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Social IssuesSep 29, 2023
Halba Report - Lebanese Municipalities and Syrian Refugees: Building Capacity and Promoting Agency
- Dima Mahdi, Mona Harb, Mona Fawaz, Carla Al-Hage, Yara Hamadeh, Sarah El-Merhebi
In the context of Lebanon being a refugee-hosting country and municipalities placed at the forefront of addressing refugees, this study examines challenges and coping mechanisms pertaining to the unfolding refugee presence faced by local level stakeholders, Lebanese host communities and Syrian refugees in Halba, Saida, Zahle, and Hermel. The findings of this report are based on quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis. In Halba, the qualitative data collection includes 27 qualitative interviews conducted between September 2017 and January 2018, with local stakeholders, including ten with the former municipality, a UN agency, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and religious institutions, in addition to 15 with Syrian refugees and two with Lebanese residents. Moreover, the Living Condition Survey of Refugees and Host Communities in Lebanon (LCSRHCL) survey conducted in 2018 in Saida, Zahle and Halba with a total of 1,556 households (785 Lebanese, 701 Syrian and 70 Palestinian refugees from Syria (PRS) households), out of which 437 are in Halba (210 Lebanese and 227 Syrian households).Dima Mahdi is a former researcher at the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies whose work focuses on socio-political issues concerning Lebanese, as well as refugees residing in Lebanon. She has conducted and contributed to research covering the lessons learned and ways forward for Syrian refugees’ protracted displacement in Lebanon; the political environment regarding the presence of Syrian refugees in Lebanon and the increased calls for their return to Syria; coping mechanisms of Syrian refugees and local communities; perceptions of corruption in the Lebanese public sector; and the development of lagging regions by examining institutional, economic, and social stability factors. She is currently enrolled in a master’s program in Conflict Resolution and Governance at the University of Amsterdam and holds a BA in Political Science and International Affairs from the Lebanese American University.Mona Harb Mona Harb is Professor of Urban Studies and Politics at the American University of Beirut where she is also Research Lead at the MSFEA Beirut Urban Lab. Her ongoing research investigates matters of governance in contexts of limited statehood and displacement, configurations of public life in contested cities, and intersections of urban activism and oppositional politics.