Policy paper

UK–Syria development partnership summary, July 2023

Published 17 July 2023

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

Introduction

The Strategy for International Development (IDS) places development at the heart of the UK’s foreign policy. It sets out a new approach to development, anchored in patient, long-term partnerships tailored to the needs of the countries we work with, built on mutual accountability and transparency. This approach goes beyond aid and brings the combined power of the UK’s global economic, scientific, security and diplomatic strengths to our development partnerships. Our 4 priorities are to deliver honest, reliable investment, provide women and girls with the freedom they need to succeed, step up our life-saving humanitarian work, and take forward our work on climate change, nature, and global health. The Integrated Review Refresh (IR23) reiterates that sustainable development is central to UK foreign policy and sets out how the UK will go further and faster on development to reduce poverty and reinvigorate progress towards the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). This Country Development Partnership Summary details how the IDS and IR23 will be put into practice with Syria.

Country context

The Syria conflict is now in its second decade. The country remains deeply divided. The Asad regime has regained control of large parts of Syrian territory including its major cities, but large swathes of the country are held by other groups including the Kurdish administration in Northeast Syria (NES) and Turkish backed opposition proxies in the Northwest (NWS). Regionally there have been increasingly significant moves to ‘normalise’ with the Syrian regime since December 2022, most notably, Asad’s readmission to the League of Arab States in May 2023. The UK will not engage the Asad regime, which must be held accountable for its countless human right abuses and violations, in the absence of any evidence of meaningful participation in the political process. Due to the intransigence of the regime, an inclusive political settlement through United Nations Security Resolution (UNSCR) 2254 is unlikely in the foreseeable future. There is also little hope of conditions being conducive to refugees returning to Syria at present, whilst there is increasing rhetoric and pressure within refugee hosting countries about the return of refugees to Syria.

Over 12 years of conflict have inflicted immense suffering on the Syrian people and destroyed vital infrastructure across the country. More than half of Syria’s pre-war population of 22 million have fled their homes and more than 6.9 million are internally displaced, the largest number of IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) in the world, with many living in tented camps. The fate of thousands of missing and detained people is still unknown. The conflict has also caused a regional refugee crisis. 5.6 million refugees are hosted by neighbouring countries, primarily in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.

The humanitarian situation in Syria is the bleakest it has ever been. The UN’s Humanitarian Needs Overview for Syria in 2023 estimates there are 15.3 million people, 69% of the population in need of humanitarian assistance, of which 4.1 million are in extreme or catastrophic need. These figures were published prior to the devastating earthquakes which struck Syria and Türkiye on 6 February 2023, resulting in an estimated $5.2 billion in damage and economic loss across the whole of Syria according to the World Bank. The humanitarian situation has also been compounded by an unprecedented economic downturn in Syria, exacerbated by the economic crisis of neighbouring Lebanon, and the impact of the Russia/Ukraine crisis on food security and inflation. Syria’s economy is forecast to contract by 5.5% in 2023. Syria is a key country for illegal Captagon production as well as a distribution and transit route for the drug within the region. It is a financial lifeline for the Asad regime who are closely involved in the trade, making large sums of money from it.

Significant challenges are faced by women and girls in Syria, which is ranked as the second worst country for women globally (Women Peace and Security Index). The crisis has created daunting challenges for women and girls, who are paying the steepest price of ongoing hostilities and economic collapse. In 2022 women and girls in Syria reported increasing levels of sexual exploitation and abuse especially in camp settings, in the workplace, and on the way to as well as at school.  They also reported a rise in technology facilitated Gender Based Violence. Key statistics include:

• 48% of women and girls live in locations where their right to freedom of movement is restricted by their spouse, family, or community
• 15% of women and girls live in locations where personal (emotional or physical) relationships are sought in exchange for humanitarian assistance
• 84% of children live in locations where child marriage is a concern for girls aged 15 to 17 years

Why and how: the UK’s development offer to the Syrian people

The UK is the third largest bilateral donor to the Syria crisis, having committed over £3.8 billion to date, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis. Our work on Syria supports delivery of life-saving humanitarian aid, including responding to spikes in need caused by natural disasters and disease outbreaks, and puts women and girls at the centre of our programming and advocacy.

Our diplomacy work supports delivery of our humanitarian objectives. Every year the UN’s access to north-west Syria is threatened by the risk of its Security Council mandate being vetoed. We convene international support to renew the mandate. The UK has established the Aid Fund for Northern Syria, a multi-donor pooled fund, which complements the UN’s pooled fund and is ready to scale up if the UN fund is forced to close.

Our humanitarian work and advocacy also complement delivery of the Integrated Review’s priorities of protecting our national security with respect to terrorism and radicalisation; and contesting malign Russian and Iranian influence.

Over time we aim to increasingly shift towards longer-term recovery efforts while continuing to support effective UN leadership, pressing for principled aid delivery, greater access, and better coordination across Syria. Our early recovery work focuses on education and learning, particularly for girls, and opportunities to support people’s livelihoods to increase their self-reliance. Taking the long view, we will help shape Syria’s future prospects by holding the regime to account and consider a more enhanced approach towards ‘development’ without moving to national-level reconstruction of Syria.

Since July 2022, the UK has supported critical services for women and children in displaced persons camps in north-east Syria, offering a place of refuge where parents are supported to engage with their children’s education and children can play sports and receive some education.

Key achievements over recent years include:

Responding quickly and effectively to multiple humanitarian crises in Syria

We delivered a £28.3 million response to the February 2023 earthquakes, including lifesaving search and rescue operations and emergency healthcare in the days after the earthquake, followed by tents, hygiene kits and other critical items for those displaced from their homes, and the delivery of multi-sectoral assistance. We also responded to the cholera outbreak in October 2022.

