Assisting LGBTI communities across Lebanon amidst COVID-19 and socio-economic crisis through provision of case management, PCA/ECA Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Lebanon are accustomed to finding innovative strategies to cope with crises and combat state-sponsored repression, from navigating discrimination in employment to developing safe networks for survival.
Covid-19 pandemic compounds the economic spiral, already disastrous for LGBT groups. The lockdown has made an already dire economic situation devastating for many. For LGBT people, the usual coping strategies are simply no longer viable, and the Lebanese government should act swiftly to protect them and other vulnerable people.
Many LGBT people in Lebanon face employment discrimination based on their gender expression or sexual orientation, with no legal protection against discrimination. 
Some LGBT people who hold low-income jobs in the informal sector, retail and service industries, and the gig economy, couldn’t perform their jobs remotely and are out of work. Others lost their livelihoods as businesses struggle to stay afloat.

In addition, LGBTI individuals residing in Lebanon (host, migrants, and refugees) lack working opportunities, and financial support from families, and mostly count on the support of civil society organizations to sustain their day-to-day life and have access to basic services. Many individuals used to count on the group activities that we used to hold in our center, as food items and transportation stipends were provided. In light of the current situation, all our group activities have stopped since early March, which affected the livelihood of our beneficiaries and their access to basic needs. Additionally, given that homosexuality is still criminalized in Lebanon, therefore the government does not provide any support targeting the LGBTI community in general, and particularly Trans women and sex workers, who might resort to survival sex to meet their ends and to afford to pay their rent and securing food, which puts them at higher risk of contracting the virus.
This project aims to enhance protection and upholds the safety, dignity, and preferences of the LGBTI community in Lebanon 
Through this proposed project, we aim at assisting and responding to the pressing needs of its beneficiaries and the LGBTI community in Lebanon. Those identified needs have always existed, in a country that still criminalizes homosexuality, and discriminates and stigmatizes against all forms of alternative sexual orientations, and gender identities and expressions. The latter has rendered the LGBTI community very vulnerable, and their socio-economic status, as well as their livelihood, were exacerbated by both the emerging socio-economic crisis in the country, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

This proposed project will address also the stressing needs of marginalized and most at-risk individuals, whether refugees or vulnerable Lebanese, that arose or were exacerbated by the deteriorating socio-economic situation in the country and the COVID-19 pandemic. 
Protection cash, as part of the holistic approach that MOSAIC adopts, will be complementary to the basic services that the organization provides (case management, psychosocial support, legal counseling and access to essential services) to ensure the protection of the most vulnerable LGBTI individuals in Lebanon. It will sustain the delivery of direct support to LGBTI who fall under the high-risk groups and are unable to meet their essential needs - shelter, food items, medical and hygiene products, basic utilities.
This project will ultimately decrease the risks of exploitation and abuse due to the combined effects of the economic and health crises.