Tyre (Lebanon), January 2022

International experts and analysts agree in defining catastrophic the crisis that has hit Lebanon since August 2019, and which has led the Country to default in less than two years.

The dizzying devaluation of the Lebanese pound and the immobility of the political class have caused enormous hardships to the population in the supply of electricity services, resources and goods and in the impoverishment of the middle class of the country which in recent years has seen disappearing its own savings from bank accounts. Today it is estimated that around 80% of Lebanese live below the poverty line.

In order to provide timely responses to the emergency and stem possible conflicts and degeneration, the Italian organizations CTM and Armadilla have joined forces to support the most vulnerable workers in the South of the Country. In fact, in January it was possible to pay the wages of over 200 workers involved in the projectERA: Emergency, Resilience, Environment. Employment opportunities in support of the Municipalities of Southern Lebanon funded by the Beirut office of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and focused on providing employment for vulnerable individuals in the districts of Tyre and Nabatieh.

In addition to providing income to workers, in fact, ERA project has implemented a series of actions in response to this unfortunate crisis with the creation of a social market with controlled prices for needy people, a clothes up-cycling center and the activation of street cleaning services and maintenance of public green areas indispensable during the rainy season.

“Ifbefore we Lebanese were the ones who welcomed and helped Syrian refugees being in trouble”, says Hassan – a worker in the program, “now we have to cry out for help and we are happy that you Italians are at our side”.