Surviving the Implications of COVID-19 - Providing emergency food assistance to 3033 Palestinian refugee families living in 12 camps and gatherings in Lebanon In Lebanon, the first case of an individual with COVID-19 was recorded on 21 February 2020. On 16/03/2020 the Government of Lebanon announced a state of general mobilization and medical emergency it called for all citizens to stay at home, ordered closure of public spaces, restaurants, shopping areas, and other non-essential private and public institutions. As of 18 March, closure of the airport for all commercial flights, the port as well as closure of the border with Syria was imposed. These extreme measures and developments further contributed to wreaking havoc on the economy which was already suffering from steep recession and a financial crisis. For Lebanon and its refugees, the implications are further exacerbated. Since October 2019, the country has been in turmoil politically and financially and further contraction in economy is foreseen. Inflation rates have skyrocketed the Lebanese Pound lost over 120% of its value pre-COVID-19. Unemployment rates are on the rise with some research estimate that above 340,000 individuals have lost their jobs, while many have reduced income. 

The PRL and PRS were already among the most vulnerable groups even before the onset of the economic crisis. Two thirds of the Palestinians in Lebanon lived in poverty and one out of three employed had an insecure employment, working as daily, weekly or temporarily laborers (in comparison to 10% of Lebanese). Moreover, most Palestinian workers were already very poorly paid, with half of the Palestinian workers getting less than 500,000 LBP a month (ILO study, 2014). With the complete closure and halting of most types of economic activities, many workers in Lebanon are losing their means of survival. Many poor families – including Palestinian refugees - are expected to slip into extreme poverty, while those extremely poor might be facing food poverty and hunger with stretched ability to provide for basic food needs. The rise in food prices and the loss of income will have its toughest toll on the most impoverished people. Considering that most of the Palestinian refugees (both PRL and PRS) are poor and work informally, the impact of the crisis is expected to be devastating. 

Therefore, in line with the Allocation strategy's goal of "Providing support to the life-saving needs of the most vulnerable beneficiaries across all cohorts, mitigating against their increased risk as a result of the pandemic and socio-economic situation", through the proposed project, WA intends to provide food parcels to 3,033 of the most vulnerable Palestinian refugee households (over 12,000 individuals) living in 12 camps and gatherings across Lebanon. The proposed intervention is also in line with LCRP's Strategic Objective #2 (Provide immediate assistance to vulnerable populations) and particularly with both impact indicators for this objective (Indicator 2.1: Percentage of vulnerable population whose immediate basic humanitarian needs are met and Indicator 2.2: Percentage reduction of the population who is severely economically vulnerable). 

Further on, the proposed intervention is more in line with the Allocation's strategy as it will target the following subgroups:

a) older persons (across all nationalities), 
b) individuals with serious medical condition, 
c) persons with mental and physical disabilities,
d) Persons with other specific needs (incl. Women and girls at risk, incl. of child marriage), pregnant women, breastfeeding women, children under the age of 5 and 
e) those whose needs will be increasingly difficult to meet due to the enhanced and prolonged isolation measures in a context of a deteriorating socio-economic situation. 

Regarding the partners involved in the project, they will be segregated as follows:
- Najdeh Association will cover the following camps: Shatila, Burj El Barajneh, Ein El Hilweh ,Wavel, Nahr El Bared, Beddawi, Mar Elias, Mieh Mieh, Burj El Shemali, El Buss, Rashidiieh
- Joint Christian Committee: Dbayeh camp