Lebanon’s push to reassert the state’s presence in the south is moving beyond security deployments to a harder test: restoring schools, services, and livelihoods in communities battered by war.
Recovery programs are beginning to take shape, but a wide funding gap threatens efforts to keep residents in their towns and revive areas where infrastructure, agriculture, and education have sustained extensive damage.
A framework for return, but funding lags
In 2026, the government launched the “National Framework for Return, Early Recovery and Restoration of Basic Services,” covering the return of residents, social protection, the restoration of services and livelihoods, and preparations for reconstruction.
No consolidated budget has been announced yet.
One of its main financing tools is the Lebanon Emergency Assistance Project (LEAP), implemented by the Council for Development and Reconstruction.
The project was designed to scale up to $1 billion. So far, only $250 million has been secured, leaving a $750 million funding gap.
Of the available financing, $50 million is earmarked for immediate response measures, including debris removal, securing buildings, and reopening roads. Another $175 million is allocated to restoring water, energy, transport, health, and education services, while $15 million is set aside for studies and designs, and $10 million for project management.
Under the full framework, $455 million is allocated for reconstruction, most of it still unfunded.
In a parallel effort, the government launched a program in May worth about 32 million euros for southern Lebanon and the Bekaa, running through 2029.
The European Union is providing 24.8 million euros, Denmark 5.35 million euros, and the French Development Agency 2 million euros. The program targets local authorities, small businesses, and the agricultural sector, while seeking to create jobs.
Lebanese ministerial sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the new response framework provides a basis for attracting funding, but it is still not fully financed.”
They said the Ministry of Social Affairs was “continuing to work intensively to secure additional funding to help respond to the needs of affected groups.”
A safety net for more than one million people
Social protection is a central part of efforts to keep residents in their communities and support their return.
The sources said one of the main response measures was cash assistance provided by the Ministry of Social Affairs, covering about 230,000 families through the ministry’s shock-responsive social safety net.
Based on the average household size, more than 1 million people receive support.
The assistance is particularly significant in areas where returning home still depends on families' ability to repair their homes, restore access to services, and find work.
That makes social support part of the effort to re-establish communities, rather than simply an emergency measure.
Agriculture: getting farmers back to their land
The Ministry of Agriculture has divided its response plan into five tracks: emergency support for farmers; protection of food supply chains and markets; protection of livestock production and assets; continuity of programs and services; and coordination and needs assessment.
Measures include monitoring food supply chains, accelerating imports of plant products, extending import deadlines for some essential goods, and monitoring markets and prices in coordination with the Ministry of Economy.
The plan also provides emergency assistance to farmers in high-risk areas and steps up operations at ports, border crossings, quarantine centers, and laboratories to speed the entry of goods.
The report does not set an overall budget for the agricultural response.
Instead, it says the ministry is working with partners and donors to identify priorities, assess possible interventions, and secure resources.
Resources reported by the ministry’s network of agricultural partners that are being mobilized include $1,650,150 in cash assistance targeting 4,840 farmers.
In-kind assistance is expected to reach 1,850 farmers and includes solar-powered irrigation pump kits, agricultural inputs, animal feed, treatment support, and infrastructure.
The ministry has also launched a platform with the food security sector to identify and track available resources.
Schools face a September test
Education is emerging as one of the clearest tests of whether state institutions can resume normal operations in the South and Nabatieh governorates.
Sources at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education told Asharq Al-Awsat that the ministry aims to start the 2026-2027 academic year with in-person classes at schools that meet safety and readiness requirements, starting Sept. 15.
Schools in the affected areas of the South and Nabatieh will temporarily rely on remote learning until technical and operational assessments are completed.
The scale of the challenge is substantial.
Of 267 schools in the two governorates, 198 have been damaged. Eighty-nine sustained very minor damage, 64 moderate damage, and 15 severe damage. Another 30 were completely destroyed.
The ministry is using a “school cluster” model for planning, grouping schools and alternative learning spaces within the same geographical area.
Each cluster will have a file detailing student and teacher numbers, building conditions, capacity, and the locations of displaced students.
Students whose schools cannot reopen will remain enrolled in their original schools while temporarily attending a host school or alternative learning space.
Schools being used as shelters will operate under conditions designed to ensure the safe separation of their educational and shelter functions.
The ministry is also building an operational database to track schools and students and setting up a hotline.
Each school will receive an official operational decision specifying how classes will resume.
The ministry has also expanded its use of “Teaching Hubs,” or teaching and learning centers, aimed at restoring teachers’ roles in affected areas while providing students with places to receive support and continue their education.
The sources said the objective went beyond repairing damaged buildings.
“The goal is not limited to rehabilitating damaged school buildings, but also includes preserving the school as an existing institution even if its building has been destroyed, by maintaining its administration, teachers, and students,” they said.
That, they added, would ensure that each school retains its identity and educational role until it can be rehabilitated or rebuilt.
