IOM, partnering with The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Lebanon, has launched a 7-month project, titled “Relieving the Suffering of Lebanese returnees and Host Communities through the Recovery of Smallholder Agricultural Production”. The project is funded by the government of the Irish Republic and constitutes the first partnership of its kind between FAO and IOM in Lebanon. 

The project, which entered into force earlier this year, targets around 450 Lebanese returnee families from Syria that are active in the agricultural sector, in addition to their hosting communities. The project aims at enhancing food production for the targeted families. According to IOM’s 2014 survey, 30% of Lebanese returnees depended on agriculture as their main source of income when they lived in Syria and have sought refuge in some of the poorest areas bordering Syria, such as Akkar, Baalbeck, Hasbaya and Hermel.

“IOM in cooperation with the High Relief Commission profiled and registered Lebanese returnees from Syria in 2013 and a second round of registration was completed in May 2015. IOM has been also one of the main organizations assisting Lebanese returnees and conducted an assessment on their livelihoods situation last year,” said Fawzi Al-Zioud, Head of IOM Lebanon Office. “That assessment and IOM’s ongoing assistance for returnees across a various sectors have shown that they share many of the vulnerabilities and challenges faced by Syrian refugees.

“This important partnership with FAO will help ensure food security and livelihoods support to this vulnerable and often under-assisted population cohort,” he added.

For his part, the FAO representative in Lebanon, Dr. Maurice Saade, stressed on the importance of FAO’s partnership with IOM in Lebanon, saying that “this partnership allows FAO to enhance the food security of vulnerable Lebanese returnees from Syria and we hope that the activities of this project would be expanded in the future to benefit vulnerable Lebanese returnees residing in all Lebanese regions.” 

This 7-month project will provide technical assistance and supervise the provision of food security packages to 450 affected families. Packages are either bio-secure small chicken houses with ready to lay pullets and poultry feed, seeds and tool kits for vegetable production and improved kitchen utensils and storage containers to improve food preservation, packaging and storage.

For further information, please contact Martina Iannizzotto, IOM Livelihoods Programme Manager,

Beirut Office–Lebanon Tel: +00961-1-841701, Mobile: +00961-76777147 Email: miannizzotto@iom.int