The Role of Misinformation on Cash and Voucher Assistance for Social Cohesion in Lebanon

Executive summary

Background

Since 2019, Lebanon has been experiencing a prolonged socioeconomic crisis, exacerbated by political instability, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beirut Port explosion in 2020, and regional conflicts. The country also hosts the highest number of refugees per capita globally, particularly from Syria, and major aid operations since 2011. Humanitarian Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) has been a critical response mechanism, providing essential support to both Syrians refugees and vulnerable Lebanese populations. However, the use of CVA has also become a point of contention, fuelling social tensions between Lebanese citizens and Syrian refugees.

Objectives

This report, commissioned from Key Aid Consulting by CAMEALEON, investigates the role of misinformation surrounding CVA in influencing perceptions and its subsequent effects on social cohesion in Lebanon. It focuses on the social cohesion between and within Lebanese and Syrian communities since the 2019 economic and financial crises in Lebanon. The study aims to contribute to mitigating the negative impact of misinformation around humanitarian CVA on social cohesion in Lebanon and more specifically to:

1. Determine the main pieces of (mis)information circulating around CVA that cause social cohesion issues in Lebanon;

2. Identify the causal pathways through which (mis)information translates into public misperceptions in Lebanon;

3. Assess the impacts of (mis)information around CVA on behavioural patterns and social cohesion.

These findings will inform programmatic actions to mitigate the impact of misinformation on social cohesion, improve the communication strategies of humanitarian actors, and strengthen advocacy at the political level.

Methodology

This study uses a mixed-method approach and relies on a thorough desk review, an analysis of social and traditional media, interviews with 18 key informants from the media and humanitarian organisations as well as group discussions with 125 Lebanese and Syrian CVA and non-CVA recipients in four regions of Lebanon.