ReliefWeb

CONTEXT

Since 2011, Libya has experienced several waves of fighting, and the complex socio-political landscape has developed into an increasingly protracted conflict. From 2014, an overall deescalation of the conflict at the national level gave way to more localized forms of communitybased fighting over governance and control of key strategic and economic resources. However, in April 2019, intensive fighting broke out in the Tripoli area. Tensions have continued into 2020.

On 24 March 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Libya. Various measures and movement restrictions have been put in place in Libya since. According to the 2020 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) (published before the outbreak of COVID-19), an estimated 1.8 million people (26% of the population) have been affected by the crisis, with more than 893,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance, out of whom and estimated 353,000 people (39%) were reported to be experiencing acute needs.

METHODOLOGY

In response to the new and persisting information gaps on the severity of humanitarian needs in Libya, the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), with support from REACH, conducted a multi-sectoral needs assessment (MSNA) in all mantikas in Libya to inform 2021 humanitarian response planning and support a targeted and evidence-based humanitarian response.

Quantitative data collection took place from June to August 2020 and was contingent on the operational context in Libya concerning COVID-19.5 All household surveys were conducted remotely by phone with contacts provided by local community society organisations (CSOs), municipalities, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Due to the purposive sampling strategy, findings are indicative only and cannot be directly compered with findings from the 2019 MSNA, which relied on a random sampling approach. Please refer to the annex for more detailed information on the methodology, including information on the sampling approach and analysis strategies.