LocationsMaking Every Response Count: How Data Helped Saida Respond to Displacement
September 25, 2026
Two days before a new wave of displaced people began arriving in Saida in 2026, the Saida Urban Observatory became operational. They were fleeing renewed hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, affecting villages along Lebanon’s southern border and other communities across the South and Nabatieh governorates.
One of the Observatory’s first daily assessments identified an urgent problem: collective shelters did not have sufficient water storage capacity. The municipality responded by repairing and repurposing firefighting vehicles to deliver approximately 300,000 litres of water each week—an early example of how the Observatory helped turn data into action.
Municipal estimates indicate that approximately 30,000 internally displaced people sought safety in Saida during this period, in a city with a resident population of roughly 90,000. The Observatory recorded around 11,500 people staying in 25 collective shelters. Municipal services came under immediate strain: solid-waste generation reportedly increased by 30 percent; schools were converted into shelters, and water and sewage networks faced additional pressure.
Municipality of Saida Building. Photo: UNDP Lebanon
From fragmented information to coordinated action
During the first major wave of displacement into Saida in 2024, triggered by escalating hostilities along Lebanon’s southern border, the municipality gathered information from multiple sources and separate lists on displaced people, where they were staying and the support they required. By 2026, the Observatory provided a central system through which shelter-level information could be collected, organized, and analysed. It supported daily assessments of food, water, hygiene items, medication, chronic conditions, disabilities, and other priority needs.
“In 2024, we used to get information from different sources. Now we are leading and giving the information to everyone who needs it.”
Wafaa Sheib, Head of the Disaster Risk Reduction Unit, Saida Municipality
The centralized system also reduced the need for displaced people to provide the same information repeatedly to different actors. Municipal teams could use the data to identify gaps across shelters and share relevant findings with response partners.
“IDPs do not need to register their information in different places to receive the support they need. Data is centralized at the Observatory and connected to all places that provide support.”
Wafaa Sheib
The impact was visible in specific decisions. In addition to the weekly water response, the Observatory supported coordination when Tyre Municipality sought to reach displaced residents from Tyre staying in Saida. When specialized assistance became available for pregnant women and new mothers, the data helped municipal teams direct support to where it was needed.
Building a municipal data capability
The need for the Observatory became clear through years of consultations with the people of Saida. Through the UNDP-supported Mechanisms for Stability and Local Development, the municipality worked with civil society groups, women and young people to identify the city’s priorities, including energy, waste management, water, livelihoods, education and infrastructure.
As these priorities were translated into interventions, an underlying constraint became increasingly clear: municipal information remained fragmented across paper archives and separate sources. To target services more effectively and move from reactive measures towards evidence-based planning, Saida needed an integrated data system of its own.
With funding from the German Government through KfW Development Bank, UNDP supported Saida Municipality to establish the Urban Observatory as a central hub for collecting, organizing and analysing urban data.
“The intersection between all these matters was identified as the Observatory. It provides the essential information you need to deliver services in the city, be it at the level of the environment, education, urbanism or health. Without this information, you cannot find the gap and decide how to close it.”
Mustafa Hijazi, Mayor of Saida and Head of the Union of Municipalities of Saida-Zahrani
For Mayor Hijazi, the value of the Observatory lies not in the amount of data collected, but in how that information supports decisions.
“Decisions are not made on someone’s hunch or vision. There is something tangible, and based on it, we need to make decisions that are reasonable and evidence-based.”
Mustafa Hijazi
Dashboard. Photo: UNDP Lebanon
Beyond emergency response
The Observatory was designed to support Saida beyond immediate emergencies. The municipality is exploring partnerships with universities and research institutions to update information on trade, local economic activity and social conditions. Plans are also underway to digitize paper-based architectural and administrative records, some of which were lost or damaged when the municipal building was bombed during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.
By linking historical records with current information, the Observatory can strengthen the evidence available to planners making decisions on infrastructure, urban development and public services. Its use during the 2026 displacement response has already demonstrated the practical value of turning municipal data into timely action.
The Saida Urban Observatory was established within Saida Municipality with UNDP support and funding from the German Government through KfW Development Bank, as part of a broader multisectoral partnership with Saida Municipality and the Union of Municipalities of Saida-Zahrani.
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