The Middle East
In the Middle East, the volume of FCA’s staff was 28 and the number of partners 7.
“I was unemployed until I heard about the women’s savings group. I started cultivating thyme 10 years ago, and I have succeeded in growing my crop to roughly half a hectare with the help of saving. The other women in our group have also been able to save, for example, for their children’s schooling. I think all women should be able to go to work instead of staying at home.”
Andaleeb Eid, the Palestinian Territories
The main focus of Finn Church Aid’s work in the Middle East was to improve the education and livelihood opportunities of Syrian refugees in Jordan and Syria.
In JORDAN, refugees received support at the refugee camps of Za’atari and Azraq as well as in the capital Amman. There was greater emphasis than in previous years on entrepreneurship training, which was also offered to vulnerable Jordanians. In this way, the work was intended to prevent conflicts between refugees and local people in a difficult economic situation. We promoted sustainable livelihood opportunities by helping people find jobs, collaborating with businesses and by fostering the establishment of small businesses.
Young people were offered classes in English, IT skills and craft workshops. Young people were also offered psychosocial support through sport and leisure activities, such as circus and football.
The activities have enabled young girls to take their place in public spaces and to challenge oppressive gender stereotypes. Through these activities, the community has begun to see the girls as individuals with dreams and aspirations beyond the home and marriage.
In SYRIA, FCA provided children and youth with access to education in cooperation with local partner, International Orthodox Christian Charities. The war has kept many Syrians out of school. We supported the education of children and youth with remedial lessons, school fees and teacher training.
In addition, FCA took part in the renovation of 16 school buildings. In the projects, roughly 200 Syrians were offered cash for work in various jobs, including repairing schools and hospitals. We provided food assistance to 10,980 people in the Aleppo area.
In ISRAEL and the OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES, we provided Israeli youth with human rights training and Palestinians with agricultural projects.
A total of 550 Israeli youth took part in the human rights training organised for future military recruits by Rabbis for Human Rights.
In PALESTINE, FCA furthered the livelihoods of families through agriculture and entrepreneurship training as well as with the help of village savings and loan groups. For example, 378 women took part in the agricultural and business courses. The women who took part in the savings and loan groups assisted the most vulnerable families in the villages by offering food and clothing as well as obtaining heaters for schools, thus enabling students to study in warm facilities.
In East Jerusalem, using drama and music, FCA offered psychosocial support for the life skills and schooling of children and youth.