Making Do and Mustering Support

Social emergencies, safety nets, and refugee issues have taken center stage in Lebanese public debates since the country’s rapid descent into economic misery more than four years ago. Along with towering social needs, the country’s centrally concerned public institution – the Ministry of Social Affairs, or MOSA – logically has increasingly been thrust into the local and international limelight. Notably however, while the Lebanese Republic maintains a large number of ministries by international comparison, MOSA’s importance has historically often been overshadowed by ministries that were widely seen as politically more strategic or important in terms of their fiscal and economic contributions. Thus, MOSA’s role, heightened further in recent months due to the country’s first external conflict-forced internal displacements with resulting new social emergencies in decades, not only deserves support and understanding because of today’s overwhelming humanitarian needs but demands even more attention as a strategic building block of a more