Beirut, 22 May 2019 – The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched today Neighbourhood Profiles, a national project aiming to assess the vulnerabilities of most disadvantaged areas in Lebanon to build a national database of comparable data that can be used for programming, monitoring and evaluation. The conference was held in Tripoli, where the profiles for Bab El-Tabbaneh, Jabal Mohsen and El-Qobbeh were introduced.
With the quasi-absence of Lebanese national data and the need to understand the vulnerabilities of people and urban challenges, there is an urgent need for reliable, spatialised information. Funded by the US government, Swiss Federal Council and the UN Trust Fund, the profiles are a foundation for mitigating immediate needs whilst also informing strategic planning and investment at the local level.
Adopting an area-based approach to data gathering and synthesis, the profiles will inform integrated programming for neighbourhoods in ways that can benefit all residents in the long term, mitigating cross-cohort vulnerabilities and reducing host-refugee community tensions, which are reported to be on the rise year-on-year.
“These neighbourhood profiles are amongst a national series conducted jointly by UN-Habitat and UNICEF,” said Tanya Chapuisat, UNICEF Representative to Lebanon. “Organizationally, profiles can serve as a framework for area-based, coordinated actions between partners to the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP), United Nations Strategic Framework (UNSF), and local authorities to improve the response in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in complex urban settings”.
The neighbourhood profiles offer mapped and statistical data on the living conditions of more than 30 disadvantaged areas in Lebanon covering multiple sectors and issues, including governance; population; safety and security; health; education; child protection; youth; local economy and livelihoods; buildings and housing; basic urban services; and access and open spaces. The data was gathered participatively through field and household surveys, key informant interviews and focus group discussions.
About UNICEF
UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.
About UN-Habitat
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.