, Indicators and Main Activities

SO. Ensuring Livelihood in host communities in particular for vulnerable women and youth, through allowances for economic inclusion.

Output: Community well-being and social cohesion supported through Cash for Work

Through the activity of the Maps of Risks & Resources conducted by UNDP in host communities, local communities identified several needs related to environment and community health awareness. On this basis, UNDP decided to address these two community issues through CFW modalities that will also help in ameliorating socio-economic conditions of the local population for both Lebanese and Syrians (70% Lebanese & 30% Syrians). The framework of the implementation of CFW will be tailored to the national SoPs of CFW (Annex 1).

UNDP will target:

a) Vulnerable youth for the implementation of CFW environmental activities: 600 youth (total) in North and South of Lebanon (age 18-35, 40% Men & 60% Women)

b) Vulnerable women for the implementation of CFW Community Health Awareness activities: 400 (total) in North and South (age 35-55).

Identification of Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries of CFW will be identified through the channels described below; however, the component of the identification of Women at Risk (GBV victims included) will be integrated into the selection process through the support of UNFPA and UNHCR particularly in relation to the component of Syrian Women at risk.

The process of the identification of the Lebanese and Syrians beneficiaries for CFW will adopt three main channels:

•National Poverty Targeting Program (NPTP) of the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) for Lebanese beneficiaries;

•Local Stakeholder pool including local & national agencies working in the areas in order to identify both Syrian and Lebanese beneficiaries;

•Self-nomination achieved by local campaigns for both Syrians and Lebanese;

•Collaboration with UNHCR, UNFPA and other International agencies to identify Syrian beneficiaries.

Indicators

- # of households (or household members) benefitting from rapid employment schemes

- # of short term jobs created for youth men and women through CFW (% Lebanese and % Syrian)

- # of working days created for women, men and youth

- # of men and women that moved on from CFW to more sustainable forms of self and wage employment

- # of men and women benefiting from improved access to socio-economic infrastructure

Main activities

- Identification of Local NGOs for CFW environment and Municipalities to carry out community health awareness