22.12.11
From Syria
Empowering women case by case seems to be the recipe for the success of the Women's Empowerment and Protection Project in Syria – a partnership between The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and UNRWA, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
Written by Reem Khamis and Zeinab Somayya
The Women Resource Centre (WRC) recently hosted the graduation ceremony for 120 women who attended six months integrated protection and livelihoods services and courses. The project is designed to accompany refugee women of different nationalities (Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis as well as Syrian nationals) through a structured itinerary leading to the discovery of self, social and economic resilience, which is a primordial process to confidently and autonomously select the best durable solution in life.
The Women Resource Centre provides scope for nurturing new and progressive livelihood approaches, opportunities and suggestions and leaves the space opened to capitalise on best practices and activities which are already carried out by women at the community level. In addition to promoting women’s social self-reliance through comprehensive protection support, the project has been piloted advanced livelihood support including micro grants, internship and mentorships.
Concrete individual solutions have been sought along with every single woman taking into account the threats, the majority being refugees (Iraquis, Palestinians and other nationalities) taking into account their protection concerns, but also capacities, inclinations and motivations under the supervision of a qualified and experienced team. Therefore, individual plans have been defined to accompany each woman during the project duration in her search of the durable solution.
The individual plans were mentioned in the speech of Mr. Gschwend, head of the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) office in Damascus, who underlined that the success of the project is attributed to the fact that it doesn't deal with numbers, but rather with “a case by case” approach. Mr. Gschwend also thanked the implementing agencies, namely DRC and UNRWA for the efforts that led to the success of the pilot phase of the project and encouraged SDC to continue its support of the project.
One could foresee that many beneficiaries will opt for a local integration (Syrians, Palestinians and some Iraqis) while others would only consider resettlement or return to Iraq. Whatever self-reliance is gained through DRC support, the beneficiary will be entitled to use it in Syria or in her future living place.
The project is considered a real success by Ms. Sager, Chief of Relief and Social Services at UNRWA, as more than 25% of the project's first graduates were able to find employment. Ms. Saqer pointed out the project's continuous efforts to foster the beneficiaries' economic resilience by launching a micro-grants scheme for three groups of graduates to create small scale entrepreneurs.
In the same occasion, Mr. Beucher, DRC Country Director for Syria and Lebanon, has summarised the work of DRC in Syria since 2008, and recalled the achievements that the project was able to fulfil in regards to offering the participants protection and livelihood opportunities to develop positive coping and social and economic resilience. Mr. Beucher has stressed the willingness and determination of UNRWA and DRC to keep on supporting graduated women beyond the diploma, with different and solutions according to their protection concerns.
Foto credits to UNHCR Syria, Helene Daubelcour.
