Lebanon
Overview
For over 75 years, NEF has worked with the people of Lebanon, providing technical and financial assistance that have benefitted hundreds of thousands through improved education, income, agriculture and food security, rural development, and access to credit.
A Legacy of Innovation and Impact
Working in coordination with local organizations, NEF’s efforts have been directed toward building enduring local institutions by providing grants, technical training, and staff. NEF continued to strengthen local institutions from 1930 well into the Civil War by providing funding and long-term technical support.
In 1930, NEF worked with the American University of Beirut (AUB) to establish the Institute of Rural Life, which still exists today as AUB’s Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences. The Institute was designed to work directly with farmers to improve crop production and animal husbandry. It also organizes agricultural education for schools, child welfare programs, and farmers’ cooperatives.
In the 1980s, NEF began supporting a range of local development projects in coordination with Lebanese civil society organizations (CSOs). These projects focused on vocational education, agricultural and rural economic development, and micro-credit.
Since that time, working with and through local organizations has been a cornerstone of NEF’s work in Lebanon.
To learn more about NEF’s legacy in Lebanon, please select one of the project areas.
- Press Release: $14M Development Impact Bond for Refugees Launches in Middle East
- Wa’el: Business Success Brings Positive Change
- Participant Profiles: Attending Trainings to Develop New Skills
- First round of grants helping entrepreneurs rebuild in Beirut
- Participant Profile: Nadra
- Participant Profile: Yousef Hassan
- Participant Profile: Nothayba Omar
- Video: Hayat and Hanan, Lebanese Entrepreneurs
- See more news
Related News
Projects
Beirut Explosion Livelihoods Recovery
Background
On August 4, 2020, a massive port explosion in Beirut, Lebanon killed approximately 180 people, injured 6,000, and displaced hundreds of thousands. Damage to homes and businesses placed people at great risk of destitution, as they simultaneously face political, economic, and health crises.
Impact
Immediately following the Beirut port explosion, NEF conducted a rapid assessment to identify the specific needs of skilled workers and vulnerable entrepreneurs with small businesses in highly impacted neighborhoods. The resulting Beirut Rapid Livelihoods Recovery Fund mobilizes a brigade of skilled workers to repair and rebuild critical infrastructure, including homes and small businesses, and supports entrepreneurs as they work to maintain their businesses and their incomes.
Livelihood Support for Syrian Refugees and Lebanese
Background
The project will build the capacity of community-based organizations to serve as resources for refugees and vulnerable Lebanese and establish information and support hubs, support tailored skills development and income-generating activities among vulnerable refugees and Lebanese, and support adolescents to develop financial literacy, savings habits, and skills.
Impact
This project aims to reduce vulnerability among 1,830 Syrian refugees and 1,220 Lebanese by expanding access to economic and social resources.
Restoring Food Security & Building Resilience for Syrian Refugees and Members of their Host Communities
Background
(2015 - 2017) Over 18 months, NEF will improve access to food and increase economic resilience of Syrian and Lebanese families at risk of harmful survival strategies by: (1) providing training, equipment and services to introduce urban agriculture (rooftop and balcony gardens, solar food driers); (2) increasing income generation and economic opportunity among 50 at-risk mothers through skills development training and coaching ; and (3) reducing the risk of early marriage and exploitative work for 100 adolescent girls through access to financial education, creation of savings accounts, and peer support.
Impact
Project launched in September 2015; outreach to community-based organizations and refugees is ongoing; 4 demonstration sites for introducing urban agriculture techniques have been established in Bourj Hammoud, 38 families have been trained in urban agriculture, 9 women have been provided with skills trainings, and 26 participants are receiving trainings on financial literacy and savings.
People We Serve
Our work is based on a conviction that, to play an active role in the development of their communities and countries, people need opportunities and tools: the knowledge to participate in civic and economic life, a voice in public decisions that affect their wellbeing, and a means of making a meaningful living.
Vicky
Lebanon
Vicky, a Syrian refugee now living in Lebanon, is a married mother of three and the proud operator of a successful catering business that she runs out of her home.
