Beirut – The European Union (EU) is continuing its partnership with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Lebanon to ensure that the most vulnerable women and girls have access to affordable, accessible, and lifesaving sexual and reproductive health services. In partnership with local partners Amel, Salama, Nabaa, and Society for Inclusion and Development in Communities (SIDC), UNFPA is supporting six primary health centers, two dispensaries, and a safe shelter for women and girls across Lebanon to provide integrated gender-based-violence (GBV) prevention and response services while enhancing access to inclusive sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services for 42,420 people in need.

“The ongoing partnership with the EU through its Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations has been instrumental in increasing access to key services for women and girls including antenatal care, postnatal care and family planning”, says Pamela Di Camillo, UNFPA Lebanon Officer in Charge, “supporting GBV survivors are interventions that are not really visible but truly lifesaving. It takes time for communities to trust these kinds of services. Thanks to the continuous support of ECHO, UNFPA could build solid services with increased demand.” This is also complemented with capacity development to health front-liners and GBV service providers, as well as the provision of dignity kits and essential reproductive health drugs and kits.

As Lebanon continues to struggle with multifaceted crises, women and girls remain to be the most vulnerable as they face increased rates of GBV and limited access to SRH services. In 2023, Internal Security Forces (ISF) reported a three-fold increase in femicide compared to 2022, and ABAAD reported a 42% increase in sexual abuse of women and girls. Moreover, since October 2023, consequences of armed confrontation in the South, forced 102,523 people to leave their homes to safer areas, affecting an estimate of 28,706 women of reproductive age and 8,202 adolescent girls. According to Technical Assistant for ECHO in Lebanon, Branko Golubovic, “For the third consecutive year, ECHO is providing humanitarian funding to UNFPA in Lebanon and its four national partners. This support is aimed at delivering emergency, vital, sustainable, and lifesaving sexual and reproductive healthcare services. Additionally, it includes prevention and response to gender-based violence. This EU-funded intervention aims to reach over 40,000 individuals, most of whom are highly vulnerable Lebanese women and girls who will get access to these much-needed services across Lebanon, but in particular in areas currently affected by the conflict. However, in adherence to humanitarian principles, refugees, migrants, and other vulnerable individuals will also be granted access to these services.”

UNFPA continues to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, and adapt its programs to provide SRH and GBV life-saving services to those in need. Through this project, UNFPA also aims to support internally displaced people in the south and affected areas. “Learning about different birthing options and the role of midwives has made me much more confident about my upcoming delivery amid this turbulent security situation. It’s good to know I have other options in case hospitals are not available while I’m in labor”, says 28-year-old mother-to-be Samia, who was forced into displacement from South Lebanon due to cross-border hostilities. “Although the items in the provided dignity kit may seem simple, they are incredibly essential during these difficult times and given our limited resources”, says Mira, who was also displaced from her village near the southern border.

Over the past three years, almost 104,000 women and girls have benefited from UNFPA and partners’ assistance thanks to EU funding, through GBV-SRH integrated services including peer-to-peer awareness raising, distribution of dignity kits, SRH services, and GBV prevention and response services.