Evaluation of No Lost Generation/“Min Ila,” a UNICEF and WFP Cash Transfer Program for Displaced Syrian Children in Lebanon
According to the revised Lebanon Crisis Response Plan, Lebanon hosts 1.5 million Syrians who have fled conflict in Syria, as well as 34,000 Palestine refugees from Syria. There are many children of school age in this population, with 586,540 displaced Syrian children registered in Lebanon and 57,506 Palestine Refugees between 3-18 years old. Over half of these children are not enrolled in a certified education program.
In the 2016–17 school year, UNICEF, in partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme and in coordination with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Lebanon, started to pilot a child-focused cash transfer program for displaced Syrian children in Lebanon. The program, known as the No Lost Generation or “Min Ila” (meaning “from/to”) was designed to reduce negative coping strategies harmful to children and reduce barriers to children’s school attendance, including financial barriers and reliance on child labor. UNICEF Lebanon contracted AIR to help the UNICEF Office of Research design and implement an impact evaluation of the program.
The purpose of the impact evaluation, one of the first rigorous studies of a social protection program supporting children in a complex displacement setting, is to monitor the program’s effects on recipients and provide evidence for decisions regarding the program’s future. This report investigates and discusses the program’s impacts on child well-being outcomes, including food security, health, child work, child subjective well-being, enrollment, and attendance, after one year of program implementation.
