The Syrian crisis has had unprecedented social and economic impacts on host countries in the region, affecting their stability and exacerbating pre-existing vulnerabilities, and there is all the reason to expect that the humanitarian crisis will continue to deteriorate.

SOLIDAR is active in supporting its members and their partner organizations in the Middle East and North Africa since the 2011 revolution. “We work closely with our member organizations to create a network of CSOs to promote social justice, advance human dignity in solidarity with the needs of the most vulnerable. With our on-going program in the Middle East and North Africa, we are building trust between CSOs, social movements, independent trade unions and grassroots communities to advance economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs) and social protection policies anchored on human rights”.

Supporting persons with special needs in conflict situations

SOLIDAR members are currently working to address the needs of Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan and Lebanon, primarily by securing the access of Syrian refugees and host communities to protection services, such as health care, rehabilitation, psychosocial and resilience support services, safe and sanitary housing, access to education including higher/ University education, training, skills and child protection.

SOLIDAR member Movement for Peace (MPDL) works to create Community Based Rehabilitation Centers (CBRs) that one day can be sustainable and independent from international funds, by building the capacities of the community in Lebanon in the Bekaa Valley (Baalbek and Bar Elias) and in Jordan in Zarqa and Madaba. In this way the poorest regions in both countries, where service providers were overwhelmed at the beginning of the crisis without enough capacities to provide the minimum services persons with special needs require, are given a helping hand.

In those CBRs, MPDL provides comprehensive services to persons with special needs, including occupational therapy and psychological support to persons with special needs that are often neglected and stigmatized within their communities and institutions. Persons with special needs are hidden victims of any humanitarian situation, especially in conflicts. For that reason MPDL is creating Self Help Groups with the expertise of the Lebanese Physical Handicap Union in Lebanon and with psychologists in Zarqa and Madaba (Jordan). Thanks to these groups, MPDL helps them in developing their own activities within their communities to advocate for better inclusion and a rights-based approach to any service provided in their governorates.

Creating sustainable job opportunities and social cohesion

SOLIDAR member ARCS has implemented a “Rapid Employment Initiative” project in Lebanon, in the district of Hermel, especially in the territories of Al-Qasr, Kwakh Sharbeyn and three rural villages severly affected by the Syrian crisis. Here, ARCS is working to create job opportunities for 819 beneficiaries to allow householders to improve their economic situation and to independently access food and other basic necessities. In parallel, ARCS is promoting initiatives of social cohesion, in particular a course on safety for workers employed in the project, with an adjacent distribution kit on work, reading and literacy courses for women and recreational activities with the children.

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