Sport and Humanitarian Assistance Phase 2

As the Syria crisis enters its seventh year, more than 4.4 million Syrian refugees are living in neighboring countries. The refugee influx has exacerbated underlying structural tensions and aggravated political, security and social concerns. Lebanon has seen its population increase by over 30% in recent years, absorbing over 1 million registered Syrian refugees, thereby giving it the highest ratio of refugees per capita in the world. Resentment towards Syrian refugees has increased in host community in Lebanon as public infrastructure, services and resources are increasingly strained. This is of particular concern in the northern and southern areas of Lebanon (North, Akkar, Saida and Tyre) where high unemployment rates and chronic poverty are prevalent amongst host communities and the proportion of Syrian refugees is greatest. Youth specifically face many challenges in this context. Youth can and should be a positive force in a community with their desire for action and change, plus their importance as role models for their younger siblings. Given this context, there is a need for a project that will promote social stability and bring together different communities from different cultural, religious and socio-economic backgrounds through a community-based approach that listens to the needs of community members and supports them in developing responses. Sports, especially football, can help reduce social tensions by reaching out to socially excluded groups. It has been used successfully to connect excluded groups to community services and supports, enhance their human and social capital, rebuild their self-confidence and self-esteem, shine a spotlight on the structural causes of their exclusion and provide solutions. Sport is being used effectively to reduce youth vulnerability to gang and drug recruitment by offering an alternative way to achieve a sense of belonging and purpose, providing a reason to remain in their communities, helping them to adopt a more critical perspective toward involvement in conflict, and enabling them to envision more peaceful ways to play a valued social role. The main aim of SaHA Phase 2 is to improve social cohesion through sports and play to support peaceful co-existence and youth development in vulnerable communities.