EU-Syria: €180 million to deal with crisis and spill-over in Lebanon and Jordan

EU-Syria: €180 million to deal with crisis and spill-over in Lebanon and Jordan Brussels, 4 December 2014

In order to help the Syrian population inside the country to cope with the effects of the crisis and prepare for early recovery, today’s as

In order to help the Syrian population inside the country to cope with the effects of the crisis and prepare for early recovery, today’s assistance package comprises the following actions:

1/Support to people in Syria affected by the crisis – Phase II (€15 million). This will notably support Syrians affected by the crisis through grant projects with International NGOs in a variety of fields (economic recovery, provision of basic services, such as education, health, dialogue promotion, etc.)

2/Urban information and analysis to help plan and target humanitarian and recovery interventions in Syria (€2 million). A comprehensive urban information and analysis framework for Syria will be set up, 20 city profiles and 30 neighbourhood profiles, integrating damage, displacement and urban functionality analyses will be developed, an Urban Information Management and Coordination System will be developed for 10 municipalities and a final "State of Syrian Cities" Synthesis Report will be created. This action will be implemented jointly by UN-Habitat and the European Commission Joint Research Centre.

3/Education for vulnerable and displaced children in Syria (€15 million). At least 500,000 additional children will benefit from increased access to basic education within the targeted areas and will be provided with remedial education, psycho-social support and recreational activities. Early childcare development programmes will be made available for under 6 children, and remedial education and vocational education for adolescents will be made available to out of school children and children at risk of dropping out, including specific scholarships for girls. At least 200.000 children will also receive a nutritious snack every day at school. This action will be implemented jointly by UNICEF and the World Food Programme.

4/ Scaling-up of emergency restoration and stabilization of livelihoods of affected Syrian populations (€4 million). At least 4,000 persons will benefit from emergency employment opportunities for improved service delivery and restoration of basic services and social infrastructures. 1,500 families will benefit from support for the restoration of their disrupted livelihoods. 2,800 women heading households will benefit from emergency support. 3,000 persons with disabilities will benefit from a rehabilitation programme and capacities of 70 local NGOs in livelihoods support will be reinforced. This action will be implemented by the United Nations Development Programme.

5/Joint comprehensive EU framework for cross-border operations in Syria from Turkey (€5 million).EU Member Statesagencies will join forces under this action to implement sustainable projects and/or highly efficient short-term delivery projects that will benefit the Syrian population in various sectors (such as health, water and sanitation, education, food security, agriculture or civil protection), together with increased access to health and education services for Syrian refugees in Turkey.

In Jordan, three actions are foreseen:

 1/ Support to the response to the Syria Crisis in Jordan (€13 million). The programme will develop an enhanced coordination framework with improved capacity to lead the response to the Syrian crisis by the Government of Jordan; will help Syrian refugees and host communities benefit from recovery opportunities through calls for proposals for NGOs and provide support to Palestine Refugees from Syria in Jordan, through UNRWA.

2/ Support to the Ministry of Education to deal with the Syrian refugee crisis (€45 million). This actionwill contribute to allowing up to 140,000 Syrian refugee children to attend Jordanian government schools, training of teachers for this purpose and psycho-social support. It will be implemented primarily by budget support, supplemented by technical assistance and a call for proposal for civil society organisations.

3/ Provision of Higher Education to Syrian youth, affected by the crisis, in Syria and Jordan (€8 million). This action aims at the delivery of a language and academic skills programme for students in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria; the delivery of initial higher education at Jordanian Universities; the delivery of programmes for distance learning and further education and the delivery of short courses in Arabic through so-called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC).

In Lebanon, three actions are foreseen:

1/Access to basic services for the vulnerable population in Lebanon – Education & Health (€56.5 million). This actionwill contribute to supporting the most vulnerable population in Lebanon through education and protection services for children and vulnerable groups and improvement of the provision of public health-care services. These activities will be implemented by UNHCR and UNICEF.

2/ Access to basic services for the vulnerable population in Lebanon -Palestine Refugees from Syria (€ 1.5 million). This actionwill contribute to supporting the Palestine refugees from Syria in Lebanon through provision of quality education.. It will be implemented via UNRWA.

3/ Access to basic services for the vulnerable population in Lebanon – Economic recovery and basic infrastructures (€15 million). This actionwill contribute to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of basic services provided to the Lebanese host communities affected by the influx of Syrian refugees by enhancing basic public infrastructures, especially in the water sector and by developing income generating opportunities for both displaced and host communities. These activities will be implemented through grants to NGOs and local actors.