Lebanon has now witnessed over three years of UN-led refugee relief mechanisms targeting the growing Syrian refugee population. Despite Lebanon’s long history of local and civil society responses to a variety of complex emergencies, the relief, recovery and development work undertaken by Lebanese, Palestinian and Syrian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organisations (CBOs) is mainly overlooked by the international humanitarian community, and their insights and suggestions ignored. The NGOs' and CBOs’ experiences, concerns and recommendations were collected through informal interviews with five local NGOs and CBOs, representing work with the Syrian refugee communities across Lebanon. This report contends that local actors are better positioned to accurately reflect the refugee and host communities’ needs and to design and implement interventions that are respectful and empowering. The report summarises the local actors’ experiences and voices regarding the UN-led refugee relief mechanisms, offers some examples of local actors’ best practices and provides recommendations.
