Syria Aid Conference: new ‘Marshall Plan’ needed for region

(Vatican Radio)  Officials from more than 70 countries are meeting in London Thursday at a donor’s conference aiming to help Syrians displaced by war and to try to slow the exodus of refugees to Europe.

The United Nations and regional countries now hosting millions of Syrian refugees say they need to raise $9 billion in aid this year alone.  The aid is needed for educational and economic projects to assist the some 4.6 million Syrians who have sought refuge in Jordan, Lebanon and other neighboring countries.

Fadi Hallisso, co-founder and CEO of the Beirut-based charity, Basmeh Zeitooneh, is attending Thursday’s conference.  He explains how the non-profit organization – a mostly Syrian start-up in its fourth year - has been providing income-generating skills training, psychological support and educational services to some 35,000 refugees and locals across Lebanon. With the help of international funding, Basmeh & Zeitooneh employs 110 refugees full time, and more than 165 women earn money producing textiles and other crafts in its workshops.  They are now expanding to Turkey.

Listen to Tracey McClure's interview with Fadi Hallisso:

Help Syrian start-ups – they are the ones who will rebuild Syria

“We still need a lot of support, “ says Hallisso.  “Syrian youth can do a lot once  they have the resources.”  At Thursday’s conference, he urged officials to provide “direct funding” and “capacity-building”  to Syrian civil society “because they are the ones who can play a major role in rebuilding Syria once peace comes.”

Need for a regional ‘Marshall Plan’

Hallisso is hopeful that Thursday’s Syria conference will do “something that hasn't been done before” and goes beyond the mere pledging of funds. He wants to see “long-term development programs that go beyond emergency aid…We hope that the interest in helping the governments of the surrounding countries will materialize in a big ‘Marshall plan’ for the region to develop the region and help local governments to make development projects, create jobs for both the hosting communities and the refugees themselves.”

Such a plan, he adds, should be reinforced by the creation of “a new legal framework for refugees where they can reside and live legally [in host nations] until they return back to Syria.”

He says that he has witnessed “unprecedented momentum” ahead of and during the conference where he observes that for “the first time…we are seeing Syrian civil society involved in the preparations for the conference.”

Granting the right to work to refugees will also benefit local populations

Yet Hallisso argues that organizations like his are hampered by the fact that host nations lack “a legal framework” which would allow refugees to work. “We can achieve much more if such a framework does exist. And to do so, we need to present those governments with a plan that is efficient not only for the refugees but also for the host communities…”

“This is an opportunity to make the refugees an asset,” Hallisso asserts, “that can help the economy of those countries and not to be a burden.”  Refugees will tell you that they would prefer to work rather than to receive aid, he adds.

“Aid money is limited according to the need – so help us use this money to the most benefit, by creating new job opportunities, by creating new opportunities for everyone in the region, not just only for the Syrians.”

Refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey should be granted the right to work and “not limit them to certain sectors,” Hallisso says. “Even in Turkey, recently refugees were given the right to work but there was a condition that deprived this right of its meaning by limiting the percentage of Syrians working in institutions to 10 percent.  This would deprive any Syrian-established organization or institution in Turkey from its ability to function because they cannot hire 90% of their staff from the Turkish population for many reasons – [for example] for the language barrier.”

Hallisso admits he understands the genuine unemployment concerns of the local populations in host countries, especially in Lebanon where for decades, some 500,000 Palestinian refugees are offered limited job opportunities.  But the alternative to new jobs legislation, he affirms, is “a total explosion in those countries.”  They cannot absorb more refugees “under the current conditions and circumstances.  So we need to do something drastic – a dramatic change.  And we need to convince the populations that this is an opportunity that will benefit them as well.”

So far, feedback from regional governments has been slow in coming Hallisso says.  “We will see, I think we have a lot of work to do in the coming months.”