Serving Refugee Populations in Lebanon - Lessons Learned from a New Frontier: A Case Study of Al Majmoua in Lebanon

Many financial service providers (FSPs) are reluctant to work with refugee populations, for fear that the risk of financial losses is too high. Others who have tried to serve refugee populations have had limited success, in part because the products and services offered were not adapted to the specific needs of the clients.

The Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) are working together to create a guideline document of best practices for working with refugee populations, as well as lessons learned from past experience and suggestions for addressing common obstacles. As part of the project a 1-week field visit was made in November 2015 to Al Majmoua in Lebanon to profile the FSP that has demonstrated success working with refugees. This report presents the findings and learnings from Al Majmoua’s work.

Based on a deeply rooted social mission and strong values of inclusiveness, Al Majmoua has built experience in serving migrants and transitory refugees over a decade, and responded to the current Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon primarily with a social responsibility perspective to "do something" and be part of the solution.