Help Strengthen the Resilience of Syrian Refugees

As we near the end of 2022, it’s been over a decade since the unfolding of the Syrian crisis and more than an estimated half a million lives have been lost as a result. As this protracted crisis continues, the world’s attention has unfortunatley strayed elsewhere. Rest assured however, that the crisis in Syria and the struggles of Syrian people have not been forgotten about by Concern, which has been responding to the refugee crisis in Syria, Turkey and Lebanon since 2013. 

There are over 16 million people who have been affected by the war in Syria that began in 2011. More than 6.6 million Syrians have fled their country, 5.6 million of whom are hosted by the neighboring countries of Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt. During 2022, Concern continued its programs in Syria, Lebanon and Turkey to provide humanitarian relief and response to Syrian refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs). Within Syria, there are over 14 million people who depend on humanitarian assistance from organizations such as Concern. An estimated 6.7 million are internally displaced people, forced to leave their home due to violence in Syria. 

Prior to the outbreak of conflict in 2011, only 10% of the Syrian population lived under the international poverty line. Today, over 80% of Syrians are living below the international poverty line, the effects of which will likely impact future generations to come. It has become not only a crisis of displacement, but a crisis of mental health. Reflecting on pre-war life in Syria and her own situation as a refugee, Sara*, who was 37 years old in Lebanon at the time said, “the difference is between heaven and hell.” 

Emergency Assistance 

Concern works diligently to alleviate suffering in Syria, and provides a multi-sectoral package of support for the most vulnerable internally displaced people (IDPs), host community households and returnee families in conflict areas of Syria. This includes food, clean water, livelihoods and protection services. Aiming to reach the most vulnerable IDPs in conflict areas of Syria, Concern provides ready-to-eat rations and food baskets in situations where families have no home or access to cooking facilities. Food vouchers are provided to families too where access to shops is possible, giving Syrians the ability to exercise choice when purchasing food while also a way to support local markets.  

Syria has gone through many winters since the outbreak of conflict that plunged the country into a future of uncertainty, and along with its neighboring countries that host the majority of Syrian refugees, winters can get very cold. During winter months, Concern provides heaters, cash for fuel, fire extinguishers and jerry cans to help cope with freezing temperatures. 

In non-camp settings, Concern provides assistance with shelter kits, water tanks, and non-food item (NFI) kits such as mattresses, blankets, plastic sheets and floor mats. In informal tented settlements, we also help weatherproof shelters through the annual distribution of shelter materials, targeting refugees and host communities. To reduce the risk of flooding in refugee settlements and neighborhoods, and increase environmental protection and public health, Concern works closely with the Lebanese government and municipalities to rehabilitate stormwater systems and sanitation infrastructure. 

Amid the impact and aftereffects of COVID-19, the situation worsened for Syrians within the country and refugees in neighboring host communities. Beyond the way it disrupted markets and posed a huge risk to public health,Covid-19 exacerbated already existing issues for conflict-affected refugees and displaced people within Syria. Lockdown measures had also delayed processing of paperwork, shut down childcare centers, and caused countless other interruptions to daily life, the burdens of many being shouldered by women and girls. 

Shelter and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)  

Concern’s Water, Sanitation and Hygiene program (WASH) includes activities such as rehabilitating water systems, emergency water trucking, hygiene promotion and vector control, benefiting over 900,000 beneficiaries. Concern contributes to the livelihood and sheltering of Syrian refugees through a number of ways, such as renovating substandard properties (in Lebanon, for example) in return for rent-free, rent freezes & rent reduction agreements for Syrian refugees in host countries.  

In our IDP camp response, Concern installs emergency latrines, provides sources of chlorinated water supply and conducts water quality monitoring to help prevent the outbreak of high-risk waterborne diseases such as typhoid, cholera and dysentery. The risk of such diseases being contracted are compounded by the disruption of sanitation services due to damage from the war and lack of funds for operations and maintenance of existing systems. 

Concern focused quickly on infection prevention and containment activities across Northern Syria during the outbreak of Covid-19, which helped to support over 350,000 vulnerable people. Our integrated approach also helps to prevent the outbreak of disease, through the distribution of hygiene kits and information sessions to build awareness and promote improved hygiene practices.  

