Support to Local Governance in Türkiye and Lebanon Hosting Syrian Refugees
Between 2018-2025, SALAR International supported local governments in Lebanon and Türkiye to become resilient in the reception of refugees from Syria. The Resilience in Local Governance project (Reslog) first phase was implemented between 2018-2022 and the second phase was implemented between 2022-2025. The project was 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.
After the commence of the war in Syria 2011, over 4.9 million registered Syrian refugees was estimated to reside in neighboring countries, including over 3.9 million in Türkiye and over 774,000 in Lebanon. However, the real number of refugees is assessed to have been much higher. The number of Syrian refugees living in Türkiye constituted 15 percent of all people displaced across borders globally. Lebanon hosted the highest number of refugees globally, both per capita and per square kilometer. As part of Sweden’s Regional Strategy for the Syria Crisis, the Reslog project aimed to strengthen local governance resilience in these contexts heavily affected by this protracted displacement, and also by political instability, economic crises, natural disasters, and social tensions linked to large refugee populations.
The project aimed to support municipalities in Lebanon and Türkiye to become more resilient through strengthened municipal governance, including improved abilities to provide more equal access to services, livelihood opportunities and means for peaceful co-habitation to women and men from Syrian refugee and local communities. The project built on the Swedish decentralisation and municipal experiences of participatory local governance and social cohesion. The work involved 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 was Local Government actors; municipalities and Unions of Municipalities and their communities. The final beneficiaries of Reslog were Syrian refugees and host community members.
Three focus areas
The project included three outcomes, whereas the first two where similar for both project countries and the third only applicable for Türkiye. The first outcome focused on strengthening the provision of municipal services and peaceful cohabitation through fostering inclusive active citizenship, the second focused on enabling more decent and greener local livelihood opportunities for women and men in refugee and local communities, and the third focused on supporting Turkish local government actors to become more systematic and effective in contributing to migration policy matters of concern.
Results and outcomes of Reslog
Through the Reslog project, partner Union of municipalities and member municipalities in both project countries improved data systems and strengthened ability to collect, analyse, and use gender-disaggregated socio-economic data for evidence-based planning, service delivery, and decision-making. In Türkiye, the project developed municipal Resilience Assessment and Migration Master Planning approaches and tools to capacitate the municipalities in their resilience and recovery planning, particularly in municipalities affected by the 2023 earthquakes.
As part of Reslog, municipal community centres were transformed into inclusive spaces for interaction, service provision, and peaceful cohabitation. Across both countries, municipalities demonstrated improved capacity to conduct inclusive and gender-sensitive communication with women, men, youth, and children from refugee and host communities. These municipal centres expanded the diverse communities’ access to social support services, and contributed to reduced social barriers, increased participation, and trust between municipalities and their citizens, including refugees, as well as between host and refugee communities.
Furthermore, Reslog has strengthened active citizenship structures, including Citizen Assemblies, neighborhood councils, volunteer networks, and crisis management units. Mechanisms for volunteering have been formalized, and community structures have become part of the local governments’ regular operations. In Türkiye, municipalities have demonstrated greater openness and capacity to engage refugee communities despite a challenging political environment. In Lebanon, these structures proved critical during periods of crisis, enabling local authorities to coordinate responses despite severe institutional constraints.
The project increased access to income-generating opportunities for refugee and host community members, with a strong focus on women’s economic participation. Vocational activities and community-based economic initiatives enabled participants to improve sustainable livelihood. In Türkiye, municipalities strengthened their role as drivers of inclusive and greener local economic development, including through initiatives linked to green transition centres and circular economy practices.
In Türkiye, Reslog contributed to more systematic and effective engagement of Turkish local governments in migration governance with improved horizontal and vertical dialogue between municipalities, municipal unions, and national institutions as a result.
An area based approach that generated sustainable results
Despite operating in highly volatile environment, the project achieved strong and tangible results. Reslog demonstrated that a localized, area-based and systems-oriented approach can generate sustainable institutional change and improve municipal capacity even during crisis. Focusing on strengthening municipalities’ capacities in data management and service delivery, peaceful cohabitation through fostering active citizenship, enabling more decent and greener local livelihood opportunities for women and men in refugee and local host communities, and support Turkish local government actors to become more systematic and effective in contributing to migration policy, Reslog significantly improved the capacity of municipalities and unions of municipalities to respond to migration-related community needs, even beyond the project cycle.
More information
Contact
Marléne Hugosson
Project Manager, Türkiye
marlene.hugosson@skr.se
Ellen Ahlqvist
Project Manager. Lebanon
ellen.ahlqvist@skr.se