Since the 1960s, the City of Beirut has welcomed thousands of Lebanese families who migrated into the city looking for better economic opportunities in Lebanon’s largest economic hub. The city is home to thousands of Palestinian refugees who settled in Beirut following the 1948 Israeli-Arab crisis, and with the recent outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011, welcomed Syrian refugees to its poor and dense neighbourhoods. With such an increase of refugee migration into the city’s neighbourhoods, societal conditions have worsened as a result of poor infrastructure and access to vital human resources of social and protection services.  

This project aims to support the Municipality of Beirut (MoB) in better targeting and mitigating these social and protection issues encountered by both migrant and refugee groups as well as poor host communities living in Beirut. By raising municipal awareness on urban migration issues taking place in these vulnerable neighbourhoods, a Municipal Social Cell (MSC) is established to identify key issues, gather needed data, and propose solutions to be adopted by the Municipal Council within disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Hayy Al Tamlis and Sabra.