SYRIA
Economic growth and development
Focus on supporting refugee and host communities in the agriculture sector, as well as vulnerable communities in the livelihoods sector
Education and capacity building
Infrastructure and equipment
Protection
Youth empowerment
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Strengthening Life Skills and Social Cohesion for Youth in Türkiye and Syria
RET, together with LEAP Türkiye, has launched a new project in that now supports communities
One Region, One Conflict, Multiple Crises
The Syrian civil conflict, which started as part of the Arab Spring in March 2011,
Syria, a country in the eastern Mediterranean with a population of roughly 25.6 million, endured more than a decade of civil war since 2011. The fall of the Assad government in December 2024 marked a major political transition, opening a fragile new chapter for the country.
According to UNHCR, as of March 2026, 15.6 million people require assistance, while over 1.5 million refugees and 1.8 million internally displaced persons have returned since December 2024. Despite these movements, internal displacement remains high, at 5.5 million, and approximately six million Syrian refugees remain hosted in neighbouring countries.
Some 15.6 million people, over six in ten of Syria’s 25.6 million inhabitants, require humanitarian assistance, including more than 7.5 million children in need. The conflict has taken a severe toll on education: Over 7,000 schools have been damaged or destroyed, and 2.45 million children remain out of school. Rebuilding safe learning spaces is one of the country’s most urgent needs.
The “Bridging Transitions: Community-Based Protection and Empowerment for Women and Youth” project aims to strengthen the protection, resilience, well-being, and active participation of vulnerable women and youth in both Türkiye and Syria. Implemented in Mardin and Kilis in Türkiye and Aleppo in Syria. The project is structured around two complementary components: a Women Component, focused on strengthening women’s protection, awareness of rights, access to services, resilience, and community-based support mechanisms; and a Youth Component, focused on improving the protection, psychosocial well-being, social cohesion, resilience, and life skills of adolescents and young people. Together, these two components aim to support safer, more informed, resilient, and cohesive communities on both sides of the Türkiye–Syria border.
Under the Women Component, activities include awareness sessions on gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health, legal rights and access to services; community dialogues addressing child, early and forced marriage; and community-based peer-support mechanisms, including Community Mothers and Returnee Mothers. Under the Youth Component, adolescents and young people participate in protection and community-safety workshops, psychosocial support and safe-space activities, social cohesion and peaceful coexistence dialogues, resilience-building activities, and life-skills training covering communication, leadership, teamwork, problem-solving, and conflict resolution. These activities are implemented for women and youth in both Türkiye and Syria, with approaches adapted to the local context and needs of each country.