The war in Syria has been going on for over 11 years. But Syrians are trying to carry on with their lives despite the conflict. Young people, in particular, have the desire and energy to become active in society and participate in the future of their country. Caritas Czech Republic is therefore supporting youth organisations in Syria to carry out their own projects and improve the lives of people in the northwest.
Bringing humanitarian and development aid together
While humanitarian aid remains much needed in Syria, it has been increasingly combined with development aid in recent years. This is for several reasons. There are people in the region who are unwilling or unable to leave their country and are eager to be involved in its reconstruction, despite the ongoing conflict. The second reason is uncertainty about the future delivery of cross-border aid. Although the UN Security Council renewed the cross-border resolution authorising UN agencies to continue providing aid into northwest Syria for six months, further renewal is uncertain.
After 11 years of war, it is thus clear that a shift towards sustainable development aid is inevitable. Local organisations themselves must be able to provide long-term assistance. And not just immediate humanitarian aid, but also development aid.
“This linking of humanitarian and development programming and peace is called the Triple Nexus. Although the term is quite widely used among UN agencies, local Syrian organisations delivering programmes in the field are not very knowledgeable about what does the term stand for,” explains George Jend, Head of Programmes at Caritas Czech Republic in Iraq. George Jend recently led a training session for our partner organisation Violet, which focuses on supporting civil society in Syria. The training focused specifically on interconnecting humanitarian and development aid and what this means for Syrian NGOs. “The crisis in Syria is protracted and the government structures are unstable. Therefore, it is the NGOs that should play a crucial role in holding the government and themselves accountable for long-term stability and peace,” explains Jend.
The Iraq experience and the support of an active civil society
In the training, George Jend drew on the experience of Iraq, which has undergone a similar shift from humanitarian to development assistance in recent years. The Iraqi emergency response that has started since the ISIS conflict, has been going on until this year. “Immediate emergency response as we knew it in Iraq will cease to exist in the country at the end of this year. NGOs will thus be transitioning to more long-term development programming, as they have been doing in the past years. They will focus on durable solutions such as providing long-term solutions for return and reintegration for internally displaced people,” Jend continues.
A similar change is underway in Syria and local organisations want to be part of it. Our partner organisation Violet is for example supporting Syrian youth from the displaced community in northwest Syria and, in addition to humanitarian aid, is also supporting other NGOs in the area. They organise various trainings and events to motivate young people to become engaged in civil society.
“We want to provide youth organisations with the skills and knowledge they need to work effectively to support civil society,” explains Anna Volfová, Desk Officer for the Middle East at Caritas Czech Republic. “People from these organisations have the desire to support an active civil society, but they lack the capacity and resources to help effectively. That is what we provide them with, and at the same time we will work with them through our partner organisation to ensure that their projects are effective and have a long-term impact,” adds Anna Volfová.
The project 'Empowering Civil Society in Northwest Syria' is implemented thanks to the support of the European Commission.