NRC in Libya

NRC’s operation

NRC began operations in Libya in 2017, expanding support to internally displaced people (IDPs), returnees, host communities, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Last year, NRC assisted over 44,000 individuals with education, counselling and legal assistance, shelter, water, sanitation, cash, livelihoods, and protection throughout the country.

NRC notably responded in Tripoli, Benghazi, Ajdabiya, Misrata and Tawergha. In 2023, NRC has also expanded operations to flood-affected areas such as Shahat, Derna, Sousse and Bayda where it has providing emergency assistance to flood-affected populations.

Education

NRC’s education response ensures that children and young people have access to quality, safe and inclusive education. The education environment in Libya requires emergency/transitional and resilience/sustainable support. NRC responds to both through its established community centres, in formal and informal schools, and through remote learning modalities.

NRC also works with communities to provide community-based education services and provides training and support to incentivise teachers. In 2023, the education programme has also scaled up youth activities to include technical vocational training and further learning opportunities focused at providing professional and technical skills. Key activities supported by NRC Libya education teams include:

• Remedial classes and basic literacy and numeracy – supports academic achievement and is implemented with a flexible approach whether in-person or remote
• Better Learning Programme (BLP) – NRC’s flagship psychosocial support reduces possible fear and stress and is essential to improved motivation and quality of learning
• Teacher professional development – provides strategies for wellbeing and active teaching from the INEE Teachers in Crisis Contexts (TiCC) training pack and NRC’s BLP
• Adolescent girls’ clubs and boys’ clubs – provide essential leadership, decision-making and social and emotional skills to strengthen their resilience and community engagement
• Parent-teacher associations (PTAs)
• Youth technical and non-technical training and social engagement – technical vocational training and non-technical training, social engagement and further learning opportunities

Information, counselling and legal assistance (ICLA)

NRC supports vulnerable displaced and conflict-affected communities to establish legal identity, including obtaining legal civil documentation (LCD), to claim their housing, land and property (HLP) and employment (ELP) rights, as well as access essential services (AES). This is done through raising awareness on legal protection needs by providing information at the community level. Through group information sessions (GIS), NRC raises awareness on LCD, HLP, ELP and AES rights, procedural requirements and how to exercise them. NRC is also providing information sessions to refugees and asylum seekers on relevant topics including residency, work rights, tenancy and civil documentation that provide specific information on available legal avenues.

Furthermore, the ICLA programme provides direct legal counselling and legal assistance: representation before formal courts, administrative bodies, or through collaborative dispute resolution mechanisms. In 2023, the ICLA programme has expanded on capacity-sharing activities providing technical assistance and capacity building to duty-bearers, customary justice actors, humanitarian actors and displaced community leaders on property rights, protection against eviction, property restitution and compensation.

The ICLA programme also works to build the capacity of NRC shelter teams as well as other shelter actors in Libya in conducting HLP due diligence for shelter and housing intervention. This will help ensure that mitigation measures are in place for not doing harm, including reducing the risk of eviction and increasing beneficiary protection against exclusion from compensation schemes and further displacements linked to insecurity of tenure or lack of access to required legal documentation. Moreover, NRC is strengthening its approach to support access to employment laws and procedures. NRC is now the main focal point in Tripoli and Benghazi for IDP, host community, and returnee people in need of legal aid.

Shelter and settlements

NRC aims at promoting the right to access safe, protective and adequate housing and basic services through functional community infrastructure and facilities for IDPs, returnees, and populations in urban areas heavily affected by the conflict. Adequate shelter is crucial for people to live securely, and the lack of it remains a significant obstacle to a sustainable return in many parts of Libya. In 2023 more than 15,000 individuals have benefited from shelter assistance.

NRC housing interventions comprise an integrated package that includes upgrades and repairs in shelter and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities. The aim is to improve various aspects of the physical shelter conditions, including protection from weather, privacy, safety, security, access to water and sanitation. In addition, our response includes support for essential aspects of family life and daily activities, such as sleeping and food preparation. These measures play a crucial role in improving physical living conditions, safeguarding household assets, and enabling individuals to meet their basic needs and address their priorities effectively.

At community level, the shelter programme seeks to improve access to basic and essential services through the rehabilitation of essential infrastructure and facilities such as health centres, schools, water networks, sewage networks and power lines.

The shelter programme has also incorporated renewable energy and energy-efficient solutions at both household and community levels. In 2023 the programme provided renewable energy systems to houses and infrastructure facilities in remote areas and areas where the power infrastructure is severely damaged. Under the shelter programme, core relief items and hygiene parcels were provided to more than 13,000 individuals as part of the emergency flood response in the eastern region.

Cash and livelihoods

NRC’s cash & livelihoods programme aims to im-prove the household economy of socio-economically vulnerable IDPs, returnees and host communities and to respond to situations where displaced people have immediate basic needs. By applying a market-centric and evidence-based sustainable livelihoods approach and by focusing on both short-term and long-term solutions we can meet the diverse needs of our programme participants. In 2023, the programme has benefited more than 11,000 individuals.

The programme provides support through multi-purpose cash assistance to cover basic needs, improve household living conditions as well as the development of wage and self-employment opportunities in targeted communities. The intervention strengthens household economy, leading to self-reliance and wellbeing. To ensure the sustainability of income for households we work with, NRC’s LFS programming supports more inclusive market systems by engaging with existing market actors and excluded populations to co-create solutions which address market constraints in the existing market systems.

NRC’s Cash and Livelihoods response in Libya covers many interventions, from first-line response to integrated programming with other sectors to promote self-reliance. Focus areas include: 

• Basic needs response – rapid first-line response aimed at supporting acute or immediate protection needs with emergency multi-purpose cash assistance
• Improving the social and economic wellbeing and the ability to preserve living standards – provision of regular cash assistance intends to cover basic needs, improve household living conditions, and increase economic and social wellbeing
• Livelihoods protection and growth – promoting inclusive business, entrepreneurship, and employment opportunities through the provision of technical capacity building, business readiness skills as well as productive assets and cash grants