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Beyond four walls and a roof - Reflections on the multi-sectoral One Neighbourhood Approach for Syrian Refugees and Host Communities, Tripoli, Lebanon

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Lebanon
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CARE
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Amelia Rule, Senior Advisor of CARE International UK’s Emergency Shelter Team conducted a two-week visit to Tripoli, Northern Lebanon as a final field trip to investigate and reflect on the One Neighbourhood Approach (ONA) programme (Phase IV) to provide multi-sectoral, multi-scale support to vulnerable Syrian refugees and Lebanese host communities. This qualitative reflection aims to capture the cumulative effect of the programming in Tripoli from 2015-2019 and to review the approaches developed, providing recommendations for future programmes. This reflection is also based on intermittent field observations, learning, and programme support given over four years. It considers the wider impacts of programming, outlining additional outcomes for communities relating to self-reliance, gender, and sustainability.

Context

The Syrian Civil War, now in its tenth year, has displaced millions of Syrians, both within Syria and into neighbouring countries. Over one million Syrian refugees reside in northern Lebanon, including in the city of Tripoli. This largescale displacement has placed additional strain on housing and services; refugees and vulnerable host communities frequently reside in informal, poor-quality homes in various states of disrepair that are poorly serviced and often damp and damaged. With displacement ongoing, many humanitarian programmes seek to meet the needs of both refugees and address underlying causes of poverty in host communities. These programmes are often multi-sectoral and have social cohesion as an intended outcome and deliver community-wide protection activities alongside housing and WASH support.

Programme

With four phases over four years funded by the US Government’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), the ONA programme has worked to improve housing conditions for the most vulnerable whilst enhancing individual and community resilience and social cohesion through protection programming and participatory approaches. In Phase IV (2018-19), CARE International in Lebanon (CIL) aimed to build on Phases I to III. In common with previous phases, for Phase IV, CIL worked in partnership with local partner Akkarouna to provide multi-sectoral Shelter, WASH and Protection assistance to vulnerable Syrian refugees and the Lebanese host community, including Palestinians returning from Syria (PRS) in five neighbourhoods in Tripoli.