Beirut, 13 September 2022 – As pressure continues to mount on affected people in Lebanon and vulnerabilities continue to deepen day after day, the Humanitarian Coordinator a.i, Mr. Edouard Beigbeder, announces that the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund (LHF) has allocated US$8 million to meet urgent needs and enhance preparedness ahead of the fast-approaching winter.
“Vulnerable families in Lebanon are affected by insufficient access to water, unaffordable prices of basic commodities, limited access to life-saving services, thus taking desperate measures to survive, and we need to act now and avoid a further deterioration of the humanitarian situation”, stated the Humanitarian Coordinator a.i.
This LHF allocation will provide urgent and critical life-saving assistance to all population groups, ensure the minimum continuity of water services, support the return to school, and protect those most in need, including during winter.
Seventeen sectoral and multisectoral projects in the Education, Child protection, Shelter and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) sectors will be prioritized, in areas with the highest severity of needs. More than half of the funding will target Lebanese people and the remaining will be destined in favor of migrants, Palestine refugees and Syrian refugees. In line with the LHF’s vision statement to boost the localization agenda in Lebanon, 29 per cent of this allocation funding is disbursed to local and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
OCHA-managed pooled funds have allocated $32 million thus far this year. “I am extremely grateful to the donors’ support and trust in the LHF as a critical funding instrument for a flexible, effective and coordinated response in a Whole of Lebanon approach”, declared Mr. Beigbeder.
The Lebanon Humanitarian fund (LHF) is a country-based pooled fund led by the Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon and managed by OCHA. Since its inception in 2014, the LHF has received over US$ 146 million from donors to support the delivery of timely and effective humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable people in Lebanon regardless of their status. Strong monitoring systems are in place to ensure that assistance reaches the most vulnerable based on needs.