There is a positive correlation between the diversity of Syria’s civil society and the diversity of their sectors of activity. Interestingly, almost half of the CSOs interviewed engage in capacity building in different fields. Other important sectors are relief, public services, and psycho-social support. In this sub- section the sectors of activities are discussed in more detail, in order to provide a basis for analyzing their role in protection and conflict transformation.
0 2 4 6 8 10 Art Negotiation, mediation Health Recreation Education Documenting, reporting Awareness Rescue, evacuation, demining PSS Services Relief, cash Capacity building
Sector of Activity
7% 14% 22% 29% 14% 14%Function of Civil Society
Protection Socialisation Mutual Understanding Service Provision Mutual support Democratic Rule
Figure 12: Functions of Syria's Civil Society
Source: own elaboration
Figure 13: Scope of Activities of CSOs in Idlib
A) Capacity building
All women’s groups, professional associations, humanitarian organizations, human rights organization and youth groups (except the sports club) being part of this research engage in capacity building. All other types of CSOs did not mention any capacity building or trainings. The capacity building is predominantly organized through workshops and trainings. Each CSO provides trainings in its respective field of expertise. Interestingly, the humanitarian organizations focus particularly on first aid training, and the smaller women’s group organizes training for teachers and medical training for women.
B) Relief: In-kind and Cash
Relief includes distribution of food and non-food items, as well as cash assistance. Seven of the interviewed CSOs provide relief. For the humanitarian organizations, relief is one of the most important sectors. But also the civil defense teams, religious leaders, women’s groups and LCs help in relief work. Interestingly, the LC in the small village and the small women’s group engage in relief, whereas their bigger counterparts did not explicitly mention relief as a core sector. This can be explained on the one hand due to the simplicity of relief work such as food baskets, hygiene kits distribution or cash assistance, compared to more sustainable development projects such as WASH projects or infrastructure that need more staff and capabilities. On the other hand, the two CSOs are based in areas that host a great number of IDPs and have important camps in their vicinity, and hence, face a greater need for relief assistance.
C) Services
Services include public goods such as transportation, electricity, water, sewage, infrastructure and maintenance. LC as a quasi-governmental local authority is the main entity responsible for providing services to the community. But also the civil defense helps in road maintenance, civil work and clean-up efforts. The big humanitarian organization also works in WASH, provides water and electricity to camps, and hire people to work in maintenance. The
small women’s group also works in the rehabilitation of schools and provides transportation between the camps and the village.
D) Psycho-Social Support (PSS)
Almost all interviewees agreed that the children are disproportionally affected by the armed conflict and that civil society has a special responsibility to limit the impact of violence on children. But also that all people are affected by violence, stress and the bad situation. One tool to deal with this is through psycho-social support. The CSOs providing PSS are both women’s groups, the small humanitarian organization, the religious leader participating in this research, the professional association (health) and indirectly the youth group (sport club).
E) Rescue, Evacuation, and Demining
The main CSO working in rescue and evacuation is the civil defense. They are specialized, trained and best equipped to perform this work. Apart from SCD teams, one professional association works in demining and the small humanitarian organizations conduct rescue work and evacuations because they are specialized in working on the frontlines of the armed conflict. However, two critical challenges all actors in the field reported facing are a lack of adequate equipment and a functioning early warning system.
F) Awareness Raising
Civil Defense teams and the professional association specialized in demining, engage in awareness raising on how to behave in attacks, how to deal with unexploded ordnances and how to spot potential dangers. A second type of CSO engaging in awareness raising are the religious leaders. However, the women’s groups did not explicitly mention awareness campaigns, they indirectly participate in awareness raising in gender issues and GBV.
G) Documenting and Reporting
In documenting and reporting there are exclusively media activists, human rights organization and academia involved. Due to the highly politicized context, they focus on
gathering data and documenting human rights violations, in order to be able to support international advocacy and later persecution of perpetrators.
