Paper details

Paper authors	Chiara Genovese
In panel on	Humanitarian innovation, technology and cash assistance in Lebanon
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

Lebanon has one of the largest and most advanced humanitarian cash transfer responses in the world; with the UN and NGOs currently assisting more than 250,000 Syrian refugee families living in extreme poverty each month. Programmes were designed at a time when Lebanon had a stable banking system and an extensive network of available ATMs to cash out assistance. Since October 2019, humanitarian cash actors have had to implement a rolling wave of adaptations to adapt to the multiple crises in Lebanon - including severe economic depression, civil unrest, the Covid-19 pandemic and the Beirut port blast - in order to keep cash assistance programming operational. This has included responding to shortages in liquidity and the switch from USD to Lebanese Lira, overcrowding, harassment and growing social tensions at ATMs, Covid-19 safety issues, and a reduction in the number of ATMs available to recipients. The CAMEALEON cash research and learning network in Lebanon conducts independent monitoring, research and analysis to support the cash response. In this presentation, CAMEALEON will present key learning on how operational actors have navigated the pressures on cash assistance technology, and the experiences of cash recipients themselves

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