Between the Lines

An interview with Haneen Sayed, Lebanon's Minister of Social Affairs

Between the Lines

Show Notes

For the past five years Lebanon has faced crisis upon crisis including; economic collapse, the Beirut Port blast, and Israel’s war. But now the country is entering a new political chapter under a new government, marked by shifts in priorities and a renewed attention to social policy.

In this podcast IDS Research Fellow, Philip Proudfoot, interviews Haneen Sayed, Lebanon’s Minister of social affairs who talks about her country’s main issues.

Philip asks the Minister these key questions:

After five years of crisis upon crisis, what do you see as Lebanon’s need right now? How is the new government approaching social protection differently from the government that came before? Financing is always a challenge, especially with the increasing withdrawal of international support, is this an obstacle or an opportunity? At the recent second world summit on social development in Doha, the high-level panel made a big push for social protection as a stabilisation mechanism. What might this mean for Lebanon, the social contract, and the building blocks needed to enhance and build it.

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