Syrian Refugee Crisis

Thank you for your support! Here are a few ways in which World Vision empowers and equips children and adolescents to improve their future.

Youth RESOLVE is a consortium led by World Vision in partnership with CAFOD / Caritas, Generations for Peace, Islamic Relief Worldwide and Questscope. Through livelihoods, education and peace building intervention, Youth RESOLVE builds social cohesion between Syrian refuges and host communities across Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. In its first year, Youth RESOLVE has already improved interactions in diverse communities and begun to shift negative perceptions towards Syrians, especially youth. Young people from different backgrounds have joined together to rehabilitate damaged infrastructure, study under apprenticeships and benefit from non-formal education if they have previously dropped out of school. In 2018, the project reached 4,865 young people through peacebuilding clubs and life skills, and 26,495 people overall with peacebuilding and social cohesion initiatives.

In Jordan, World Vision used a ‘child parliament’ model to encourage children towards civic participation, and to explore joint planning and decision making for the benefit of others. Several used the opportunity to learn about handyperson skills and make repairs or beautify their school. In one school, the children created ‘My Garden My Paradise’, growing flowers and vegetables on vacant land, which could then be sold to raise money for students’ needs. Another school designed and delivered a community campaign promoting healthy choices and habits for young people. In total 257 children from six schools took part in the parliament project.

In June 2018, 120 Syrian teenagers were invited to start their own community development project. The teenagers had just completed World Vision’s life skills course, a series of classes that aimed to build co-operation, internal resilience and community responsibility in young people affected by the war in Syria. They identified people in need of help - the elderly, widowed or female-headed households, and people with disability –visited them with donations of household supplies, and helped with tent or shelter repairs.

No Lost Generation (NLG) is a partnership involving donors, UN agencies, NGOs and governments to ensure that children and young people affected by the crises in Syria and Iraq have access to education, protection and opportunities to engage positively in their community and society. A coordinated approach to children’s programming since 2013, NLG is co-led by UNICEF, Mercy Corps, Save the Children and World Vision. The initiative comprises programming and advocacy under three pillars: Education, Child Protection and Adolescents & Youth. World Vision has been a key NLG actor since the start of the crisis, not only in programming for the three pillars, but also coordination through the regional team and NLG Working Group. World Vision organised and sponsored No Lost Generation Technical Summits in 2017 and 2018, bringing private sector technology companies and aid agencies together to generate innovative solutions for young people affected by the Syria crisis.