Pillar I – Pillar II: Provision of WASH Emergency Assistance to 25035 Vulnerable Syrian Refugees and Lebanese Host Community Members in Baalbek cadaster, Baalbek El-Hermel governorate (Wadi El Sayl and Amishki localities), and Provision of Digital Innovation Solutions to Enhance Accountability to Affected Populations in Lebanon Pillar 1: Baalbek, the largest district in Lebanon, has been assailed by compounded crises, following the deteriorated economic condition the country is facing. Since October 2019 and the onset of the financial crisis, followed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the depreciation of the Lebanese pound resulted in heightened cost of living and drove vulnerable households further into poverty. Today, Baalbek is the governorate demonstrating the highest intersectoral severity of needs.

Baalbeck suffers from extreme power outages interrupting water supply, and drinking water provision, causing additional burdens for vulnerable populations residing in the area. Moreover, water supply systems suffer from the economic crisis, fuel shortage, and recurring power grid shortages, causing them to become non-operational all over the country. Water Establishments do not have the financial capacity to salvage the situation and improve water supply for drinking, hygiene, and homestead irrigation purposes. Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian households are suffering from lack of basic services. 

The proposed intervention aims to improve access to safe domestic and drinking water through provision of an environmentally friendly and cost-effective energy source to a water deprived area hosting 25035 individuals including 6801 women, 6710 men, 5732 girls and 5792 boys.

The intervention will provide water assistance to Baalbek cadaster, more specifically, Wadi El Sayl (Wadi El Sayl, Shoab and Solah neighborhoods) and Amishki localities (Amishki, Osseira and Bayada neighborhoods), to restore access to basic services that have been lost or damaged due to the protracted and interconnected political, financial, and humanitarian crises, thus reducing the risk of morbidity and mortality associated with limited access to water. 

Pillar II: Crisis affected populations face multiple barriers in accessing humanitarian assistance, expressing their needs, and alerting humanitarian actors about potential emergencies. This is prevalent among vulnerable groups, particularly women, illiterate persons, and people with specific needs, who are often lacking social capital, community network, and the ability to get adequate support. They often need to raise their needs to representatives within their communities, or male family members, who can become further barriers to accessing humanitarian assistance. It is the responsibility of humanitarian actors to reduce such barriers, and to provide assistance in a safe and accountable manner. 
SI’s commitment of being accountable to affected communities is translated into efforts to ensure a two-way communication flow through multiple channels, to guarantee safe and fair access to services for all those in need, particularly the most vulnerable who are not reached by traditional AAP channels. 

SI has developed a WhatsApp Chat Bot. The Bot, piloted in 2021 with GSMA funding, is a widely accessible, time efficient, and cost-effective machine learning technology, interacting with text and voice messages. It is the first humanitarian Bot to offer users a wide range of services (Annexes 6, 7, and 8).

The proposed intervention will build on the success of the pilot project and aims to improve the quality and efficiency of the humanitarian response in Lebanon by strengthening accountability to affected populations through digital innovative systems. It intends to conduct technical improvements to the Bot, with the addition of machine learning technology allowing illiterate users to communicate with SI through voice notes (Annex 10). Moreover, it will further integrate digital innovation in all phases of the project cycle. Lastly, SI will contribute to the broader humanitarian response and will enable an accountable, evidence-based and inclusive assistance by scaling up digital innovation and sharing best practices and lessons learnt with the broader humanitarian community.