Preventing violence against women and girls

We showed global leadership on preventing violence against women and girls, supporting survivors, and holding perpetrators to account. We are leading the very first interventions to prevent GBV in Syria by integrating support for women’s economic and social empowerment.

Education Dialogue Forum

The creation of the Education Dialogue Forum to bring together donors, UN agencies and INGOs (international non-governmental organisations) to aid collaboration, innovation, and coordination within the education sector. UK leadership has brought in over $22 million additional multilateral funding for the sector and introduced new measures to improve aid efficiency. In 2022 to 2023, the UK supported over 100,000 vulnerable children in Northwest Syria with quality education and psycho-social support. Over 65% of these children have demonstrated significant improvement in their reading skills.

Who we work with

With the UK having no direct relationship with the Syrian Regime, the UN and NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) aid agencies are the UK’s key delivery partners in Syria. Our long-standing relationships enable UN and NGO agencies and the UK to have constructive and frank conversations on key issues. In tackling the key objectives outlined above, UK office for Syria (UKOS) also works with a diverse range of humanitarian actors across our portfolio. UKOS supports the provision of technical expertise to support the wider humanitarian response, providing thought leadership in addition to delivering its impactful portfolio, funded through the UK’s Overseas Development Assistance.

The UK works closely with other key donor partners, including the US, Germany and France who continue to oppose engagement with the Regime. Recognising the recent moves towards Arab regional ‘normalisation’ of relations, the UK will seek to use its strong Middle East relationships to shape any future engagement, engaging likeminded members of the new ‘Contact Group’ (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia and the Arab League). The UK and its partners have agreed to develop and lobby for specific, staggered, verifiable conditions for further Arab engagement, which align with regional interests but are also supportive of UNSCR 2254.

Key programmes

The details of the key programmes within the UKOS portfolio are set out below:

Syria Humanitarian Response Programme

Programme objective: To provide a timely and effective multi-sectoral humanitarian response to emerging needs and protracted displacement across whole of Syria.

Programme partners: OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), UNICEF (United Nations Childrens Emergency Fund) & undisclosed NGO and private sector partners

Programme dates: 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2026

Approved budget: up to £160 million

Syria Education Programme II

Programme objective: To support the most vulnerable girls and boys to access high quality primary education in Northwest Syria. To improve the equity & quality of the education system in Northwest Syria, delivering on the UK’s commitment to improve girls’ education.

Programme partner: Chemonics

Programme dates: 21 March 2022 to 30 June 2027

Approved budget: up to £46 million

Syria Humanitarian Protection Programme

Programme objective: To protect civilians with a focus on International Humanitarian Law,  Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Gender Based Violence (GBV) assistance.

Programme partners: OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) & UNFPA

Programme dates: 7 October 2018 to 31 March 2024

Approved budget: up to £70 million

Building Local Resilience in Syria

Programme objective: To address economic stress drivers of violence alongside social norms. The programme is a new intervention type in Syria that will deliver food security interventions including cash, agriculture and livelihoods activities and monitor progress against key food security indicators (food consumption score, coping strategies). It takes an integrated approach to help Syrians in need to feed themselves and their families and particularly target women, young people, and those with disabilities.

Programme partners: FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) and undisclosed NGO partners

Programme dates: 18 March 2022 to 31 March 2027

Approved budget: up to £54 million

Syria Independent Monitoring II

Programme objective: To provide independent third-party monitoring (TPM) of FCDO-funded projects in Syria and to verify results reported by implementing partners.

Programme partners: Cowater + Landell Mills

Programme date: 16 April 2020 to 15 July 2023

Approved budget: up to £16.18 million

Financial information

Initial allocations have been set internally to deliver the priorities set out in the International Development Strategy (May 2022) and the Integrated Review Refresh 2023, based on the FCDO’s Spending Review 2021 settlement.

The department’s spending plans for the period 2022 to 2023 to 2024 to 2025 have been revisited to ensure HM Government continues to spend around 0.5% of Gross National Income (GNI) on ODA. This was in the context of the significant and unexpected costs incurred to support the people of Ukraine and Afghanistan escape oppression and conflict and find refuge in the UK, and others seeking asylum. The Government provided additional resources of £1 billion in 2022 to 2023 and £1.5 billion in 2023 to 2024 to help meet these unanticipated costs. The Government remains committed to returning ODA spending to 0.7% of GNI when the fiscal situation allows, in line with the approach confirmed by the House of Commons in July 2021.

The Country Development Partnership Summaries include the breakdown of programme budgets allocated to individual countries for 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025. These allocations are indicative and subject to revision as, by its nature, the department’s work is dynamic. Programme allocations are continually reviewed to respond to changing global needs, including humanitarian crises, fluctuations in GNI and other ODA allocation decisions.

It should be noted that these figures do not reflect the full range of UK ODA spending in these individual countries as they do not include spend delivered via core contributions to multilateral organisations, or regional programmes delivered by the FCDO’s central departments. Other UK Government departments also spend a large amount of ODA overseas. Details of ODA spent by other UK government departments can be found in their Annual Report and Accounts and the Statistics for International Development.

FCDO bilateral ODA

The UK Government has had to reprioritise its Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) spend in the context of the significant and unanticipated international turmoil, including the war in Ukraine. This has meant a constrained UK ODA budget in Syria for Financial Year (FY) 2023 to 2024. The significant increase in the indicative ODA budget for FY 2024 to 2025 reflects the UK’s humanitarian leadership, commitment to girls’ education and the ongoing scale of the crisis in Syria.

Allocated ODA budget financial year 2023 to 2024	Indicative ODA budget financial year 2024 to 2025
£ 77 million	£97 million