In Syria, devastated by 12 years of civil war, we are carrying out — together with the Salesians in the capital Damascus — a project titled Building the skills of vulnerable groups of the population in Syria for the labour market, financially supported from SlovakAid funds. Its main goal is to improve the chances of the vulnerable population in Syria of finding work on the domestic labour market.
In 2021, 6.7 million people in Syria were internally displaced (3.2 million men and 3.5 million women, of whom 2.4 million were people with health disabilities), which represents a third of the country’s total population.
The Salesians in Syria give special attention to young people, women and people with special health needs. The specific aim of the project is to improve the access of 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 a newly established training centre.
The second planned outcome is the building of soft and hard skills for the labour market.
The selection of the skills the project will offer was made in cooperation with the Damascus-based consulting firm Deline.
Over the course of the project, 36 courses will be carried out at the new training centre in three areas: soft skills (accounting, English, marketing), IT programming, and reconstruction work. The project plans to train a total of 425 people, of whom at least 150 will be women, 225 internally displaced, 150 young people up to 29 years of age, and 30 people with special health needs. Part of the educational programme for the target groups will also be a professional internship that will connect potential employers with 130 graduates of the soft-skills courses and will improve their chances of finding employment. The project has 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 our time. In 2021, as many as 13.4 million people in the country needed humanitarian aid (of whom about 10 million were women and children and 2.3 million were people with special health needs) — 75% of Syria’s total population. The humanitarian crisis is steadily deepening together with the crisis of the Syrian economy, which has been made worse by the COVID-19 pandemic and by the collapse of the economy in neighbouring Lebanon.
The critical economic situation in Syria has driven the country’s poverty rate up enormously. Nearly 90% of Syria’s population lives below the poverty line, and as many as 60–65% in extreme poverty.
But as prices rise, wages do not. The lack of money to cover the cost of living is forcing Syrians to sell their property and to take on debt. The situation is also pushing people into crisis coping strategies such as eating smaller meals, skipping meals during the day, child labour and child marriages.
The project will enable young people, women and groups with health disabilities to gain the skills needed to find work, to secure a livelihood for their families and, at the same time, to help rebuild the country. Once the project ends, the Salesians plan to continue offering training to as many at-risk people as possible.
The project is supported through SlovakAid and will conclude on 31 August 2024.
