Syria
Global Communities began providing humanitarian assistance in Syria in 2014, following the start of an armed conflict that has lasted more than a decade and uprooted more than half of the country’s population. In 2023, we continued to address the most pressing humanitarian needs of Syrian host communities and internally displaced people while planning for a sustainable recovery. Our teams persevered despite myriad challenges, including a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated parts of southern Türkiye and Northwest Syria.
To help meet the needs of the most vulnerable, our programming focused heavily on increasing food security through food and agricultural assistance and improving living conditions through critical protection, WASH and shelter interventions. We also aimed to support the basic needs individuals affected by the earthquake through multi-purpose cash assistance. Key donors included the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Agriculture once accounted for 80% of employment in Syria, but the conflict has devastated the country’s agricultural economy. With funding from USAID, we implemented the Supporting Livelihoods in Syria (SLS) program. Over the course of five years, we focused on strengthening agricultural and livestock production, livelihood opportunities and value chains critical to food security. We also helped improve water management irrigation and land use techniques in Northern Syria. Although SLS concluded in 2023, our work will continue to positively impact the region’s wheat, fodder and livestock value chain for years to come.
For the past seven years, Global Communities has been providing Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies (GBViE) services in the displaced persons camp in northwest Syria, where there are no services provided by local institutions. In 2023, with private funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and proceeds from a private gala, we established or reconstructed child-friendly spaces as well as women and girls’ safe spaces with exercise equipment, education supplies and other cosmetic improvements designed to promote protection, empowerment and psychological well-being. Additionally, our Empowering Women and Girls II program – funded by the Neeley Foundation – provided GBV and protection services to women and girls in Northern Syria. This included establishing a mentorship program and Women’s Committees as well as providing life skills training and informal education opportunities.