Refugee Families affected by economic crisis

Introduction; 

The quality of life in Lebanon has been rapidly deteriorating since 2019, making emergency programs essential, especially noting that the already marginalized are among the most affected by the crises. Acquiring basic needs has become difficult for many households, driving NABA’A to implement two projects focused on emergency.

The first project focused on the distribution of food and the provision of cash assistance packages to 430 households over the period of three months. Priority was given to female-headed households and the unemployed.

The second project focused on providing multi-sectoral food security and shelter for 750 extremely vulnerable households divided among 426 Palestinian Refugees from Lebanon (PRL), 208 Lebanese, and 80 migrants in Naher el Bared and Beddawi Palestinian Refugee Camps. Diverse activities were implemented, including an outreach assessment, data verification, quality monitoring, rehabilitation and adaptation, transfer process, technical visits, and reporting.

Lebanon has a well-established educational system; however, the quality of education has been a concern recently especially in vulnerable communities, as access to education has become more and more limited for refugees and people living under unfavorable circumstances. Accordingly, in 2022, NABA’A worked on four projects under its Education Program aimed at decreasing the rate of dropouts, enhancing children’s literacy and wellbeing, raising children’s awareness on self-care, and protecting children against abuse, violence, and harm. 

Main Achievements; 

- The project was implemented inside two Palestinian refugee camps (Ein elhlwe, and rashidieh). At the beginning of school year 2023-2024. Nabaa publicized the project by publishing notices in the local and popular communities, making house calls, knocking on doors, and visiting UNRWA schools where the beneficiaries had applied. Children between the ages of 4 and 12 who are the most vulnerable, experiencing challenging socioeconomic circumstances, and living in challenging social circumstances were chosen.

- Enrollment in Kindergarten : It's essential to track the number of children enrolled in KG and ensure that 50 children are successfully enrolled as planned.

- Referral to UNRWA Schools: Monitoring the referral process for the 350 children aged 6 years to UNRWA schools and their participation in basic literacy and numeracy programs is crucial

- Establishment of a Friendly Environment: Assessing the availability of resources, such as nutritious meals, healthcare services, educational materials, and safe recreational activities, and ensuring that they contribute to creating a conducive environment for children's development.

- Making the educational environment child-friendly, where children can express their opinions and participate effectively at all stages.

- Providing 400 children aged 4 to 12 years in Rashydieh and Ein El helweh Camps with a friendly environment that ensures their health, education and psycho-social development. Knowing that, 50 out of them will be enrolled in KG, while the 350 children aged 6 years are referred and follow up is taking place in their UNRWA schools with the basic literacy and numeracy program.

Case Study;

A.D is a 5-year-old Palestinian refugee who lives in Ein El Helwe camp with his father, husband’s wife, two sisters, and three brothers. The social workers at Nabaa observed that Adel dropped out of school and stayed on the street with dirty clothes. So home visits were done to caregivers, and after communication with his parents, the social worker noticed that Adel has problems with speech (he cannot speak well) as well as his movement (he has Arched legs), and due to these problems, all kindergartens rejected him. So the social worker registered him at Nabaa kindergarten to take his right to education and to be in a safe space. Also, the social worker referred him to a speech therapy center to follow up with him, and she also referred him to a doctor to diagnose the problem of his movement. After an x-ray, the doctor observed that Adel was suffering from arched legs, and he gave him a leg brace that helped in improving his movement. Note that all financial fees have been paid by Nabaa.

Moreover, the teacher has done several individual plans to improve his educational performance, and the social worker has done several home visits to follow up with him as well as merge his caregivers with different awareness sessions such as how to stay clean, how to deal with children, how to take care of children, and different topics. So on mid-year, we observed improvements in his educational performance, behaviour, being clean, movement and speech.

This means that Adel and the overall goal of our project met in the same way, by enhanced academic erformance,engaging in project-wider opportunities lead to better retention of information and improved academic performance across various subjects in addition Adel have a critical thinking skills,educational games and friendly enviroment typically require students to think critically, solve problems, and apply knowledge in real-world contexts. This promotes Adel the development of essential critical thinking skills, such as analysis, evaluation, and synthesis, which are valuable both academically and in everyday life.

Links:

• Naba'a Website