H) Education
Education is another politicized topic, particularly in armed conflict. Reports point out how the politicization of humanitarian aid and schooling are responsible for a lost generation in Syria (Al-Jazeera, May 29, 2016; Save the Children, 2015). Often schools are funded by one single donor who then imposes a specific curriculum. Unfortunately, it is out of the scope of this research to discuss all the difficulties of education in Syria.
Only three CSOs work in education, both women’s groups and the religious leader. Religious education faces less restrictions as most armed factions promote Islamic values. The women’s groups on the other hand, support kindergartens, which are not considered as a threat, or have good relationships with the local communities and are not under control of extremist groups.
Schools are also not safe spaces for children anymore. Apart from deliberate attacks on schools, armed groups and criminal gangs use schools for recruitment or to find brides. Girls have been abducted from schools and later released, but only to face stigma from their communities. After these incidents, many families took their girls out of school in order to protect them, and married them as soon as possible (field notes, 16.8.2016).
I) Recreation
The women’s groups and the youth group (sports club) pay strong attention to recreational activities, particularly for children and youth. The aim is to take the children out of violent environments and to temporarily escape the negative stress caused by the armed conflict. For the youth, these recreational activities also present a sort of safe space and an alternative to joining armed groups.
Since the beginning of the conflict in 2011, 322 non-civilian children have been killed according to the Violation Documentation Centre in Syria (VDC) (Violation Documentation
Centre [VDC], n.d.). This number bears silent witness of what is often going unreported: the use of children as fighters or direct support roles for armed groups. A report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) prepared in 2014, sheds some light on the recruitment process and the use of children in Syria. The report states mainly that all armed actors use children, even the ones who have official policies in place to prevent the recruitment of minors. Moreover, the reasons why minors join armed groups are diverse and may include revenge, no alternatives, forced recruitment, friends and families that joined before, normalization of violence and many more (HRW, 2014).
A 2003 study carried out by the Australian Institute of Criminology links sport and physical activity to a decrease in antisocial behavior in youth (Morris et al., 2003). The study shows particularly that the effect is important if there was no previous offer of such sports activities and that the effects are even bigger if community service is included in the activity (Morris et al., 2003). Taking into account that children and youth in war zones are joining armed groups for different reasons than youth in normal circumstances resort to antisocial behavior. Boredom and the lack of alternatives can be even stronger determinants during armed conflict. On the other hand, armed conflict adds new incentives such as revenge and the glorification of violence. Also the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recognizes the importance of youth resilience and community support in order to reduce the involvement of youth in armed violence (OECD, 2011: 19). This thesis supports these findings and stresses the importance of providing alternatives for youth to joining armed groups. However, the simple existence of alternatives may not be enough in itself to prevent young people from joining violent movements. At-risk youth need to be directly targeted and alternative opportunities for livelihood need to be found in some cases36.
36 Even though not all non-state armed groups pay monthly salaries to child soldiers and young recruits, there
are some protective, monetary or in-kind benefits that may be offered to the families of the fighters, and particularly when they would die fighting (martyrs).
Apart from the important role of offering alternatives for youth to join armed groups, youth groups can also play an important role in helping young people who want to leave armed groups to reintegrate in society. This aspect, however, did not come up in any interview and is one of the important gaps in protection.
J) Health
The health care system in areas outside of state control in Syria has almost completely collapsed. The deliberate attacks on hospitals, medical facilities, ambulances and medical staff have increased steadily. Apart from the Health Directorate (ةحص ةيريدم) that is affiliated with the Interim Government, mostly CSOs provide health services. Both humanitarian organizations interviewed in this study provide medical assistance and the professional association whom specializes in nursing provides training for nurses to work in field hospitals and as community health promoters.
K) Art
Only one CSO interviewed focuses on filmmaking as art, with the aim to create a collective memory that lives longer than the news. Art can have a transformative effect on the creator him/her-self, but also on the audience. However, the interviewee was not fully aware of the transformative potential of art work.