In Syria, which has been gripped for more than a decade by civil war, we successfully carried out — together with the Salesians in the capital, Damascus — a project entitled Building the skills of vulnerable groups of the population in Syria for the labour market. The project was financially supported by a grant from SlovakAid in the amount of EUR 199,996.20. Its main goal was to improve the chances of the vulnerable population in Syria to find work in the domestic labour market.

Over the last 14 years, Syria has been torn apart by a civil war that has caused massive destruction, the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and the massive displacement of the population. The country is facing economic collapse, the devaluation of its currency and a deterioration of living conditions for the majority of the population. In 2021 there were 6.7 million internally displaced people in Syria (3.2 million men and 3.5 million women, including 2.4 million people with disabilities), which represents one third of the country’s total population.

The Salesians of Don Bosco in Syria pay special attention to young people, women and people with special health needs. The specific aim of the project was to improve access for internally displaced people and the host community in the governorates of Damascus and Damascus Countryside to skills for the labour market.

The first planned outcome of the project is the establishment of a new training centre. The second planned outcome is soft and hard skills built for the labour market. The selection of skills that the project would deliver was carried out in cooperation with the consultancy firm SBK Limited Liability Company in Damascus.

The project devoted special attention to young people, women and people with special health needs. The specific aim of the project was to improve access for internally displaced people and the host community in Damascus to skills for the labour market.

In 2023 a new training centre was successfully set up in Damascus, in which 20 courses were carried out in three areas as part of the project. In total, we trained 455 people in the areas of soft skills, IT programming and reconstruction work.

THANKS TO THE PROJECT, WE MANAGED TO:

• set up and equip a training centre
• train a total of 455 people in soft-skills, programming and reconstruction-work courses
• arrange 136 professional internships for graduates of the courses
• run 20 courses in three areas
• train 239 women
• train 232 internally displaced people
• train 287 young people up to 29 years of age
• train 7 people with special needs

The educational programme for the target groups also included a professional internship which connected potential employers with 136 trained course graduates and increased their chances of finding a job. We see it as very positive that some course graduates and interns received job offers from companies.

The project significantly improved the practical skills of the participants, gave them a deeper overview of the sectors in which they can find work, and increased their chances of employment. The experience gained during the internships helped to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and its practical application, thereby supporting a smooth transition for the participants into a professional environment.

The project had the potential to improve the situation of women in Syria and to raise awareness of climate change and the protection of the environment.

The decade-long war in Syria has caused one of the worst humanitarian crises of the present day. In 2021, up to 13.4 million people in the country were in need of humanitarian assistance (of whom approximately 10 million were women and children and 2.3 million were people with special health needs), representing 75% of the total population of Syria. The humanitarian crisis is continually deepening together with the crisis of the Syrian economy, which has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and the collapse of the economy in neighbouring Lebanon.

The critical economic situation in Syria has enormously increased the poverty rate in the country. Almost 90% of the Syrian population live below the poverty line, with up to 60–65% in extreme poverty.

However, wages are not rising in line with rising prices. The lack of funds to cover the cost of living is forcing Syrians to sell their property and take on debt. The situation is also pushing people into crisis coping mechanisms such as eating smaller amounts of food, skipping meals during the day, child labour and child marriages.

The project enabled young people, women and people with disabilities to acquire the skills needed to find work, secure a livelihood for their families and at the same time contribute to the rebuilding of the country.

The project was supported through SlovakAid and was completed on 31 August 2024.