"We were sitting at home, my daughter and I, when a fired propane gas cylinder fell on our balcony causing all the glass in the room to break. Pieces of broken glass passed in front of our faces, but thank God we were not hurt. It was not a happy time. We got our bags and escaped to Lebanon."
After a number of months in Lebanon, Vicky's husband was able to find work. However, Vicky needed to find a way to also earn an income to assist with paying off the debts they had accrued, while still being able to stay home with their 10-year-old daughter. Vicky focused on her love for cooking and catering, and attending an NEF business development training as a part of NEF's project aimed at building the economic resilience of Syrian refugee and vulnerable Lebanese families.
When explaining what she was able to gain from the training, Vicky said "There are some very important things that I was not aware of, like how to do accounting, how to look after the business, and that accounting is as important as the product."
With the cash assistance Vicky received upon approval of her business plan, she was able to buy enough ingredients and supplies to begin production and start expanding her business.
"This project has helped me personally, because I was always afraid that I could never do this business, that it would not succeed here in Lebanon." She continued, "I began feeling stronger, because I saw this business could succeed, contrary to what I thought. If a woman is determined to d something, she can succeed in it."
While Vicky hopes that they can soon move into a home that is in a better condition than where they are currently, she is proud that her and her husband have been able t pay off all of their debt and are now able to care for their family's needs.
Vicky
Fattoum
Rokan
Iman
Fatima
Malak
Fattoum
Lebanon
Fattoum, a 35-year-old woman fled Syria with her family to Lebanon. “We left everything behind, we came here with nothing.” Her husband does not have a job, and together they have four children—one with cancer. “Putting a meal on the table is a continuous challenge, the amount of money we spend on rent and medicine leaves us almost nothing for food.”
With NEF’s help, Fattoum is receiving training in small home-based business development and urban agriculture so that she can grow fruits and vegetables at home.
“I am an illiterate Syrian refugee woman. This program empowers me as a woman to become more productive and self-reliant. Our living situation is in dire need of such projects to lift us out of the extremely bad situations we are facing.”
“Growing vegetables at home will help us save some money that can be spent on other things like medicine. NEF’s trainings will help me stand on my feet.”
Women’s participation in the labor market continues to be necessary for helping reduce poverty and drive the economy as a whole. NEF assists Syrian and Iraqi refugees, and vulnerable members of their host communities, to achieve self-reliance through urban agriculture, small business development trainings, peer support networks, and savings and loan associations.
“NEF’s trainings provide us with a platform to meet new Syrian and Lebanese woman. The program gives us hope that we can provide a better life for our family.”
- Vicky
- Fattoum
- Rokan
- Iman
- Fatima
- Malak
Rokan
Lebanon
"We left Syria under circumstances of war." Rokan, a Syrian refugee living in Lebanon with her husband and daughter, shares her story after fleeing Syrian for Lebanon. "We haven't been back to our home since."
"We came here and had difficulties finding housing. We lived with four families in one house. The second difficulty was work. Wherever I went, doors closed in my face," Rokan said. "But then I went to the Near East Foundation and they helped me. I know how to work, but lacked the equipment and the materials because I had no money. I chose to make confectionaries from home and I was surprised by the number of customers I found. NEF helped me regain self-confidence and peace of mind, which I had lost coming from a war zone. They help women see they have an important role and a right to participate in society.
NEF is working with vulnerable women in Jordan and Lebanon to provide business and vocational training programs and cash-assistance to achieve economic stability. NEF programs have helped refugee households increase their income by 75 percent on average.
- Vicky
- Fattoum
- Rokan
- Iman
- Fatima
- Malak
Iman
Lebanon
“I regained a lot of hope when I started training at the *Siraj Center. Our lives have changed permanently. My young children were able to see the changes in our way of life. I am very happy with how things are going, and I hope that I can own a special store for my work instead of working at home, because it would open up many new opportunities. I want to thank the Near East Foundation for being honest and helping us in all of our work even after the conclusion of the training sessions.”
