Executive Summary
Since 2019, Lebanon’s protracted crisis has eroded livelihoods and driven much of the
population into poverty, leaving many households reliant on social protection schemes
and humanitarian cash and voucher assistance (CVA). Cash-based assistance is especially
important for households with people with disabilities. They face the same crisis-related
problems as the general population. In addition, they also face other challenges, such as
paying for assistive devices, therapeutic care, medicines, and caretaking. The
introduction of the National Disability Allowance in 2023 represents a significant step
toward providing assistance to this demographic, although both coverage and the value
of the monthly assistance remain limited.
This study shares the experiences of people with disabilities participating in or trying to
access CVA and cash-based social protection programs in Lebanon. It provides a
qualitative, “bottom-up” assessment of the accessibility, appropriateness, and relevance
of these programs, focusing on the perspectives of target users. This study draws on over
60 in-depth interviews with men and women of different ages, nationalities, and
disability types. It attempts to understand the barriers, pain points, and facilitative
factors people encounter during the various phases of the cash assistance ‘user journey’:
outreach, eligibility, enrolment, redemption, and continuation.
