Training - Understanding Social Protection in Lebanon: Ways forward towards universal social security

Training - Understanding Social Protection in Lebanon: Ways forward towards universal social security

About the Social Protection Training

The training “Understanding Social Protection in Lebanon: Ways forward towards universal social security”, organised by the Centre for Social Sciences Research and Action (CeSSRA), offers a participatory, interdisciplinary, and in-depth immersion in social protection issues in Lebanon. The training, aimed for civil society actors and groups, offers an introductory overview to social protection and security concepts and approaches, as well as practices in Lebanon. Indeed, the social protection system in the country, is characterized by its fragmented and exclusionary nature, that the ongoing crises have only contributed to magnify.

The training will combine lectures and interactive discussions to understand the main concepts, approaches, and notions pertaining to social protection, the current social protection and security system in the country, as well as effective ways to universal policy-making approaches. It will also offer a space for synergies, networking, and sharing experiences between actors, in view of facilitating collaboration.

At the end of the training, participants will have a clearer understanding of social security and protection concepts, and approaches (the difference between a charity approach, and a rights-based and universal one), as well as the Lebanese system and its gaps and challenges. Lastly, as it offers a space for critical thinking with worldwide renowned experts, it will offer practical tools to envision inclusive and universal social protection reforms in the country.
This training is organised in partnership with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.

Eligibility criteria

The training is open to civil society actors and activists that work on, or demonstrate a keen interest in social protection issues in Lebanon. 

Venue: TBC 

Programme 

Day 1: Tuesday 15 November (date TBC) - 2pm to 6pm

Session 1: Understanding social protection: overview of theoretical approaches (introductory session) (1 hour and half, 2pm to 3:30pm) 

The first session provides an overview of theoretical approaches to social protection. It specifically tackles: the Bismarckian and Beveridgean approaches to social protection. It also explains and defines terms such as: social security, social assistance, social insurance, charity-based approaches, pro-poor approaches and safety nets, human rights-based approaches, etc.

3:30pm to 4pm: Coffee Break

Session 2: Universality from utopia to policy design (2 hours, 4pm to 6pm)

This session addresses the practical implementation of universal social security, notably looking into and explaining multi-tiered systems in the world. It also offers tools to critically reflect on charity-based approaches and targeting-based programmes.

Day 2: Wednesday 16 November (date TBC) - 2pm to 6pm

Session 3: Deep dive into the social protection system in Lebanon: processes, challenges, and exclusions (1 hour and half, 2pm to 3:30pm ) 

This session introduces social protection policies in Lebanon throughout history. It further explores the structure of the Lebanese policy-making process and why this implementation is often obstructed.

In a second part, the session delves deeper into exclusion mechanisms within the current existing system, whether they are based on class, gender, labor status, ethnicity, among others. It also assesses the gaps of the current system. 

3:30pm to 4pm: Coffee Break

Session 5: Towards an integrated and rights-based social protection system in Lebanon, workshop (2 hours, 4pm to 6pm)

The last session consists of a workshop-style interactive session, designed to invite the participants to co-create and co-develop recommendations for more inclusive social protection policies in Lebanon.

8pm: Group Dinner. 

Practical details

The sessions will be held in Arabic, or with simultaneous translation. 

Selected Bibliography 

Abdo, Nabil. 2014. “Social protection in Lebanon: From a System of Privileges to a System of Rights.” Beirut: Arab NGO Network for Development.

Abdel Samad, Ziad. 2016. “Structural challenges and obstacles to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda”. Social Watch. 

AbiYaghi, Marie-Noëlle. 2014. “لبنان والحماية الاجتماعية: ما بين الإحسان والسياسة (Social Protection in Lebanon: between Charity and Politics)”, تقرير الرصد العربي (Report of the Arab Monitor). Beirut: Arab NGO Network for Development.

Cammett, Melani. 2014. Compassionate Communalism: Welfare and Sectarianism in Lebanon, Ithaca: Cornell University Press

Civil Society Knowledge Centre. 2022. “Timeline: Social Protection in Lebanon September 1946 December 2021.” The Centre for Social Sciences Research and Action.

Civil Society Knowledge Centre. 2022. “Social justice glossary.” The Centre for Social Sciences Research and Action.

Jawad, Rana, Nicola Jones, and Mahmood Messkoub. 2019. “Introduction.” In Social Policy in the Middle East and North Africa. The New Social Protection Paradigm and Universal Coverage, edited by Rana Jawad et. al. 1-15. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Malsagne, Stéphane. 2011. Fouad Chéhab 1902-1973: une figure oubliée de l’histoire libanaise. Paris: Beirut: Institut français du Proche-Orient (Ifpo).

Salloukh, Bassel. 2015. “Institutions, Sectarian Populism, and the Production of Docile.” In The Politics of Sectarianism in Post-War Lebanon, edited by Bassel Salloukh, Rabie Barakat, Jinan S. Al-Habbal, Lara W. Khattab, and Shoghig Mikaelian. London: Pluto Press.

Scala, Michele. 2022. “An intersectional perspective on social (in)security—Making the case for universal social protection in Lebanon”. The Centre for Social Sciences Research and Action.