The 2016 Vulnerability Assessment of Syrian Refugees (VASyR) surveyed a representative sample of Syrian refugee households in Lebanon to identify changes and trends in their situation. The assessment to provided valuable insight into refugees living conditions, from the size of their families to the shelter they live in, to their economic vulnerability and food insecurity. Throughout this report, refugees own viewpoints offer a crucial glimpse into the strategies they deploy to survive and their own perceptions of their situation and the assistance they receive. A total of 4596 households were surveyed.
Since its inception, the VASyR has been an essential process and partnership for shaping planning decisions and programme design. It is the cornerstone for support and intervention in Lebanon. As in previous years, humanitarian agencies have incorporated VASyR findings into their programming and recommendations.
The assessment, jointly issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP, dataviz.vam.wfp.org), demonstrates that economic vulnerability is, at best, as serious as previous year. Over one third of refugees are moderately to severely food insecure, an increase compared to 2015. Families have exhausted their limited resources, and are having to adapt to survive on the bare minimum. Refugees continue to rely on harmful coping mechanisms to get by.