MAIN ACTIVITIES

ACF has worked in Syria since 2008 by implementing a food security program in order to support populations and refugees in their access to food and to reduce poverty.

Food security / livelihoods

• Professional training for Iraqi people
• Training of teachers
• Distribution of tool kits to raise people’s autonomy
• Identification of population’s needs
• Poverty alleviation and reinforcement of livelihoods and resilience against environmental impacts, through agricultural programs, pastoral and livestock management and a “marketing for the poor” approach

HUMANITARIAN CONTEXT
 

Since 2011, the wave of popular protestations in the Arab world is particularly violent in Syria. Repression leads to numerous deaths, the government sending armed troops in the streets in order to fight against demonstrators. The Country knows a severe political and social crisis.

The worrying economic situation in Syria, along with the impact of the influx of Iraqi refugees, has caused great pressure on resources and infrastructure. The consequences in this context, not only for Iraqi refugees, but also for host communities, have demanded a coordinated response by the Government in cooperation with the government and international organizations.

Since the war in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi have found refuge in Syria and surrounding countries. Iraqis may be at risk of nutritional deterioration if they continue in Syria in the long term due to the depletion of their savings and assets as well as due to lack of work permits. Moreover, the country will not be able to meet the needs of displaced Iraqi if their number is increasing. Although the majority of Iraqi have brought with them some money or received aid from the outside, these resources might disappear, which will create new needs in terms of food, economic resources, health care, protection and education.  

The political unrest started in March 2011 and still ongoing is exacerbating the already precarious living conditions of the population and creating pockets of humanitarian needs, along with economical recession throughout the whole country.