ABSTRACT
Background and Objectives: This study constitutes the first attempt to describe the overlapping deprivations faced by Lebanese children (Lebanese) and that of the three sub-populations of refugees living in Lebanon: Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon, Palestinian refugees from Syria and Syrian refugees. Methods: Using data from the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Household Survey 2016 (n = 10,555 Lebanese; 7,106 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon; 2,768 Palestinian refugees from Syria and 5,891 Syrian refugee children aged 2 to 17 years old), we report on single and overlapping deprivations (at least two concurrent deprivations) using indicators related to survival (nutrition, health, water, sanitation and overcrowding), development (education) and protection (labor, exposure to violence and early marriage). Maternal education and geographical correlates of deprivation were explored using multivariable logistic regression models clustering for children in the same households. Main Results: In terms of co-occurrence of deprivations, Syrian refugees had the highest prevalence in all age groups (68.5%, 2-4y and 65.7%, 6-17y), followed by Palestinian refugees from Syria (46.2%, 2-4y and 45.5%, 6-17y), Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon (28.9%, 2-4y and 23.7%, 6-17y), with Lebanese children having the lowest prevalence (13.2%, 2-4y and 15.3, 6-17y). About half of Palestinian refugees from Syria and Syrian refugees (6-17y) were deprived in protection and housing. Education deprivation is of primary concern for Syrian children. Higher maternal education was consistently associated with lower odds of co-occurrence of deprivations among children aged 6-17y. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of including refugee populations in reporting frameworks. This analysis additionally generates geographical and socio-economic profiles of the deprived children and identifies key deprivation areas of the affected sub-groups to inform effective policy design especially in light of the prevailing economic crisis. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12187-023-10040-2.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Palestinian refugees in Lebanon (PRL) and Palestinian refugees from Syria (PRS) living in Lebanon have high poverty rates. As the social, economic, and physical environment in which a child develops is a strong determinant of health and wellbeing, a comprehensive approach that recognises the influence of multidimensional deprivation on child wellbeing is needed. This study investigates overlaps (co-occurrences) in deprivation indicators experienced by Palestinian children compared to those experienced by other vulnerable children living alongside them in Lebanon; children who are Syrian refugees (SYR) and children who are Lebanese nationals (LBN). METHODS: This analysis adopted a life-cycle approach using data from the UNICEF 2016 Lebanon Household Survey, and included data on children aged 2-17 years (PRL, n=7106; PRS, n=2768; LBN, n=10555; SYR n=5891). We report on indicators relating to early childhood (24-59 months) and school age (6-17 years), including child survival (nutrition, health, water, sanitation, and overcrowding), child development (education), and child protection (labour, exposure to violence, and early marriage), as well as the co-occurrence of these deprivation indicators. Socio-demographic and geographical correlates of child deprivation were explored using univariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis, a using sampling weights and clustering for children in the same households. Analyses were conducted using Stata 15. FINDINGS: Among children aged 24-59 months, 28·9% (347 of 1202) of PRL and 46·2% (260 of 563) of PRS children were deprived in at least two dimensions, compared with 13·2% (67 of 508) of LBN and 68·5% (915 of 1335) of SYR children. Co-occurring deprivations were highest across the protection and overcrowding dimensions in Palestinian refugee children aged 6-17 years (PRL, 14·2% [769 of 5421]; PRS, 26·7% [531 of 1985]). Across all ages, PRS children were more likely to be deprived in two dimensions than PRL children. However, indicators of health and education deprivation were lower in PRL and PRS children than in SYR children. Geographical disparities in deprivation existed within all four populations, with the highest disparity among those living in North Lebanon and the Bekaa. Higher maternal education (completed intermediate education) was consistently associated with lower odds of having at least two concurrent deprivations among children aged 6-17 years (LBN odds ratio [OR] 0·1, 95% CI 0·1-0·2, p<0·0001; PRL OR 0·3, 95% CI 0·3-0·5, p<0·0001; PRS OR 0·5, 95% CI 0·3-0·7, p=0·0002; SYR OR 0·4, 95% CI 0·2-0·7, p=0·0004). INTERPRETATION: The most common overlaps in deprivation indicators were in housing (overcrowding) and protection (exposure to violence) among PRL and PRS children, highlighting the need to focus simultaneously on housing improvements and protection programmes. Deprivation in health and education were relatively low as PRS children have been included in the well-established UNRWA health and education systems, largely protecting them from poor health and education outcomes. FUNDING: UNICEF Lebanon. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions do not necessarily reflect the view of UNICEF.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Increasing refugee populations worldwide highlight the need for development indicators that cover refugees, especially as they tend to be excluded from national statistics. Refugee youth face double exclusion, as most wellbeing indices are not youth-specific. We developed a youth wellbeing index (YWI) for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon (PRL) and Palestinian refugees from Syria (PRS) living in Lebanon, with the aim of providing a snapshot of youth wellbeing to inform evidence-based youth-specific development strategies. METHODS: The YWI was developed and its data generated using information from the 2015 survey of PRL and PRS, which was approved by the American University of Beirut Institutional Review Board. The wellbeing of PRL (n=3940) and PRS (n=1581) aged 15-29 was measured using the YWI, which examines five wellbeing dimensions: educational attainment, health, housing, active education or employment, and access to information. Scores for each of the five dimensions are scaled to [0, 1], and YWI is their arithmetic mean. The data enable us to look at the YWI by gender, by camp residence, and by narrower age bands to detect any generational differences within youth. Findings are reported using sampling weights for representativeness. FINDINGS: 4 years after displacement (2011-2015), PRS youth showed lower levels of wellbeing (YWI=0·56, 95% CI 0·55-0·57) than PRL youth (YWI=0·65, 95% CI 0·64-0·67). Although money-metric poverty was significantly higher inside than outside camps for both PRL youth (inside camps, 75·00%, 95% CI 71·55-78·15; outside camps, 61·98%, 55·26-68·27) and PRS youth (inside camps, 93·89%, 90·56-96·1; ; outside camps, 88·72%, 85·35-91·39), there was no such disparity in the YWI for PRL youth (inside camps, YWI=0·65, 95% CI 0·63-0·66; outside camps, 0·66, 0·62-0·69) or PRS youth (inside camps, 0·55, 0·54-0·56; outside camps, 0·57, 0·54-0·59). Young male refugees had significantly higher YWI (PRL, 0·66, 95% CI 0·65-0·68; PRS, 0·57, 0·56-0·59) than young female refugees (PRL, 0·64, 0·62-0·66; PRS, 0·55, 0·53-0·56). Young female PRL and PRS scored significantly higher for education (PRL, YWI=0·60; PRS, 0·61) than young male refugees from these populations (PRL, 0·48; PRS, 0·47), but significantly lower on active education or employment (PRL, 0·45; PRS, 0·18) than the young male refugees (PRL, 0·72; PRS, 0·47). Older PRS scored higher on the YWI education dimension (20-24 years age group, 0·61; 25-29 years age group, 0·50) than their PRL peers (20-24 years age group, 0·53; 25-29 years age group, 0·45), but the reverse was true for the 15-19 years age group (PRL, 0·60; PRS, 0·53). INTERPRETATION: Residence inside versus outside camps showed no significant differences in wellbeing based on the YWI, whereas money-metric poverty was higher inside camps, which suggests a need to move beyond assistance policies based on money-metric measures alone. The female edge in educational attainment is reversed when considering active education or employment, signalling the need for gender-specific strategies for the school-to-work transition for both PRL and PRS. The reversal of the educational edge of PRS over PRL in the 15-19 years age group is another concerning indicator of the cost of conflict for PRS that persists even four years after their displacement. FUNDING: UNRWA funded the 2015 survey data collection and the Economic Research Forum funded the development of the YWI.
ABSTRACT
With increasing food insecurity and climate change, conservation agriculture has emerged as a sustainable alternative to intensive conventional agriculture as a source of food supply. Yet the adoption rate of conservation agriculture is still low. Our paper analyses the factors affecting farmers' willingness to adopt conservation agriculture in Lebanon. The findings show that household characteristics-years of farming and farm size affect conservation agriculture adoption. However, household characteristics alone were insufficient to explain conservation agriculture adoption. We found that farming experience, information sources, frequency of irrigation, and severity of weed infestation in the past, participation in specific trainings, and farmers' perception about the long-term impact of conservation agriculture, were key determinants of conservation agriculture adoption. Our paper encourages policymakers to invest in conservation agriculture to overcome food insecurity and environmental changes affecting food systems in the Middle East. The paper also informs agribusiness firms to view conservation agriculture as a viable alternative to strengthen their business relationship with farmers in arid and semi-arid regions.
