Facing multiple crises: rapid assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on vulnerable workers and small-scale enterprises in Lebanon

This report presents the results from a rapid assessment of the impacts of the [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 pandemic on workers and enterprises in Lebanon. The objective of the assessment is to shed light on some of the pressing issues and concerns that workers, particularly the most vulnerable, are facing today - in terms of employment, source of income, current economic conditions, and prospects for the immediate future. Additionally, the assessment addresses the effects of the pandemic on small-scale businesses, their coping and adaptation strategies and their business prospects, including the implications for workers. In the context of multiple crises in Lebanon, which include financial, economic and political challenges, and currently the COVID-19 pandemic, the rapid assessment aims to inform policies and interventions so they adequately meet the needs of vulnerable workers and small-scale enterprises. The assessment examines the employment status of individual workers before the COVID-19 outbreak, changes to their employment situation during the lockdown, the lockdown's implications for their livelihoods, as well as coping mechanisms that vulnerable workers and their households have adopted to deal with the crisis. It also examines the impact of the lockdown on male and female-led enterprises.

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