The challenge

Since 2011, conflict has devastated Syria. Now the Syrian refugee crisis is recognized internationally, as the largest refugee crisis of our time. The Syrian civil war has set Syria’s national standard of living back by decades – destroying health care systems, schools and water and sanitation facilities.

The conflict has taken a massive toll, causing 6.9 million Syrians to be displaced within the country, and 6.8 million civilians to flee, seeking refugee elsewhere. 

As of 2022, the U.N. reports a staggering number of 12 million Syrians who go hungry daily due to food insecurity, most of which are children.

The solution

World Vision has been working to provide things like food, clean water, healthcare, education, psycho-social support and child protection in the region. Our programs benefit refugees, internally displaced people and locals in host communities in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Turkey, and Iraq. 

On February 6, 2023, an earthquake hit Türkiye and northwestern Syria, affecting over nine million people, with homes being damaged and displacing many families. For people living in Türkiye, the disaster was unexpected and challenging. In Syria, however, the earthquake exacerbated the situation for vulnerable communities after 12 years of armed conflict, large scale displacement, COVID and cholera. 

With the help of our donors, we’ve been able to tackle urgent needs in fragile contexts and emergency response. 

The impact

In recent years, here’s how we’ve helped fragile communities in Syria:

• In 2023, $59.2 million was invested in 72 programs that focused primarily on health and nutrition programming, reaching 2,485,058 girls, 2,369,125 boys, 2,041,334 women and 1,900,057 men. Funding shifted slightly in favour of the most fragile countries compared to 2022. This was due mostly to crisis response and grants supporting Syria, Ethiopia, Yemen and Somalia. 

• The World Vision Partnership’s 15 projects in northwestern Syria respond to the needs across the cities of Idlib, Afrin, Azaz and Aleppo. These projects include the provision of health services, comprehensive WASH services, rehabilitation and support for schools, identification of people in need of specialised protection services and referrals, psychosocial support and fixing homes.