Livelihoods Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Akkar Governorate: Lebanon

The historically fragile Lebanese economy has faced numerous shocks since the onset of the crisis in neighbouring Syria, partly as a result of welcoming an unprecedented amount of refugees into the country. Lower revenues, combined with markedly higher expenditures, have increased Lebanon’s already large fiscal deficit by USD 2.6 billion.
Subsequently, public infrastructure is struggling to accommodate the growing population, and the labour market is rapidly decreasing in size, in parallel with a tremendous increase in job competition between host and displaced community members.
Overall, the estimated 1.5 million Lebanese poor are expected to become even more impoverished in the coming year. Similarly, the Syrian refugee population is already highly vulnerable, and recent figures suggest that almost 30% of this group are not able to meet their basic survival needs. Refugees’ savings are being rapidly depleted in the face of rising living costs, and sources of income ? in particular, regular paid work ? are often poorly salaried and difficult to both obtain and maintain. As such, refugees in Lebanon are facing a rapid deterioration of their already precarious living situation. This has been especially true for Akkar Governorate, one of Lebanon’s poorest regions hosting the highest number of vulnerable refugees ? however, some information regarding their livelihoods needs was missing.
This assessment seeks to fill these gaps and serve as a reliminary examination of the livelihoods sector in Akkar Governorate. The present report focuses exclusively on Syrian refugees, in order to obtain in-depth information about the conditions, opportunities and challenges of the labour market in Akkar Governorate, and therefore to inform the development of livelihoods interventions targeting Syrian refugees.