Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon, 2020 - Lebanon

Abstract
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Nine years into the Syria conflict, Lebanon remains at the forefront of one of the worst humanitarian crises. The economic downturn, steep inflation, COVID-19 and finally the Beirut blast have pushed vulnerable communities in Lebanon - including Syrian refugees - to the brink, with thousands of families sinking further into poverty.

The Government of Lebanon (GoL) estimates that the country hosts 1.5 million1 of the 6.6 million Syrians who have fled the conflict since 2011 (including 879,529 registered with UNHCR as of end of September 2020 ). The Syrian refugee population in Lebanon remains one of the largest concentration of refugees per capita in the world.

The 2020 Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon (VASyR) was the eighth annual survey assessing the situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon to identify changes and trends in their vulnerabilities. Given the COVID-19 pandemic in Lebanon, most assessments and other activities requiring in person visits were either cancelled or postponed. Considering the prolonged socio-economic status in Lebanon and COVID-19, it was crucial to provide needs-based estimates on Syrian refugees in the country. Thus, the VASyR 2020 was one of the few assessments that were conducted face-to-face; the implementation was accompanied by a comprehensive protocol to ensure the safety of families and field workers. The criticality of conducting the VASyR 2020 was to provide insights about Syrian refugees impacted by the political and economic crisis that hit Lebanon in late 2019 and by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Geographic coverage
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National coverage

Analysis unit
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Household and individual

Kind of data
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Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure
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Sampling for the VASyR follows a two-stage cluster approach, keeping with the methodology of previous years. UNHCR database of known Syrian refugees as of June 2020 served as the sample frame. Cases with missing addresses were excluded. Sampling was based on a "30 x 7" two-stage cluster scheme initially developed by the World Health Organization. This method outlines a sample size of 30 clusters per geographical area and seven households per cluster which provides a precision of +/- 10 percentage points. Districts were considered as the geographical level within which 30 clusters were selected. There are 26 districts in Lebanon, where Beirut and Akkar each represent a district and a governorate. As such, to ensure similar representativeness with other governorates, an additional two cluster samples were considered for each, yielding 90 cluster selections for each. The governorate of Baalbek Hermel is made up of only two districts, as such, and to ensure an adequate sample in that governorate, one additional cluster sample was considered.

The primary sampling unit was defined as the village level (i.e. cluster) and UNHCR cases served as the secondary sampling unit. A case was defined as a group of people who are identified together as one unit (usually immediate family/household) under UNHCR databases. Using Emergency Nutrition Assessment (ENA) software, villages were selected using probability proportionate to size where villages with a larger concentration of refugees was more likely to be selected and 30 clusters/villages were selected with four replacement clusters, per district.

In order to estimate the sample size needed to generate results that are representative on a district, governorate and national level, the following assumptions were used:
- 50% estimated prevalence
- 10% precision
- 1.5 design effect
- 5% margin of error

Using the above parameters, 165 cases per district/cluster selection was required, leading to a target of 5,115 cases nationally. Due to the known high level of mobility of the Syrian refugee population and based on experience in previous rounds of VASyR and other household level surveys, a 40% non-response rate was considered.

Mode of data collection
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Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument
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The 2020 VASyR questionnaire consisted of around 580 questions that collected data at the household level and individual level including demographics, legal documentation, safety and security, shelter, WASH, health, food security, livelihoods, expenditures, food consumption, debt, coping strategies and assistance, as well as questions specifically relating to women, children and people with disabilities.

摘要
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叙利亚冲突进入第九年之际，黎巴嫩仍处于一场严重人道主义危机的前沿。经济衰退、恶性通胀、COVID-19以及最终的贝鲁特大爆炸，将黎巴嫩脆弱社区——包括叙利亚难民——推向了边缘，成千上万的家庭进一步陷入贫困。
黎巴嫩政府（GoL）估计，自2011年以来，黎巴嫩接待了660万逃离冲突的叙利亚人中的150万人（截至2020年9月底，联合国难民署登记的有879,529人）。在黎巴嫩的叙利亚难民人口，依然是世界上人均难民集中度最高的地区之一。
2020年黎巴嫩叙利亚难民脆弱性评估（VASyR）是第八次年度调查，旨在评估黎巴嫩叙利亚难民的状况，以识别其脆弱性变化和趋势。鉴于黎巴嫩正在经历的COVID-19大流行，大多数评估和其他需要实地访问的活动要么被取消，要么推迟。考虑到黎巴嫩长期的社会经济状况以及COVID-19疫情，提供基于需求的叙利亚难民估计数据至关重要。因此，2020年VASyR成为为数不多的面对面进行的评估之一；其实施伴随着一项全面的协议，以确保家庭和现场工作人员的安全。进行2020年VASyR的关键性在于，为2019年底袭击黎巴嫩的政经危机以及COVID-19疫情爆发影响的叙利亚难民提供洞见。
地理覆盖范围
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全国覆盖
分析单元
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家庭和个人
数据类型
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样本调查数据 [ssd]
抽样程序
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VASyR的抽样遵循了与往年相同的方法的两阶段集群方法。截至2020年6月的联合国难民署已知叙利亚难民数据库作为抽样框架。地址缺失的案例被排除在外。抽样基于由世界卫生组织最初开发的“30 x 7”两阶段集群方案。此方法规定了每个地理区域30个集群的样本量，每个集群7个家庭，这提供了±10个百分点的精度。区被考虑为包含30个集群的地理级别。黎巴嫩有26个区，其中贝鲁特和阿卡尔各代表一个区和省。因此，为了确保与其他省具有相似的代表率，为每个省额外考虑了两个集群样本，从而产生了每个省90个集群的选择。贝鲁特赫尔梅尔省仅由两个区组成，因此，为了确保在该省有足够的样本，额外考虑了一个集群样本。
定义的初级抽样单元是村庄级别（即集群），联合国难民署案例作为次级抽样单元。案例被定义为在联合国难民署数据库中被识别为单一单位的一组人（通常为直系家庭/家庭），使用紧急营养评估（ENA）软件，通过概率比例大小选择村庄，其中难民浓度较高的村庄被选中的可能性更大，每个区/村庄选择了30个集群，其中每个区有4个替换集群。
为了估计在区、省和国家层面生成具有代表性的结果所需的样本量，使用了以下假设：
- 估计的患病率为50%
- 精度为10%
- 设计效应为1.5
- 误差范围为5%
使用上述参数，每个区/集群选择需要165个案例，导致全国目标为5,115个案例。由于已知叙利亚难民人口的高度流动性，以及根据之前VASyR轮次和其他家庭层面调查的经验，考虑了40%的非响应率。
数据收集方式
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面对面 [f2f]
研究工具
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2020年VASyR问卷包含约580个问题，收集了家庭层面和个人层面的数据，包括人口统计、法律文件、安全与保障、住所、卫生设施、健康、粮食安全、生计、支出、食物消费、债务、应对策略和援助，以及与妇女、儿童和残疾人具体相关的问题。