The Greater City of Tripoli, defined by UN-Habitat as the municipalities of Tripoli, Mina and Beddawi, involves the highest poverty rates within the country. According to UN-Habitat profiles, the city involves the highest percentage of internally displaced population, adding to it tens of thousands of Palestine and Syrian refugees. Based on UNICEF figures, child labor and school dropout ratios are alarming within the City. Moreover, the International Labor Organization (ILO) confirms that the highest numbers of unemployed youth are found in Tripoli, and mainly concentrated in the poor areas of the City.Eight years to the influx of Syrian refugees to Lebanon, yet the response in urban areas is still unsatisfactory. Despite the large number of implemented projects and spent funds by many Aid agencies, adequate and sufficient basic and social services are still lacking in the most vulnerable neighborhoods of the cities. This is due to the lack of i) proper planning at the level of local authorities, ii) coordination around issues amongst active counterparts, and iii) a clear interface between national/subnational and local service-delivery public institutions. UN-Habitat, through the proposed Project, will address the aforementioned gaps and challenges in a comprehensive and integrated manner involving all concerned Int’l, national, and local stakeholders at the level of the City of Tripoli. At the level of the refugee response in the country, there is a need to shift to, and adopt medium and long-term response strategies and approaches. The revised Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP) launched on February 1, 2018, committing to move to longer term interventions across many sectors. Promoted by UN-Habitat since 2015, the Area-Based Approach was finally introduced in the LCRP as a mechanism for joint programming and implementation of activities in affected urban areas. The Area-Based Approach uses the space/geography as the entry point rather than a sector or a cohort. Cross-cutting assessments is one of the key features of the approach, followed by a formulation of multi-sector and multi-stakeholder response strategies complemented by capacity development of local authorities as well as active engagement of local communities. Moreover, the 2017 Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees (VASyR-2017) figures highlighted the vulnerability of Syrian refugee families settling in urban settings facing more challenges to secure basic needs. Another study on living conditions initiated by UNDP “Syria Crisis: 2018: Needs, Overview and Funding Requirements”, published in spring 2018, also indicates that while poverty levels in rural areas are relatively stable, those are expected to increase in urban areas with focus on Tripoli.The Area-based approach promoted by UN-Habitat has helped in bringing on board many partners; UN agencies, EU, the WB, to discuss joint programming and collaboration in addressing urban challenges. Among the UN team, UN-Habitat has been designated to lead this process. Within the LDF, Lebanon Development Forum framework, Tripoli City has been put under the lens of different national and int’l actors. The GoL, the UN, WB, EU, many donor agencies, have identified Tripoli as a Pilot for to test the Area-Based Approach. UN-Habitat, together with the UN Resident Coordinator Office, is facilitating this initiative on the ground. The two neighborhoods profiles of Haddadine and Qobbe funded by SDC, in addition to Tebbane and Jabal Mohsen NPs funded by UNICEF, have provided a full picture on the critical situation in the poor neighborhoods of the City. The findings and follow-up actions of the NPs are being shared with concerned municipalities and partners. So far, eight infrastructure and social services (i.e. storm water, solar lights, stairs and alleys, public spaces, children playgrounds, community centers, etc.) projects were implemented in the City. In addition, municipal staff was capacitated to better use the published profiles.In September 2017, UN-Habitat launched the National Urban Policies (NUP) Programme as part of a Regional Programme implemented in 4 Arab countries. The NUP project aims to promote national policies that respond to urbanization challenges in Lebanon, taking into account the increased urban population expanding beyond city administrative limits. This national-level project will benefit from the data compiled and analyzed at the city level and will advise on how NUPs would inform regional and city level planning. As the Proposed Project will go in parallel with the NUP Project, it is expected that all lessons learnt, and good practices obtained to feed into the NUP process.
