Social Assistance Response to the Covid-19 Economic Shock in Lebanon: The National Social Solidarity Program

This report supports the documentation of the implementation of the NSSP and provides suggestions to improve the robustness of the program, based on lessons learned from similar government-led cash-based social protection and emergency programs in comparable countries.

Lebanon is among the countries that implemented an emergency social assistance response to the economic shock brought on by the public health measures, including multiple lockdowns, introduced to slow the spread of Covid-19. Lebanon was already suffering from an economic crisis prior to the onset of the pandemic; the decision to implement the National Social Solidarity Program (NSSP) came from the Office of the Prime Minister of the caretaker government. The NSSP provides income support in the form of direct cash payments to households affected by the economic shock stemming from Covid-19.

The objective of this report is to support the documentation of the implementation of the NSSP and provide suggestions to improve the robustness of the program, based on lessons learned from similar government-led cash-based social protection and emergency programs in comparable countries. This report focuses on the operations of the program, and is intended to help implementers share the lessons of the NSSP experience with wider social protection stakeholders. As the multiple crises affecting Lebanon continue to unfold, there are opportunities to leverage the NSSP experience to strengthen the country’s social assistance system and transition from emergency cash transfers to a national social assistance program that is responsive to deepening poverty and vulnerability in Lebanon.