ERF 26th Annual Conference

Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance in Lebanon: Impact Evaluation on the Well-being of Syrian Refugees

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No.

ERF26_84

Publisher

ERF

Date

July, 2020

Topic

F2. International Factor Movements and International Business

Abstract
Author(s)

The study aims to measure the impact on Syrian refugees in Lebanon of multi-purpose cash (MPC) assistance provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the short-term (less than 12 months), in the long-term (more than 12 months) and after it has been discontinued. The study employs a fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) on a three wave repeated cross-section. Data was collected from 11,457 Syrian refugee households (~68,840 individuals), in 2018 and 2019 over three waves of data collection, at 6-month intervals. Findings reveal that the impact of MPC materialized across most dimensions of well-being in the long-term where MPC is found to lead to increases in total and food monthly household expenditures, reduced food insecurity among beneficiaries, an increase in access to sufficient drinking water, an increase in formal school enrollment, an increase in access to primary health care and an improvement in respondent mental health. Long-term MPC led to a decrease in male employment coupled with an increase in male job seekers, indicating that MPC may be increasing working males’ ability to choose work with better conditions, a finding that was confirmed qualitatively.