The Ministry of Social Affairs will begin disbursing social assistance to 150,000 eligible families, amid rising unemployment levels and procrastination by the Lebanese authorities in addressing economic and social crises.
Following a meeting with President Michel Aoun on Wednesday, Minister of Social Affairs Hector Hajjar said that the distribution of aid to eligible families within the so-called Aman program “will start next week for 150,000 families,” stressing “full adherence to the criteria set by the ministry and the relevant ministerial committee in selecting the families.”
The Lebanese government is working on three internationally supported local programs to provide social assistance to the most vulnerable groups in the country.
Tens of thousands of Lebanese families are expected to benefit from the projects, which aim at helping the population withstand the economic and living crisis that has marred the country since 2019.
In remarks to reporters at the Baabda Palace, Hajjar explained that the selected families will receive monthly the amount of $25, in addition to $20 for each child and up to 6 children per family.
The Aman program will take into account at the first stage, families with elderly persons or with special needs, inappropriate housing and other criteria, such as the lack of a monthly income.
In a statement, member of the Democratic Gathering bloc MP Nehme Tohme said that the measures taken by the government were not commensurate with the scale of the disasters.
The deputy stressed that the ongoing financial, economic and social collapse required firm steps, saying: “It seems that those concerned live on another planet, and are not aware of the people’s suffering… How can they see the tragedies at the doors of hospitals, difficulties in settling school and university tuitions, and the impossibility of securing heating, in addition to the unprecedented migration wave?”
Tohme regretted the “absence of statesmen,” pointing to “arbitrary and random policies in addressing the accumulated crises, away from any clear vision or a practical and scientific approach to these problems.”
