Syria Crisis - Waste Management and Hygiene Promotion in Lebanon - Action Against Hunger 2013

September 2013 - The humanitarian situation in Syria has rapidly deteriorated over the past year as a result of the civil war in the country. The United Nations estimates that 100 000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands more wounded due to the violence. Within Syria some 6.8 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance 4.25 million of whom are internally displaced. In addition more than 2 million Syrian refugees are living in host countries in the region. By the end of 2013 the United Nations estimates that 10 million people in Syria will need humanitarian assistance and a further 3.55 million refugees from Syria will have fled to host countries where resources are increasingly overstretched by the influx of people needing assistance. With DFATD’s support Action Against Hunger (ACF) is working to promote proper hygiene and meet the emergency sanitation needs of an estimated 9 500 Syrian refugees living in the Bekaa Valley Lebanon. Overcrowding and lack of basic services have led to increasing concern over hygiene conditions particularly in the informal tented settlements in the Bekaa Valley. Project activities include providing adequate waste management (such as sorting of waste establishment of waste collection and composting sites) and hygiene promotion through initiatives involving both Syrian refugees and affected host communities.

The expected outputs for this project include: access to waste management systems improved in communities hosting large numbers of Syrian refugees in the Bekaa Valley; knowledge of proper health and hygiene practices increased for 9 500 Syrian refugees; and health improved or maintained for 9 500 Syrian refugees and host community populations. The expected intermediate outcome is reduced vulnerability of crisis-affected people especially women and children.