Food Security and Livelihoods 

Building resilience is part of Concern’s integrated approach in Syria and other host countries such as Turkey and Lebanon, targeting the most vulnerable IDPs and refugees. Many Syrian refugees living abroad are unable to find steady work, which has made poor living conditions the norm rather than the exception for the last decade.  The large devaluation in the Syrian pound over the last year or so has pushed many Syrians to becoming even more food insecure. World Food Programme estimates for 2022 indicated that 12.4 million Syrians were food-insecure, a dramatic increase compared to the previous year. Concern responded by rapidly scaling up food vouchers, the number of households that receive vouchers and baskets distributions to Syrians. 

The people of Syria have become heavily dependent on international aid to meet their essential needs as they have become largely unable to lead sustainable lives on their own while facing this dire humanitarian crisis. Concern supports communities in areas with a degree of stability through agricultural assistance with seeds, tools and training as well as vocational and technical training. Through this process, households can begin to recover and begin to build assets and generate income through livelihoods.  

Vulnerable and low-income families are supported through our Cash-for-Work activities such as cleaning latrines in camps and solid waste management activities. This helps increase community productivity while also providing cash assistance to Syrians.  

Protection 

Crisis and conflict come at a high cost to the status quo, and for many Syrian refugee women, their worlds as they’ve known them have become completely upended. As the traditional role of men in the household as the breadwinner began to shift in the face of the crisis, many of them faced stress, lowered self-esteem and frustration that increasingly turned into physical violence towards their wives and even children. In Lebanon, Men's Protection Groups have sprouted up in camps with the support of Concern to instill a sense of normalcy and create a safe space of coping. 

As they also cope with the consequences of conflict, Syrian children and women have been disproportionately affected, with rising levels of girls’ early marriage, youth recruitment into armed groups, and child labor. It is a priority of Concern to tackle gender inequalities and build awareness around harmful gender norms and attitude transformation. We actively provide training for all staff including partners on key principles, prevention of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and how to respond to GBV. 

Concern’s work in Child Protection involves creating structured activities in child-friendly spaces to support the psycho-social well-being and build the resilience of children. UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore said at a 2018 conference in Berlin, “prolonged exposure to violence, fear and uncertainty can have a catastrophic impact on children’s learning, behavior and emotional and social development for many years.” Concern’s Caregiver Engagement (CGE) program, supported by EU Humanitarian Aid, empowers parents and caregivers to create a positive learning environment at home to support their children’s academic, social, and personal development.  

Psycho-social support (PSS) is also offered to caregivers and adults, and deals not just with the trauma of war, but also addresses issues related to early marriage and violence against women and children. We work to assist caregivers with the necessary information, referrals to specialist organizations and direct support for themselves and their children. Syrian women could also access skills trainings and many had begun to learn ways of protecting themselves and feeling safer in their host communities.  

Education 

Children in Syria and host communities have grown up normalizing concepts like violence, displacement and poverty, through no fault of their own. There is lingering fear of a “lost generation” of Syrian children as it has become increasingly apparent that educational opportunities tend to be scarce for children both within Syria and in host communities. 

A March 2019 report by UNICEF suggested that 40% of Syria’s school infrastructure had been destroyed in the conflict, creating huge gaps in the provision of education, and adverse protection risks. Our education program in northeast Syria aims to give out-of-school and conflict-affected children access to quality primary-level education, providing support in both non-formal education centers and formal schools.  

For Syrian refugee children, the emotional toll of conflict, trauma, and asylum-seeking has left many of them simply not ready to enter a formal classroom, and many others end up working in order to help families make ends meet. Concern Worldwide began an informal education program in Lebanon, gathering children in tents, offering them the chance to learn, read, write, draw, and — most importantly — to laugh. In Lebanon we have also supported the education of over 1,850 students in 25 learning spaces. Concern was also selected by UNICEF to run a homework support program that included 2,550 students, both Lebanese and Syrian, in 12 learning spaces, including 3 public schools.  

In Turkey, we work in collaboration with the Turkish Ministry of National Education and local partners to support Syrian refugee children in having access to quality education that supports their learning, development and wellbeing. Syrian refugee children have also benefitted from the formation of Temporary Education Centers (TECs), initiated and run by the Turkish government, with funding from the EU, as a temporary solution to providing a safe learning environment. 

