Syrian Refugee Relief Fund

Thanks to your ongoing generosity, nonprofits have been able to provide real and tangible relief during an incredibly strenuous time for Syrian refugees. 

As the coronavirus pandemic continues, Syrian refugees face compounding challenges that affect their basic needs and everyday lives. The fall season began with a heartbreaking string of fires that destroyed more than 12,000 refugee tents in the Moria refugee camp, the most populated refugee camp in Europe. Located on the Greek island of Lesbos, Moria is known for harsh living conditions such as severe water and soap shortages, spoiled food, and extreme overcrowding. But even at its worst, Moria provided shelter and necessities for those in need. After the fires, even these points of stability were unavailable. Many who live in the camp had to sleep in barricaded street zones or the woods after the crisis. 

GlobalGiving’s longtime partner IsraAID provided food and hygiene kits to families separated by the fires, including an IsraAID teacher at the Moria refugee camp. The teacher (who we will refer to as Osama) was confined to a barricaded police zone with his family after fleeing the fires. Osama’s family slept on the street for several days without sufficient access to food or hygiene supplies because of restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19. After days of close communication with Osama, the IsraAID team was finally able to deliver a box of essential items to him and his family. By working together with Osama, the team distributed more hygiene kits and offered psychosocial support interventions for other refugees.

Your donations helped provide 1,500 hygiene kits and 100 children’s activity packs to families like Osama’s. The activity packs offer more than just fun activities for the children—they are also a creative outlet and a healthy distraction from the difficult situations around them.

This is just one of many stories from our amazing partners on the ground. Thank you for continuing to support them. We look forward to sharing more examples of how your donations provide real, community-led relief in the coming months. 

With gratitude,

Sami + the GlobalGiving Team

Thank you for your continued generosity during these difficult times. 

As you know, Syrian refugees are facing immense challenges with the COVID-19 crisis, and now the Beirut port explosion is further threatening their safety and livelihoods. 

On August 4, an explosion was set off in an industrial neighborhood in Beirut, Lebanon. At least 34 Syrian refugees were among the 200 killed, though UNHCR fears this number will rise. Though Syrian refugees are in the minority of people affected by the explosion, they face heightened risks because, without family ties, they are less likely to be searched for. The Lebanese government is making it increasingly difficult for these refugee families to receive aid, which further compounds the challenges they’re enduring with the ongoing pandemic.

Thankfully, our partners have quickly jumped to action to provide emergency supplies and support where it’s needed most. That’s why GlobalGiving recently made a round of emergency grants to support these organizations hard at work supporting Syrian refugees by:

Making sure basic needs are met

• Our friends at Insan Association are on the ground providing much-needed medicine and personal hygiene items. The staff is also cooking and distributing meals, giving mattresses and bedding to those who need it, and providing supplies to help new moms continue caring for their babies in the aftermath of the crisis.
• Nonprofit partner Developmental Action without Borders/Naba'ais supporting Syrian refugees, children, and elderly individuals by committing to meet the urgent and basic needs of 500 families in the wake of the explosion.

Providing home repairs and helping hands

• Leaders at TheNawaya Network are working tirelessly to provide basic home repairs for those that suffered damage from the blast. Staff is also distributing food throughout the community and helping to provide critical medical support for wounded individuals.

It’s no secret that our nonprofit partners are tuned in to their community’s needs and are doing all they can to provide vital support in this tumultuous time. This is why I must say once again: thank you for supporting a community-led approach to disaster recovery. We look forward to providing more updates on how your contribution is making an impact in the coming months.

With Gratitude, 

Claire + the GlobalGiving Team

COVID-19 has now been reported in more than 200 countries and territories, and there are more than 5.5 million confirmed cases of the virus around the world. More than 80% of the world’s refugees are hosted in low-to-middle-income countries, where many healthcare systems lack the capabilities to combat the virus on such a large scale. Additionally, typical accommodations in refugee camps make it nearly impossible for individuals to practice social distancing or quarantining. In the words of one nonprofit leader from Jafra Foundation for Relief and Youth Development, 

“For refugees, the virus has not only exacerbated existing vulnerabilities, but it has also created new ones.”

Disaster specialists at GlobalGiving recognize that this incredibly challenging time for refugees warrants a special response—so, with help from your generous donation, we made a round of emergency grants to 10 organizations in the Syrian Refugee Relief Fund. 

