The Estonian Refugee Council and NGO Mondo have received funding to implement projects with special attention given to those helping women, children and young people.

Almost 13 years after the start of the military conflict in Syria, the country faces one of the world's most complex humanitarian crises. Estonia's aim has been to contribute to improving the situation for those Syrians currently living in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, where the largest refugee communities in the region are located. The special focus has been on projects to support children and women.

Children are particularly vulnerable, as they are unable to attend school and at a higher risk of being exploited for child labor, trafficking and recruitment into militant groups. Activities aiming to help Syrian refugees have been implemented since 2016 with the support of Estonian civil society partners.

The project activities will pay special attention to women, children and youth.

"ESTDEV-supported projects help to increase the self-reliance of crisis-affected people, for example by supporting them in starting a business in Jordan and entering the labor market," said Annika Leek, project manager at ESTDEV.

"In both Lebanon and Turkey, there is a great need to support vulnerable communities, in particular women, children and young people, to access education, including non-formal education, and income-generating activities," Leek added.

According to a press release, Mondo's project will support Syrian refugees along with other vulnerable communities in Lebanon and Turkey. The project will work with women, children and young people to develop self-sufficiency skills by building digital competencies and entrepreneurial knowledge through educational events.

Over the course of the project, Mondo will conduct training sessions on digital skills and entrepreneurship for Syrian women, children and youth, as well as members of other vulnerable communities, including those from Lebanon, Palestine and Kurdistan. Knowledge exchange sessions will also be held in Lebanon. The project contributes to fulfilling UN Sustainable Development Goals 1, 4, 5 and 8.

The Estonian Refugee Council will provide subsistence support, resources and fair working opportunities to Syrian refugees in Jordan who, due to restrictions placed on them in the labor market, are currently only able to work in agriculture, production, construction as well as other narrowly defined service sectors.

The project will provide training on sustainable farming methods and tools to establish crop production without soil (hydroponics) in their households, contributing to food security and improved livelihoods. An online environment will also be created whereby people can exchange experiences related to crop production and ask questions of agricultural experts.

Additional training sessions will be conducted for members of four women's community-based organizations (CBOs), and educational materials developed, with the goal of enabling participants to conduct their own workshops on hydroponics in the future.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!