Lebanon country strategic plan (2023–2025)

CSP approved at EB November session.

Revision 01 approved by the ED in November 2023

Since 2019, Lebanon has faced a multifaceted crisis characterized by the largest economic and financial contraction ever experienced in peacetime, further aggravated by political deadlocks, the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and the 2020 Beirut port explosion. Lebanon’s compounded crises have eroded progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, with all communities suffering drastic increases in poverty and food insecurity. Social tensions within and between communities have also increased, largely owing to competition over limited resources, particularly as Lebanon continues to host 1.5 million Syrian refugees.

In this context, the country strategic plan for 2023–2025 seeks to ensure that the food and other essential needs of women, men, girls and boys in Lebanese and refugee communities are met and that resilience at the household and community levels is strengthened.

At the national and local levels, WFP will support the Government in building sustainable institutions and systems capable of responding to current and future shocks. Over the course of the country strategic plan, that support will enable WFP to start transferring to the Government the fiscal and operational responsibility for providing assistance to the most vulnerable. A core assumption is that the Government will implement much-needed structural reforms, enabling economic recovery and providing adequate capacity and resources for nationally owned social safety nets.

In pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 17, the country strategic plan aims to achieve the following five outcomes aligned with the Government-approved Lebanon crisis response plan, the Lebanon emergency response plan, other national priorities and the United Nations sustainable development cooperation framework for 2023–2025:

➢ Outcome 1: Economically vulnerable and food-insecure people in Lebanon, including refugees, meet their basic needs during and in the aftermath of crises.

➢ Outcome 2: Extremely poor and vulnerable people in Lebanon, including children, are more resilient through inclusion in national social safety nets throughout the year.

➢ Outcome 3: Individuals, households and communities vulnerable to economic and climatic shocks in Lebanon have more resilient livelihoods by 2025.

➢ Outcome 4: National institutions in Lebanon have increased capacity to manage social safety nets and other programmes by 2025.

➢ Outcome 5: Humanitarian stakeholders benefit from enhanced coordination and mandated services to deliver assistance during, in the aftermath and in anticipation of crises.

To achieve these outcomes, WFP will continue to build critical partnerships with the Government, non-governmental and community organizations, the World Bank and other United Nations entities, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.