Lebanon receives $18 million to address the needs of the most vulnerable

(Beirut, 27 March 2015): The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has allocated US$18 million to support interventions under the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP).

This CERF allocation will provide a comprehensive and targeted package of health, WASH, and food security services to meet the emergency humanitarian needs of almost 297,000 vulnerable Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians and strengthen their capacities to cope with lasting effects of the Syria crisis.

“The CERF allocation is an important contribution to compensate existing funding gaps in Lebanon which has been brought to the brink now that the Syria crisis has entered its fifth year,” said UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon Ross Mountain voicing hope that “the upcoming Kuwait III Conference will demonstrate the donor community’s commitment to support Lebanon and people in need.”

The majority of the CERF interventions will take place in the Bekaa, Akkar, and North governorates, which have been most affected by the Syria crisis.

Through this CERF allocation and in line with the LCRP strategic objectives, agencies will work on ensuring humanitarian assistance and protection for the most vulnerable among refugees from Syria and poorest Lebanese and on strengthening the capacity of national and local delivery systems to expand access to and quality of basic public services.

The World Food Programme (WFP) will utilize $4 million to provide food assistance to vulnerable Syrian refugee children under five and $1 million to meet the food assistance needs of vulnerable Lebanese under the Ministry of Social Affairs’ Emergency National Poverty Targeting Program (E-NPTP). Also, $5 million will be used by UNHCR to provide primary and secondary health intervention for Syrian refugees in Lebanon and another $1 million will be used for the same purpose through UNRWA for Palestine Refugees from Syria. Moreover, UNICEF will invest $6 million in water and sanitation projects that benefit both Lebanese and Syrians in vulnerable communities. UNFPA will implement a $1 million project to provide quality and timely reproductive health and live saving services to survivors of gender based violence.

The LCRP joint Government/UN plan provides urgent humanitarian aid and protection to the most vulnerable through reinforcing Lebanon’s socio-economic stability.

Since 2012, the CERF has allocated US$39,5m to Lebanon.

For further information, please call:
In Beirut: Manal Sarrouf, OCHA, sarrouf@un.org Mobile: + 961 3 486 929