What Comes Next — and Why 

Individual stories witnessed and heard over the course of the Syrian conflict point to one devastating truth... they all sound remarkably the same. This underscores the lack of progress on the part of the international community to work towards a lasting peaceful solution and a safe path for those who wish to return. 

For nearly 20 million Syrians, the last decade has effectively been lost. As the crisis expands across generations, the work of Concern and other international aid organizations has become more crucial to the survival of Syrian people. The grim reality is that there is no indication of how long the Syrian crisis will last, but there are over 14 million people who depend on humanitarian assistance as their lifeline.  

Concern will continue to assist Syrians as they navigate the murky waters of this long-lasting crisis that has forced them out of their homes, cost them their livelihoods and robbed them of their sense of stability. The people of Syria are not alone, but they need all the support they can get.  

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of individuals  

Links:

• https://www.concern.net/news/syria-marks-11-years-war-concerns-role-supporting-those-fleeing-conflict
• https://www.concernusa.org/story/syria-crisis-explained/
• https://www.concern.net/where-we-work/syria

SYRIA CRISIS – CONCERN WORLDWIDE’S RESPONSE TO MORE THAN A DECADE OF CONFLICT, DISRUPTION AND DISPLACEMENT

March 2022 marked 11 years since the beginning of the Syrian conflict. Concern Worldwide has been responding to the crisis in Syria since 2013, providing tens of thousands of refugees life-saving support and interventions to relieve suffering, both immediate and long-term. Our areas of focus in refugee camps in Syria, Turkey and Lebanon include:

• Food Security and Livelihoods support
• Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention programming, including creating self-healing and learning spaces
• Education access for children in non-formal education centers, including creating child-friendly spaces
• Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Assistance

Since early 2011, the Syrian conflict has resulted in enormous suffering for millions of people, uprooting an estimated 13 million Syrians (more than half of the estimated pre-war population) and leaving over 14 million in need. Of the displaced Syrians, 6.6 million are living as refugees in neighboring countries — namely Turkey (3.8 million), Lebanon (nearly 840,000), Jordan (675,000), and Iraq (over 250,000). This is a 20% increase between 2021 and 2022. 

According to a 2016 estimate by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) 83% of the population are now living below the poverty line. Coping mechanisms are severely depleted and basics like food, education, and shelter becoming harder and harder to access.

11,000 people have fled from Syria to this camp with an estimated 500 more people crossing the border per day. With the winter weather closing in, the need for services and supplies is increasing.

THE SYRIA CRISIS, BY THE NUMBERS FOR 2022

• 14.6 million Syrians still in the country require humanitarian assistance, more than 80% of the population. Of this, 12 million are in acute need.
• 6.1 million Syrian children require assistance, according to UNICEF
• 12.4 million Syrians in-country don’t have enough food for their basic dietary needs
• 6.6 million Syrians are registered as refugees; 5.7 million of whom are registered in neighboring countries
• 6.7 million Syrians are displaced within their own country

DISPLACED SYRIANS FACE CHALLENGES AND TRAUMA CAUSED BY DISPLACEMENT

After eleven years of conflict, families have been forced to flee their homes and become displaced to new locations as many as nine times or more. While one round of displacement is very traumatizing, multiple displacements present an unimaginable psychological burden for each person as they adjust to living in a new and unfamiliar area.

Once people are displaced from their own homes (and the social structure and nourishing environments of their home and community), they become extremely vulnerable and often suffer acutely as they are regularly deprived of food, water, health care, and other essentials. This suffering increases with each displacement, whether it is to camps, informal settlements, or living with host communities. These situations often offer less safety and dignity resulting in greater hardship.

Over the years of conflict, and as the areas of attack changed, Syrians usually fled with the bare essentials that they could carry. Sudden and violent onset of displacement, has deeply disrupted the psychosocial well-being of children and adults by shredding family and community networks. As Syrians fled, or for many who continue to flee, documentation and other items ensuring their identity get lost. In the continued search for a safe place to live mothers, fathers, and children flee without state identification causing issues around moving within the country (due to roadblocks and checkpoints), as well as around seeking refuge in neighboring countries.

As this is a protracted conflict resulting in a complex emergency, the needs of displaced people in Syria, who are very vulnerable, continue to increase.

