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Syria

After more than a decade of conflict, Syria has the largest number of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) people in the world with 6.8 million people displaced within Syria currently. 70% of Syrians are in need of humanitarian assistance. Approximately 5.5 million Syrian refugees live in the five countries neighboring Syria - Türkiye, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.

GOAL is one of the leading humanitarian actors in Northwest Syria, and has supported conflict-affected people here since 2012. In 2022, 950+ staff managed a programme expenditure of €101.6M - reaching more than 900,000 people every month.

Whilst GOAL's main operations are in Idleb Governate, work expanded to Aleppo Governorate (A’zaz District) in late 2018. Programmes include Emergency Response, Resilient Health and Food & Nutrition Security. Operations are supported by senior management in Jordan, Turkiye and at the GOAL HQ in Dublin.

What we do in Syria

Emergency Response
Resilient Health
Food & Nutrition Security

Emergency response

GOAL’s emergency response programme reached circa 287,000 newly displaced people with food and non-food relief items and one-off cash transfers in 2022

On Mon 6th Feb 2023, a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Southern Türkiye and northern Syria as 18 million people slept. 55,000 people, including 32 GOAL staff, lost their lives that night. The earthquake completely destroyed 1,700 buildings and partially destroyed 8,600 buildings in Idleb and Aleppo where GOAL works. And up to 55K families who were already displaced because of the on-going conflict in Syria, were displaced again.

This extensive damage to buildings meant thousands , including small children and the elderly, were immediately without shelter and exposed to harsh weather conditions.

Priority needs included shelter, medical supplies, water, sanitation, food, cash, and psychosocial support. GOALs Teams on the ground were quick to respond to carry out scoping missions, coordinate with local government and humanitarian structures, engage with local partners and deliver lifesaving assistance.

Rehabilitating essential WASH infrastructures

WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) Programmes. 

In 2022, GOAL supported 1.1 million people by supplying clean, safe, potable water to their homes through the operation of water stations and the repair of water supply infrastructure damaged by ongoing conflict, via 64 water stations. 

This water was provided to 227K children under five years of age, 

Immediately after the earthquake in early February 2022, GOAL Teams were rehabilitating water services in areas where water systems have been damaged and delivering water trucking to ensure essential access to water services.

Bakery support following the earthquake

GOAL is one of the largest operators of food security programming, also addressing persistent food insecurity in Idleb and Aleppo Governorates in NW Syria.

In 2022, GOAL Reached one million people with medium-term monthly food assistance and supported 430,000 people with subsidised bread (flour and yeast inputs) every day.

For example, GOAL provides 50 per cent of the flour and yeast inputs of more than 20 local bakeries in Idleb Governorate to help supply bread at almost half the market price for around 300,000 people.

In 2022, GOAL reached 132+K children under five years of age, with food and nutrition programmes.  

After the earthquake in Feb 2023, GOAL Teams in NW Syria also quickly restarted all their existing bakery programmes, delivering flour and yeast to contracted bakeries and bakeries to produce subsided bread and address food shortages and our Teams started working on bakery rehabilitation for those with operations damaged by the earthquake.

Our achievements

  • GOAL has grown to become one of the largest providers of humanitarian assistance, especially in food security programming, in Northern Syria
  • From April 2021 – 2022, GOAL reached one million people with medium-term monthly food assistance and supported 430,000 people with subsidised bread every day.
  • We reached 287,000 newly displaced people with food and non-food relief items and multi-purpose one-off cash transfers in 2022.
  • GOAL utilises cash and voucher distribution to allow households to meet their needs and survive shocks in a flexible and dignified manner.
  • In 2023, 50,000 families in NW Syria were reached with multi-purpose cash assistance.
  • 19% of those that GOAL reached with humanitarian aid assistance in NW Syria in 2022 were under five years and 20% of those reached had a disability.

Our story in numbers

2012

GOAL Syria begins

€101.6M

Programme expenditure in 2022

800

Staff across Northern Syria

2.1M

People reached in 2023