Support to Local Governance in Türkiye and Lebanon Hosting Syrian Refugees
Since 2018, SALAR International support local governments in Türkiye and Lebanon to become resilient in the reception of refugees from Syria. The Resilience in Local Governance Project (RESLOG) is part of the Swedish Government’s regional strategy for the Syria crisis, with aim to strengthen the capacity of Local Governments by increasing resilience in accordance with the principles of peacefulness, co-habitation and inclusiveness.
Since the commence of the war in Syria 2011, over 4.9 million registered Syrian refugees resides in neighboring countries, including over 3.09 million in Türkiye and over 774,000 in Lebanon. However, the real number of refugees is assessed to be much higher. The number of Syrian refugees living in Türkiye constitutes 15 percent of all people displaced across borders globally. Lebanon host the highest number of refugees globally, both per capita and per square kilometer.
The project builds on the Swedish decentralisation and municipal experiences of participatory local governance and social cohesion. This entails supporting local authorities’ capacity to deliver municipal services to its original and new populations while developing new services and also to build peaceful co-habitation. This work involves different levels within the governance system; from policy advocacy at national level, regional support to capacity building through Unions of Municipalities and their member municipalities, participatory and inclusive planning and service delivery at local level.
The direct target group of the project is Local Government actors; municipalities and Unions of Municipalities and their communities. The final beneficiaties of Reslog are Syrian refugees and host community members.
Thematically the current project phase center around three general key areas:
- Municipal migration management and policy dialogue.
- Active citizenship for co-habitation.
- Livelihood and local economic development.
More information
Contact
Marléne Hugosson
Project Manager, Türkiye
marlene.hugosson@skr.se
Ellen Ahlqvist
Project Manager. Lebanon
ellen.ahlqvist@skr.se