Iman and her family came to Lebanon in 2013, because of the difficult circumstances in Syria. She describes that time, saying, “It was very difficult to adapt to the bitter reality that we had no place to live and no way to earn a living. After two weeks, we were able to sleep in a relief tent for Syrian refugees. My husband started working, but his income wasn’t enough to support the family. It was very hard for me to get a job and contribute to the earning.”
After receiving training and support from NEF, Iman was able to start an income generating activity, providing tailoring services out of her home. Within two months of receiving a project grant, and purchasing sewing equipment and materials, Iman earned enough to buy another tailoring machine because demand for her services was expanding so quickly. To accommodate the requests, Iman's husband is now working with her to continue the success of her activity.
*Siraj Centers are community hubs established by NEF that provide services to help vulnerable people start home-based income generating activities or find employment in communities that host large numbers of displaced people. They function to help people build their economic resilience and achieve self-reliance through training, access to resources, and peer networking.
- Vicky
- Fattoum
- Rokan
- Iman
- Fatima
- Malak
Fatima
Lebanon
"I am sixty-one years old and never owned a business of my own. Before the war in Syria, we had a small chicken farm for more than 15 years managed by my husband."
Fatima and her family came to Lebanon from Syria in 2012 to escape the war. They reside in a settlement camp, and because her husband has a disability that does no allow him to work, Fatima is the sole provider for her family.
Before participating in NEF's livelihoods program, Fatima’s only income came from humanitarian assistance which amounted to less than 5 USD per day. This assistance ended in August of 2017. After receiving business development training, mentoring, and a project start-up grant, Fatima started a project raising and selling chickens - the same business her husband had back in Syria. Fatima is now earning around 300 USD per month and is able to support her family.
“The help I received from NEF’s project has changed my life and put a smile on my family’s faces again. During the training, I felt that I could socialize again; that I could succeed in managing this activity and in supporting my family. My project is growing gradually step by step. In addition to the grant, the treatment and the respect that we received at the *Siraj Center was the best we’ve experienced since arriving in Lebanon. This, has given us hope again.”
*Siraj Centers are community hubs established by NEF that provide services to help vulnerable people start home-based income generating activities or find employment in communities that host large numbers of displaced people. They function to help people build their economic resilience and achieve self-reliance through training, access to resources, and peer networking.
- Vicky
- Fattoum
- Rokan
- Iman
- Fatima
- Malak
Malak
Lebanon
"After starting my business, I started to feel happy after 5 years of staying in my tent doing nothing. Now, my neighbors buy my products, and I am better able to cover our living expenses, and support my husband who is unable to work because of his disability."
Malak is a 26 years-old refugee from Homs, Syria. She came to Lebanon in 2013 during the war. In Syria, she was a housewife raising her kids, and never had to think about generating income to support her family. When she and her family settled in Lebanon, her husband was unable to work, so she tried to make pickles at home and sell them to neighbors in her settlement camp. Malak explains, "I failed for lack of start-up money until I started working with NEF." Malak attended a training on business development and how to write a plan for a home-based income generating activity. After submitting her plan, Malak was selected to receive a grant to start her activity. With the funds, she bought jars, ingredients, and a mobile phone to make it easier for customers to reach her.
Prior to her participation, Malak was making around $30 per month selling her pickled goods. When NEF followed up with her a couple of months after she received the training and project grant, she was earning an average of $100 per month. The impact of this increase has made an enormous difference for Malak's family. Not only are they able to better cover their living expenses but it has given Malak a new sense of agency that she has never had before. "I’d like to sell my products in small grocery shops once I have proper labeling and packaging," says Malak.
Malak adds, "What I experienced at the *Siraj center with regard to treatment and respect, I have never seen anywhere else inside other NGO’s. I am happy that I met Siraj staff and hope that the project will continue its work to support us [refugees] to develop these activities and improve our situations."
*Siraj Centers are community hubs established by NEF that provide services to help vulnerable people start home-based income generating activities or find employment in communities that host large numbers of displaced people. They function to help people build their economic resilience and achieve self-reliance through training, access to resources, and peer networking.
- Vicky
- Fattoum
- Rokan
- Iman
- Fatima
- Malak