In an informal displacement camp in Northwest Syria, Um Mohammad begins each day with quiet determination. Displaced from southern Aleppo a decade ago, she now shoulders the responsibility of caring for five children while also supporting her husband, who has been unable to work since suffering a stroke. With two children living with disabilities and another requiring weekly treatment for chronic anemia, the family faces immense challenges. Um Mohammad, as the primary provider, navigates a life marked by instability and the daily struggle to secure food and medicine for her family.
“We have been displaced from the southern countryside of Aleppo to Azaz 10 years ago. My husband is sick, I have 5 children — 2 of them have disabilities. We had a very bad economic situation, and I am the breadwinner for my family.” — Um Mohammad, mother of five children living in a temporary settlement in Northwest Syria
Her story is not unique. Across Syria, millions face similar struggles after experiencing 14 years of conflict and displacement. The country ranks sixth globally in the Hunger Hotspot Outlook for November 2024–May 2025. A staggering 14.56 million people are food insecure, with 9.1 million acutely affected and 1.3 million severely so. Inflation and currency depreciation have made basic food unaffordable, and minimum wage in Syria now covers only 16% of the cost of basic food needs, as defined by the humanitarian benchmark known as the Survival Minimum Expenditure Basket (SMEB) — a tool used to estimate the minimum amount of money a household needs to survive. Rising costs and destroyed infrastructure have eroded resilience, leaving families like Um Mohammad’s with few options.
That’s where the Lifesaving Interventions for Emergencies (LIFE) program steps in to assist internally displaced people in and out of camps in Northwest Syria.
Supported by the U.S. Government, LIFE is a lifeline and was designed to meet the urgent everyday needs of families in the country’s hardest-hit areas. It provides monthly food assistance through cash and vouchers tailored to meet the full nutritional needs of a household, in addition to daily distribution of free bread bundles. Each family receives $65 per month, enough to cover 2,100 calories per person per day, in line with humanitarian standards.
In 2024 and 2025, LIFE reached over 10,000 households across 28 camps in Azaz and 17 villages in Idleb. In 2024 alone, the program provided food assistance to 170,000 people, safe water to over 127,000 displaced individuals, and support for farmers, children, and survivors of gender-based violence.
For Um Mohammad, this support was critical. Her family was prioritized due to their severe health and economic conditions. The regular cash assistance helped her secure basic meals, continue her daughter’s medical treatment, and avoid the need for irregular labor inside the camp. It gave her a vital sense of stability, allowing her to focus on her children and husband’s care and begin imagining a future beyond crisis.
As LIFE enters its third year, the program is expanding its impact to create durable solutions for displaced individuals returning to their areas of origin. For many, resettling home is both a hope and a hardship as communities face destroyed infrastructure, limited employment options, and fragile local economies.
Long-term recovery planning is essential to ensure that returns are safe, voluntary, and sustainable. The LIFE program’s support includes rehabilitating community infrastructure to restore essential services and public spaces, strengthening local market systems to create sustainable income opportunities, and offering on-the-job training and livelihoods support to help individuals gain skills, secure employment, and reduce long-term dependency on aid. During this transition, LIFE will continue to provide clean water, safe shelter, and protection services while individuals plan for and begin reconstructing their lives.
Together, these interventions form a bridge from emergency response to recovery, from instability and displacement to resilience and self-reliance. For families like Um Mohammad’s, LIFE is creating the foundation for rebuilding, healing, and moving forward.