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EMERGENCY ALERT

Economic collapse has left over one million children in Lebanon in need of urgent assistance.

As food prices soar, too many children are being forced into dangerous work on the streets. With their educations and lives on the line, children in Lebanon need your support. Your donation today can help provide food, medical supplies and shelter to vulnerable children and families. 

Help Children in Lebanon

With nearly 5,000 years of history, Lebanon is one of the world’s oldest countries. Traditionally an important commercial hub, Lebanon has also been at the center of many Middle Eastern conflicts.

As violence has consumed neighboring Syria in recent years, desperate people have fled their homes, with over 1 million currently living in Lebanon. Now, one in four people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee – making the country host to the largest per capita population of refugees in the world, half of whom are children.

Today, two years after a deadly explosion rocked Beirut, families have been plunged deeper into poverty. Lebanon's economic crisis, which started in 2019, has continued to wreak havoc on the country's economy. The Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its value in less than 2 years. Children as young as five are being forced into labor, exposed to abuse and violence. The economic and social crisis, combined with the impacts of COVID-19, has resulted in an education crisis as well, with many children in Lebanon at risk of never returning to school. 

Donate to Lebanon

Challenges for Children in Lebanon

The collapsing Lebanese economy has left families struggling to afford the basic food, electricity and water needed to survive. 

  • More than two million children, both Lebanese and refugees are in need of aid
  • 80% of Lebanese households and 99% of Syrian refugee households do not have enough money to buy food
  • 12% of Lebanese children, 47% of Syrian children, 19% of Palestinian children and 43% of migrant children were out of school in the 2020-21 school year
  • 12% of families report having at least one child engaged in child labor
Map of Lebanon

Our Results for Children in Lebanon

Thanks to you, we’ve ramped up our decades-long response in Lebanon to help realize the rights and meet the needs of the most vulnerable Lebanese and refugee children, reaching over 150,000 children in Lebanon last year.  
 
Siraj, age 13, looks concerned, as he stands in the informal, tented settlement where he lives, holding some notebooks.

Thanks to you, we’re working to ensure children in Lebanon like Siraj,* age 13, can stay in school, instead of dropping out to do hazardous, backbreaking labor to support his family. *Name changed for child’s protection.

  • 72,400 children healthy and nourished
  • 13,200 children educated and empowered
  • 20,600 children protected from harm
  • 14,400 children lifted from poverty
  • 36,000 children aided in crisis

Our Work for Children in Lebanon

The world’s leading charity for children, Save the Children has been on the ground in Lebanon responding to children’s needs, every day and in times of crisis, since 1953.

We work to ensure Lebanon’s children can realize their rights, raise their voices and access the services they need to meet their basic needs – including education, protection, shelter, food security, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Basic assistance (Social protection), livelihood opportunities and Child Rights Governance (CRG).

We have dramatically scaled up our work in response to the Syrian refugee crisis as well as to the needs of Lebanese, Palestinian refugees and migrants in Lebanon. Together with partners, including community groups, government ministries and the international community, we’re working and advocating to give children in refugee and host communities alike the chance to grow up healthy, educated and safe.

Today, education is a central part of Save the Children’s work in Lebanon. Our goal is to increase access to quality, inclusive and safe education for the most vulnerable girls and boys. This includes early childhood care and development, basic literacy and numeracy and remedial support. We also prioritize child protection, especially for the most vulnerable. We promote gender equality throughout all of our programs.

Here are some recent examples of our work:

A healthy start in life

  • We’re implementing water, sanitation and hygiene initiatives throughout Lebanon, including rehabilitating schools, factories and old buildings
  • In response to an alarming rate of fire outbreaks in vulnerable communities, we led the development of national prevention, preparedness and response guidelines, including a training platform and distribution of supplies
  • We constructed reservoirs and implemented other water, sanitation and hygiene initiatives

The opportunity to learn

  • We’re reaching tens of thousands of children through non-formal education across Lebanon, with a focus on engaging parents and the community in children’s education and protection
  • We’re strengthening access to quality early learning by providing basic literacy and numeracy education, as well as homework and social emotional support, with significant results
  • We’re rehabilitating schools and providing essential supplies
  • We help Lebanon’s youth build their skills, find jobs and become more financially secure

Protection from harm

  • We’re working to protect Lebanon’s children from psychological stress, neglect, violence, abuse and harmful coping tactics, such as child labor and child marriage, with significant results
  • We prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable children, including adolescent girls, children with disabilities, children separated from family, and those engaged in child labor
  • We’re helping families upgrade substandard shelters to deal with extreme weather conditions

How to Help Children in Lebanon

There are so many ways you can help create change that lasts a lifetime for children in Lebanon. 
A young girl stands behind a fence at a refugee camp. She and her family are among the 3.1 displaced people in Iraq. Due to armed conflict the family of eight, were forced to leave their home and flee. Photo Credit: CJ Clarke/Save the Children 2015.

Donate to Help Children in Lebanon
Donate to the Lebanon Crisis Relief Fund to support the urgent needs of children and families in Lebanon.

In Cambodia, a young girl stands near the shoreline where debris has washed up.

Join Team Tomorrow
Join Team Tomorrow and your monthly donation will go toward addressing the needs of children affected by today’s most urgent issues. 

A mother in the middle east holds her child and a refugee basics bag from Save the Children relief efforts. Photo Credit: Save the Children 2016.

Browse the Gift Catalog
Give a meaningful gift that will help transform children’s lives and futures in Lebanon and beyond. There’s something for everyone!

Sources: Facts and statistics have been sourced from Save the Children’s monitoring and evaluation experts, as well as our thought leadership publications, including our Save Our Education 2020, Global Childhood Report 2020,  Stop the War on Children 2020 and A Catalog of Common Approaches 2020. Other sources include CIA World Factbook and UNHCR.

Photos: Louis Leeson, Nour Wahid / Save the Children.

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