Here’s a highlight of how organizations are using emergency COVID-19 grants to keep refugee families safe and healthy during the crisis:

• Movement on The Ground: As one of the few organizations with permission to operate in Lesvos as well as Samos, Greece, Movement on The Ground is promoting proper hygiene and providing refugees with critical information on how to avoid infection of COVID-19.
• Jafra Foundation for Relief and Youth Development: Jafra has focused its response on disinfecting camps and gatherings in Syria and Lebanon, raising awareness on COVID-19 prevention and precaution methods, and distributing sewn face masks and much-needed food items.
• Near East Foundation (NEF): Members at NEF are on the ground in Syria coordinating with local health committees to provide COVID-19 education to local residents at two community livelihood centers. In Jordan and Lebanon, NEF staff is continuing to provide entrepreneurs with support for their small businesses and income-generating activities, despite many refugees already losing their jobs.
• Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM): Nonprofit leaders at ASAM are providing critical counseling services and awareness-raising activities to ensure that refugees can cope with the added stress of the virus as well as take the necessary protective measures to prevent further outbreaks.

We are incredibly grateful for your support—it is your generosity that is enabling us to partner with local organizations serving the most vulnerable in their communities. To learn more about GlobalGiving’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, see this letter from GlobalGiving CEO, Alix Guerrier.

Stay safe and take care,

Claire + the GlobalGiving Team

Women make up around 50 percent of all refugees. In a refugee crisis, one in five women of childbearing age is likely to be pregnant. When a pregnant woman suddenly loses medical support and must endure threats of trauma, malnutrition, and disease, she and her baby are put in serious danger.

Friends of UNFPA, Inc, one GlobalGiving partner you are supporting with your generous donation, is providing hope for pregnant women and their babies. They are working to make motherhood safer for refugees by working with local governments and other nonprofit partners to deliver birth kits with essential health items to women without access to a facility, as well as equip rural medical facilities with medical and medication.

Razia is one woman from Pakistan whose life was impacted by UNFPA. Razia was only 13 years old when her family married her off. She quickly became pregnant, and her husband tragically died when she was six months along. 

Razia, like many young mothers, had pregnancy complications. She was in labor for four days before her daughter was stillborn, and she also developed obstetric fistula—a preventable medical issue that is overwhelmingly faced by the most disadvantaged women and is a major cause of maternal mortality. Not only did the fistula cause Razia immense pain, but it also forced her to endure infections as well as shame and social isolation. 

"People would either avoid me or just make fun of me," Razia said. "I never felt clean."

Thankfully, with help from UNFPA, Razia obtained treatment for her fistula and is now living a healthy life, including getting remarried and having her own child! Now, she works with UNFPA to bring treatment to other women suffering from fistula. 

This is just one story of life-change our courageous partners are enabling, with help from your generosity. To see more examples of what your donations provide and read the most recent stories from the field, check out our Syrian Refugee Relief Fund partners directly. Thank you again for your incredible support and for making stories like Razia’s possible.

With gratitude,

Claire + the GlobalGiving Team

Original story by UNFPA Communications Team

After fighting broke out in northeast Syria last month, conditions for Syrian refugees are as critical as ever. An estimated 180,000 individuals, including 80,000 children, had to flee their homes and communities. The United Nations reports that vital infrastructure has been damaged in the fighting, including clean water sources. Additionally, the onset of colder weather heightens displaced Syrians’ need to escape the violence even further.

We are so grateful for your support at such a crucial moment for Syrian refugees. Your support continues to make a difference to our nonprofit leaders and the communities they serve.

For example, your support is helping our nonprofit partners provide immediate relief to those in need of food, water, shelter, and other basic necessities.

• Since May, CARE has reached more than 70,000 individuals in northwest Syria with emergency supplies, such as hygiene kits, food rations, cash assistance, mobile health clinics, and clean drinking water. Despite some of their health centers sustaining damage from nearby bombings earlier in the year, CARE is continuing to coordinate with local partners to best assist the most vulnerable survivors, especially women and girls. 
• In the past year, Peace Winds America has constructed more than 800 durable shelters for Syrian refugees that have fled to northern Iraq (Kurdistan). They partner with the community in this work by training and employing refugees throughout the construction process, offering them the opportunity to gain much-needed income. Peace Winds is also distributing food kits to families, along with water and clothes.

Additionally, your generosity is helping our partners provide important psychosocial support needed to help refugee children begin to heal from the traumas of war and displacement.

• The UN Refugee Agency reports that more than half of all refugees are under the age of 18. Our partner, Emfasis Foundation, created a PhotoTherapy project in Greece to serve this growing population and provide them with much-needed psychosocial support. Through Emfasis’s work, refugee children have a safe place to express their thoughts and emotions, process their trauma, and find community.
• International Association for Human Values (IAHV) is responding to high rates of mental illness in refugee children by providing a variety of programs tailored to meet children’s specific mental and emotional needs. So far, IAHV has served 18,000 children through integrated trauma-relief, healing, and resilience workshops. They have also provided 400 children at risk of recruitment by armed groups with in-depth training in human values and non-violent empowerment.

Watch your inbox in the coming months for more stories of how your donations are making the world a brighter place. Thank you again for your generous support of the Syrian Refugee Relief Fund that makes a community-focused response to the ongoing refugee crisis possible. 

Warmly,

Claire Hilton + the GlobalGiving Team