- Protection (Child Protection / SGBV)
In light of the increasingly challenging protection environment, UNHCR and protection partners have launched a pilot Protection Cash Assistance Programme (PCAP) which aims to assist refugees to address their protection concerns, complementary to specialized services provided by humanitarian partners which range from shelter, legal assistance, to psychosocial support. The duration of assistance will range from three to 12 months, until the protection incident or situation has been addressed. This programme currently helps for instance women who managed to escape situations of often repeated violence and abuse. For some of them, the long lasting consequences of violence impacted their ability to provide for themselves. In such cases, PCAP ensures that these survivors are supported to meet their basic needs, while being supported through psychosocial support programmes to heal and regain confidence so that they can be supported in finding longer term solutions.
Following reports of women and girls’ being unable to reach community centers, and after consultations with communities, the need to take services closer to women and girls at risk or survivors of SGBV was highlighted. To respond to these needs, SGBV partners have established mobile safe spaces mostly in Tripoli, Akkar and Bekaa regions.
A specialized team visit each location weekly following a calendar agreement with communities. The primary activities provided include: individual service provision, psychosocial support, parenting skills/emotional support sessions, community mobilization, and dedicated life-skills curriculum for adolescent girls. Enrolment to these activities is very high, and initial findings indicate that this approach may encourage higher disclosure of SGBV. Women/girls organize themselves beforehand – arranging care for children, preparing food and other tasks – to make sure they can participate for the full day of activities.
To date, some 128,000 children and caregivers have received psychosocial support this year. To increase the quality of the psychosocial services provided, 15 protection partners came together to provide guidance on the type of activities that are best suited to address specific child protection profiles. This guidance is complementary to the Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire which is administered before and after psychosocial support activities to measure the change in wellbeing in children while they participate in these programs.
For many years, non-existence of operating procedures on child protection in Lebanon has been noted as a major obstacle towards fulfilling basic rights of children based on a standardized legal framework. Recently, the CP sector achieved a great milestone with the official launch of the “National Standard Operating Procedures for the Protection of Juveniles in Lebanon” in partnership with MoSA and UNICEF. This procedural tool aims at prioritizing and advancing the protection of children from violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect.