Conflict perceptions and baseline assessment
Search for Common Ground – Lebanon, in partnership with the Lebanese Organization for Studies and Training in North Bekaa and Development for People and Nature Association in South Lebanon, has embarked on a project entitled “Better Together: A Youth-led Approach to Peaceful Coexistence between Syrian Refugees and Lebanese Local Communities” funded by the European Union. This project targets Syrian refugee youth and Lebanese youth aged fifteen to twenty- five in North Bekaa (Ein-Hermel-Baalbek-Bednayel) and the South (Saida-Nabatieh-Sour-Jezzine). The overall goal of the action is the development of trusting, empathetic and respectful relationships between the Syrian and Lebanese youths in Lebanon.
Before the initiation of the project, and in line with Search for Common Ground’s experience in working with refugees globally, it was essential to understand the perceptions of those affected by the refugee crisis – both the refugees and the local communities – as a necessary first step to break down stereotypes, resentments, and information gaps that could hinder social cohesion and peaceful coexistence. For that, a baseline assessment had been carried out.
A quantitative and qualitative mixed method approach is utilised for this assessment, followed by a triangulation of collected data to bring the different strengths and overlapping weaknesses of the quantitative method together with those of the qualitative approach. Qualitative and quantitative data have been obtained through thirty focus group discussions with Lebanese and Syrian youth of both sexes aged fifteen to twenty-five, thirty-three in-depth interviews with the youth’s entourage (including parents, teachers and local organization representatives), and two hundred survey questionnaires administered to Lebanese and Syrian youth of both sexes aged fifteen to twenty-five.
