Debt is widely recognized as a double-edged instrument: at the macro level, it can fund growth and essential services, but at the household level, it often represents both survival and constraint. In fragile settings, where formal safety nets are limited, borrowing increasingly serves as a de facto social protection mechanism, allowing families to secure food, housing, or healthcare when income falls short. Yet this coping strategy carries emotional and financial costs, deepening cycles of dependence, stress, and inequality, particularly among poorer households, women, and refugees.
Since 2019, Lebanon has faced overlapping crises, economic collapse, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Beirut Port explosion, and the on-going conflict, that have collectively weakened livelihoods and household resilience. Public debt now exceeds 180 % of GDP, inflation surpassed 200% in 2023, and unemployment continues to rise. As a result, borrowing has surged across all population groups. Recent assessments (VASyR 2024; MSNA 2024) show that 63 % of Lebanese, 55 % of migrants, and 88 % of Syrian refugees are in debt, often relying on informal credit to meet basic needs. However, these sources mainly document the scale of indebtedness rather than its drivers. This study therefore fills a critical data and analytical gap by examining how households in Lebanon perceive, manage, and adapt to debt under crisis conditions and how Cash and Voucher assistance (CVA) influences borrowing, repayment, and resilience.
This study was commissioned by Oxfam, under the CAMEALEON consortium, and implemented in partnership with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). Its primary purpose is to generate a deeper understanding of how CVA interacts with household debt dynamics in Lebanon, particularly within the context of protracted crises, shrinking humanitarian funding, and growing economic fragility. The findings aim to inform strategic and programmatic decisions at both agency and inter-agency levels to improve CVA design and to support evidence-based advocacy on effective cash modalities.