CSOs in Lebanon bridge the gap in response to COVID-19
Nearly two months into Lebanon’s nationwide lockdown resulting from the global COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s economic crisis has spiralled. With most businesses still closed nationwide and the Lebanese lira reaching 4,000 to the dollar on the black market (officially it is fixed at 1,500 lira to the dollar), the number of families facing poverty and hunger has skyrocketed. In recent weeks demonstrators have returned to the streets, disobeying COVID-19 restrictions to protest increasingly dire economic conditions.
Despite the stark and urgent need for relief for families in need, governmental support has been slow to materialize. Although the Lebanese government pledged to distribute 400,000 Lebanese pounds to families in need on April 1st, the distribution of funds was subsequently put on hold allegedly due to politicians stacking the list with supporters. However, even if the funds had been distributed, a onetime payment of $100 (at the current exchange rate) to 400,000 families is nowhere near sufficient to meet the scale of the current need.
As is often the case in Lebanon, many families have therefore turned to civil society to help bridge the gap where the government has failed. Lebanon’s civil society, itself struggling to manage the fallout from COVID-19 and the freefall in the value of the lira, has therefore become a first responder in the country’s crisis. Across the country, new initiatives have cropped up to help bridge the gap and provide urgent aid to families in need.
For example, Balawalachi, which translates literally to “without anything else”, is an NGO founded by youth volunteers in response to COVID-19 to bring aid to families in need. Leveraging the boom in delivery apps in Lebanon, the organisation works through the popular Toters app, where users can purchase a “Quaratine Box” of food that Balawalachi will distribute to families in need throughout the country. Other groups have also emerged to support communities in need, such as an initiative by Beirut 24 to provide food boxes and water to taxi drivers, who have seen an almost total loss in income as a result of the lockdown. Meanwhile established NGOs have adapted their operations to continue providing aid to those in need. Organisations providing aid to the elderly, for example, quickly moved to begin food deliveries and home visits by doctors so that those that rely on their services could safely stay home.
Even organisations not meeting immediate food and medical needs have creatively adapted their operations to continue providing support to the communities they serve. For example, in light of anticipated increases in domestic violence during lockdown, Abaad, which operates an emergency shelter for survivors or women and girls at-risk of violence, started a campaign asking people to hang signs with the emergency help line phone number from their balconies. In conjunction with the campaign, Abaad’s help line received double the amount of calls from February to May as it did in 2019.
However, despite the hard work and creativity of Lebanese civil society, these initiatives will never be sufficient to fill the gaps in the government’s response to COVID-19. Likewise, as the lira continues to fall and funding dries up, many organisations are unlikely to be able to sustain current levels of support. While many Lebanese have also turned to their neighbours for spare groceries, this too is only feasible for so long.
While over the past few decades, Lebanon has managed to weather crisis after crisis, there is a growing fear that this time may be different; that this time the hard work of civil society and the kindness of neighbours will not be enough to make up for decades of political mismanagement and neglect.