Impact Evaluation of the No Lost Generation/Min Ila Cash Transfer Program for Syrian Refugees in Lebanon

Project

Lebanon has one of the highest per-capita ratios of registered refugees in the world. Most of the 1.5 million displaced Syrians arrived with limited savings and have struggled to earn steady incomes to meet their families’ basic needs, such as food, health care, and shelter. These basic needs tend to require immediate attention, which means that Syrian families often forgo education and its long-term benefits in favor of short-term needs. This sudden influx of Syrian refugees has created an education crisis in Lebanon that affects Syrian and vulnerable Lebanese children. Efforts to address the crisis include introducing an afternoon shift in public Lebanese primary schools for displaced Syrian children—the so-called “second shift.”

AIR and the UNICEF Office of Research–Innocenti are leading an independent impact evaluation of Min Ila, a cash transfer program for displaced Syrian children in the governorates of Mount Lebanon and Akkar. Created by UNICEF Lebanon in partnership with the World Food Programme and in cooperation with the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the program is designed to address the income-related barrier to school attendance alongside existing interventions addressing non-income constraints.

Syrian children aged 5 to 9 years old who live in the Mount Lebanon and Akkar governorates and are enrolled in a second shift school receive a basic monthly education transfer of 20 USD to cover a portion of the indirect costs of going to school, such as school snacks, transportation, and appropriate clothing and shoes. Syrian children aged 10 years and older who are enrolled in a second shift school receive a larger monthly education transfer of 65 USD, which factors in the higher monthly earnings of a working child in this age group.

The education transfers continue for the duration of the school year, and payments are made every month on an ATM card. While no conditions must be met in order to receive the cash, school attendance is monitored and follow-ups (via household visits) are scheduled if children do not attend school regularly. The purpose of these visits is to (1) record reasons for dropout and (2) refer households to existing complementary services to help children back into school.

Related Work

31 Jul 2018
Brief

No Lost Generation (Min Ila) Child-Focused Humanitarian Safety Net

No Lost Generation/Min Ila was Lebanon’s only child-focused social assistance program for refugee families, reaching around 50,000 children over two years with regular, predictable social assistance. Through the provision of a regular cash transfer, household visits, and an integrated referral mechanism, families were supported to invest in their children themselves, demonstrating significant positive impacts.
30 Jun 2018
Report

Evaluation of No Lost Generation/“Min Ila,” a UNICEF and WFP Cash Transfer Program for Displaced Syrian Children in Lebanon

Lebanon hosts 1.5 million Syrians who have fled conflict in Syria, as well as 34,000 Palestine refugees from Syria. Over half of the school-aged children in this population are not enrolled in a certified education program. AIR designed and implemented an impact evaluation of the No Lost Generation ("Min/Ila") child-focused cash transfer program; this report shares the findings from that evaluation.
Image of Syrian boy riding a bicycle in a refugee camp
10 Jun 2018
Report

No Lost Generation: Supporting the School Participation of Displaced Syrian Children in Lebanon

As a result of the Syrian conflict, Lebanon has one of the highest per capita ratios of registered refugees in the world. Despite efforts by the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education and its partners, approximately half the Syrian children of primary school age in Lebanon did not attend school in the 2015/16 school year. This paper documents the impact of a cash transfer program on the school participation of displaced Syrian children in Lebanon.
12 May 2017
Policy Brief

Min Ila: Summary of Education Results After the First Few Months of Implementation

Most Syrian refugees in Lebanon have arrived with limited savings and have struggled to earn steady incomes to meet their families’ basic needs, such as food, health care, and shelter. This sudden influx has created an education crisis in Lebanon that affects Syrian and vulnerable Lebanese children. The Min Ila cash transfer program is designed to address the income-related barrier to school attendance alongside existing interventions addressing non-income constraints. This policy brief provides a summary of the preliminary education impacts generated by the program.
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