CIVILIANS ARE SUFFERING THE MOST

Inside Syria, there are 14.6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance (of a total population of 18 million). By many accounts from Syrians still living in the country, the violence of conflict is not confined to bombing, missile attacks, and the destruction of cities like Idlib, Aleppo, and Raqqa. Rather, it has seeped into every aspect of Syrian life. Before the conflict, many Syrians lived in relative harmony. However, since 2013, (when we first began working in Syria), many civilians Concern has spoken with have told us that they don’t feel safe or secure in any environment — including their own homes. Personal security, now an alien feeling, is no longer taken for granted. This is especially true for women and girls. 

Available resources in Syria have continued to diminish, along with the ability of enjoying a safe and decent livelihood. Over 80% of Syrians now live below the international poverty line. Prior to 2011, this figure was as low as 10%. 

While the financial situation in Syria had been deteriorating steadily, the pandemic disruption of 2020 saw a sharp economic decline and depreciation of the Syrian pound as a result. The average food basket in October 2020 cost 236% more than it did in October of 2019. This has had a domino effect for those still living in Syria. World Food Programme estimates for 2022 indicated that 12.4 million Syrians were food-insecure, a dramatic increase compared to the previous year.

In addition, local infrastructure, including water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and healthcare, is also crippled. As of February 2020, just over 50% of Syrian hospitals were estimated to be functioning. Over 12 million Syrians are in need of healthcare. In 2021, healthcare facilities suffered 34 attacks.

SYRIAN WOMEN AND GIRLS ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTED

The war in Syria affects men, women, boys, and girls in starkly different ways that often reinforce existing gender inequalities. — especially among extremely vulnerable people, the focus of Concern’s programming.

Gender-based violence (GBV), domestic violence, sexual harassment, and sexual violence have increased across the country as well as in the refugee camps, with many women reporting that their husbands are quicker to resort to violence as the external conflict takes an increasing psychosocial toll within the home. The conflict has led to a vast amount of single female-headed households without a primary breadwinner.

Negative coping mechanisms have increased as a result of depleted resources and eroded social cohesion. Women and children are disproportionately affected by this, with rising levels of girls’ early marriage, youth recruitment into armed groups, and child labor with boys and girls entering the workforce to help their families survive.

Men also face greater risk of arrest, detention, harassment from the security services, recruitment into armed groups, disappearance, and death. The elderly and those with disabilities, particularly those with limited family support, have a wide range of unmet needs in displacement situations with sporadic service delivery.

All these changes have led to shifts in household dynamic, social order and community structure as different people take up non-traditional roles in society.

WE’RE RUNNING THE RISK OF A “LOST GENERATION” 

The war has also directly affected children’s access to education in Syria. A March 2019 report by UNICEF suggests that 40% of Syria’s school infrastructure has been destroyed in the conflict, creating huge gaps in the provision of education, and adverse protection risks. 

Currently, there are 4.5 million Syrian children out of school, some for up to 6 years. Before the war, Syria had a high attendance rate for primary school — 97% — but education was halted by conflict as it was (and remains) unsafe for children to go to school. This has limited their ability to participate in education and limits their future ability to live full and creative lives. The longer the conflict continues the greater the risk there is for an entire generation of young Syrians becoming “lost” due to a lack of access to safe, quality education.

WEATHER IS A THREAT MULTIPLIER

Despite its high temperatures of up to 111º F in the summer months, Syria also has bitterly cold winters. Temperatures can drop below freezing between the months of November and February. This is also true of the surrounding areas that host many Syrian refugees: Winter storms in Lebanon last year affected many of the informal refugee settlements. For Syrians living in poor housing conditions (regardless of where), shelter, warmth, and hot nutritional meals continue to be a priority. 

Weather events have a ripple effect on other areas of need: Serious flooding in early 2019 in Syria damaged crops and affected food security, leaving 21,000 acres of land underwater and displacing thousands of families.

CONCERN’S RESPONSE – To combat these extreme conditions, we have provided:

• Food Security and Livelihoods support has been delivered in the form of cash or voucher support to over 337,000 beneficiaries
• Protection, including the delivery of child-friendly spaces, self-healing and learning spaces, and gender-based violence prevention (GBV) to more than 1,000 families
• Education access for children in non-formal education centers - benefitting over 15,000 beneficiaries
• Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Assistance (WASH), including distributing hygiene kits, rehabilitating water systems, emergency water trucking, hygiene promotion and vector control benefiting over 900,000 beneficiaries