Support most vulnerable & fight against isolation

CONTEXT

Before the 2011 conflict, Syria had 22 million inhabitants, covering an area of 186,000 km². The Syrian constitution is secular (socialist-Baathist) but stipulates that the president of the republic must be Muslim. Islam is the dominant religion but not the state religion.

The assumption of power in 2000 by Bashar al-Assad (Alawite), after the death of his father (in power since 1970), had raised great hopes both for the population itself and for the international community, with the stated will to take a set of measures necessary for the democratization and modernization of Syria. However, since March 2011, Syria has entered a deadly conflict, following 6 months of peaceful popular protest. Although the regime's armed forces opposed the rebel opposition groups demanding the departure of Bashar al-Assad and the establishment of a democratic regime, it has gradually become more complex with the multiplication of armed groups with various alliances and motivations. According to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, 220,000 people have been killed and there are more than 1 million wounded. The rise of extremist groups such as the Islamic State organization in 2014 is contributing to the deterioration of the situation of civilians, targets of indiscriminate attacks.

After five years of armed conflict, the needs in Syria are glaring. Approximately 4.8 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in the hard-to-reach and besieged areas of a total Syrian population of 18 million. On the other hand, at least 8.7 million people are unable to meet their food needs and 70% of the population lacks access to safe drinking water. Many Syrians have been forced to leave their homes, often several times, making Syria the biggest displacement crisis in the world with 6.5 million internally displaced people and almost 4 million Syrians registered as refugees in Syria's neighboring countries.

The country's economic situation is seriously affected by the general insecurity, destruction of vital infrastructure (roads, water supply networks, electricity, etc.), economic and financial measures imposed on the country, Deregulation of markets.

In addition, 2.4 million children under the age of 5 are at risk of food insecurity. 24.5% of schools have been damaged, destroyed or used as shelters, leaving nearly 2 million children out of school.

In times of emergency, education is often sacrificed, with the available funds being used primarily to cover the basic and vital needs of affected populations. But it plays a crucial role in the return to normality and peace. Education creates an environment that allows children to overcome the trauma of conflict. It has been proven that bringing children back to school quickly, during or after a crisis is one of the best ways to protect them. Schools provide children with spaces where they can learn in safety. This return to a normal life is essential for children to rebuild and build their future. In the longer term, education can contribute directly to social stability and to the economic and political development of societies.

Since the beginning of the crisis, Secours Catholique and its partner Caritas Syrie have implemented programs around five operational sectors defined as priorities by the organization: food security, housing assistance, medical aid, education, support for the elderly and psychosocial support that helped 53,342 families, or 357,428 individuals.

OUR ACTIONS ON THE FIELD

In Aleppo, seven projects supported by Secours Catholique have already been implemented in priority areas of Caritas Syria for a total amount of 914,249€ in 2016, including:
- 4 educational projects aimed at children and young students,
- 3 medical and support projects for the elderly.

Few examples of our actions among these projects :

1/ Humanitarian assistance to Syrian, Iraqi and host populations in Jordan
We started this project in january 2016. The objective of this project is to provide emergency assistance to Syrian, Iraqi and vulnerable host populations. It targets 23,000 beneficiaries in 8 governorates of Jordan.
This project has three components of emergency humanitarian assistance. In the first phase, which concerns health and accounts for 65% of the total budget , primary and secondary health care have been provided to 10 000 and 5 000 patients respectively. Maternal and infant care have also been provided to 1,000 pregnant women, nursing mothers and children under 5 years of age. Regarding the second component, food and non-food aid (33% of the budget) have been provided to 1,000 vulnerable households. Activities related to the third component has provided psychosocial support (2% budget) to 2,000 beneficiaries, through focus groups and awareness sessions.
The total amount of expenditure Secours Catholique paid in this project is € 150,000.


2/ Psychological and psychosocial support for refugee families in Lebanon
The conflict in Syria, which began in 2011 and then in Iraq, resulted in a massive influx of refugees into Lebanon. By 2016, there are 1.1 million (registered) Syrian refugees in Lebanon who have fled the conflict. To this number are added 313,000 Palestinians, including 44,000 from Syria and 17,000 Iraqis. Massive arrivals combined with the Lebanese economic-political crisis have brought enormous humanitarian needs to the country.
In terms of specific needs, children and adolescents, who account for more than half of the refugee population, pay the high price of the Syrian conflict. Refugee children are mostly out-of-school, particularly vulnerable to street work, mistreatment, human trafficking, recruitment into armed forces, etc.
The objective of the project is to provide psychological support and access to ed

Links:

• Syrian refugees in Lebanon
• Testimonies of the refugees - copyright Secours Catholique

• Nos actions en Syrie (PDF)