SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC: Health Ministry Receives Four Ambulances from UNFPA
Syrian Arab News Agency on 3 April reported that the Health Ministry received four ambulances from the UNFPA.
SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC: UNFPA Donated Vaccines and Medicines
The Syrian Arab News Agency on 31 March reported that the Health Ministry delivered 84 million SYP worth of medical equipment and medicines to Aleppo city. UNFPA and the WHO donated 72 million SYP worth of vaccines and medicines.
SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC: UNFPA Cooperation Called “Fruitful”
Sana-Syria on 12 December reported that UNFPA has actively participated, for the second time, in the workshop organized by the Syrian Parliament on the role of parliamentarians in improving the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms of development and humanitarian response programmes.
His Excellency, the Head of the Parliament, Mr. Jehad Al-Laham, emphasized and commented on the fruitful cooperation with UNFPA in relation to population issues including reproductive health, youth and gender in order to increase the awareness of the affected people and enhance the assistance delivered to them.
During the opening speech, UNFPA Assistant Representative, Mr. Omar Ballan, highlighted the prominent role of monitoring and evaluation in enhancing humanitarian response plans and increasing the effectiveness, efficiency and quality of service in a way that ensures the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance to the people most in need. Read in Arabic: Sana-Syria
SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC: Role of Parliamentarians in Mitigating Crisis
Multiple media outlets on 28 November reported that the UNFPA CO participated in the workshop organized by the Syrian Parliament on meeting the increasing humanitarian needs during the Syrian crisis.
During the opening speech and technical presentation, UNFPA highlighted the importance of the role of the parliamentarians in mitigating the negative consequences of the ongoing crisis through assessing the needs, and monitoring and evaluation of the ongoing humanitarian response programs. Read in Arabic: Sana and Alwatan
SYRIA: Ministry of Health Receives Two Mobile Clinics from UNFPA
AlWatan Online and the General Organization of Radio and TV Syria reported on 10 October on the delivery of two mobile clinics. The Minister of Health Dr. Wael Al-Halqi expressed his appreciation for UNFPA Syria and stated that “the mobile clinics are part of the cooperation between the MoH and UNFPA which includes capacity building of medical and nursing staff, renovation of three health centres per year, awareness raising, combating HIV/AIDS and promoting mental health”.
Dr. Bakhtior Kadirov, from UNFPA Syria, stated that “the mobile clinics will secure the accessibility of people in remote areas to reproductive health services including basic emergency care and reach an estimated 100-150 people per day”. Read in Arabic: AlWatan Online Listen in Arabic: General Organization of Radio and TV Syria
GLOBAL: As Security Council Demands End to Syria Violence, U.N. Positions Itself for Assad ‘Reforms’
Fox News reported on 5 August that “Even as the United Nations Security Council demands that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad cease its campaign of killing civilian protesters, the U.N. bureaucracy is extending its assistance to Syria through 2012 in the hope Assad’s vague promises of political reform and “national dialogue” will eventually prove to be real . . . The new document obtained by Fox News specifically mentions the programmes of UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, and a mixed bag of development assistance programmes known as the U.N. Development Assistance Framework, or UNDAF, as continuing on an interim basis. The quiet renewal of the UNDAF programs, at a time when Western nations were tightening economic sanctions on the Assad regime in protest over the repression, was first reported by Fox News last month. UNFPA’s extension of its Syria programme was contained in documents Fox News obtained at that time. UNICEF declined to respond to questions from Fox News about its executive board document.” Read: Fox News
UNITED STATES/SYRIA: Despite Western Sanctions Against Syria, U.N. Quietly Extends Development Aid to Country
Fox News (US) reported on 29 July that amid economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other Western democracies to pressure Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to end his brutal eleven-year reign, the United Nations has quietly agreed to extend its current development partnership agreement with the Assad government, which was set to expire this year. News of the current U.N. programme extension was tucked into a document presented to the 36-nation Executive Board that oversees operations of UNDP, UNFPA and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), at a semi-annual session in early July, extending current programmes in both Syria and Egypt. (The U.S. is a member of the Executive Board, and so is the Assad regime’s biggest supporter, Iran.) While it refers in its headings only to UNFPA, the text of the Executive Board document specifically affirms that the U.N. as a whole agreed with the Assad regime on the extension to what is known as the United Nations Development Assistance Framework, or UNDAF, for Syria, even as it also observes that Syria is “facing a challenge with the wave of unrest that has spread throughout the country.” Among other things, the UNFPA documents note that the Assad government “has introduced a comprehensive reform package” that “embraces various spheres” including youth employment, and says that the one-year extension will allow UNFPA, for one, to “create an enabling environment to empower youth and enable them to participate in decision-making and planning at central and local levels.” Read: Fox News
SYRIA: Cooperation with UNFPA in Family Planning, Population Issues Discussed
SANA reported on 24 March that Minister of Health Rida Said and Hafed Chekir, Director of the UNFPA Regional Office for the Arab States discussed cooperation on health policies related to family planning programmes and women empowerment. Read: SANA
SYRIA: Awareness Raising Campaign on Reproductive Health and Gender-Based Violence
SANA and Syrian Days reported on 22 February that through the support provided by the humanitarian project, which is funded by the Australian Government, the Halbouni Health Counselling Centre (HCC), a project co-funded by the European Union, and implemented by the Syrian Family Planning Association (SFPA) with the technical assistance of the Italian Association for Women in Development (AIDOS), organised an awareness campaign on Reproductive Health (RH) and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Damascus. The campaign aimed at providing thorough information on RH and GBV, including its concept, phenomena and consequences, available free services, and a brief description of the legal framework. The campaign attracted around 700 people; more than 90 per cent of them are women, with the participation of community leaders who are well known in the areas with high concentration of Iraqi refugees. Not only did the participants expand their knowledge on RH and GBV, they were also provided with vouchers for free counselling at HCC as well as the hygiene kits procured by UNFPA. Read in Arabic: SANA and Syrian Days
SYRIA: UNFPA Launches Country Programme Evaluation Report
Multiple media outlets reported on 29 December that UNFPA Syria launched the Country Programme Evaluation Report in cooperation with State Planning Commission, and participation of key national counterparts and stakeholders that endorsed the key conclusions, lessons learned and recommendations. Read in Arabic: Sana, Al Thawra
SYRIA: National Social Aid Fund Established
Syria-News.com reported on 23 December that the Cabinet approved a draft law on establishing the National Social Aid Fund. The project was launched jointly by UNDP, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour and UNFPA in 2007 based on the available statistics in 2004's “Income and Expenditure Survey.” It is still being implemented. Read: Syria-News.com
SYRIA: UNFPA-Sponsored Studies Released
Multiple media outlets reported on 25 November to 7 December on two national studies launched with UNFPA support. The first is the quantitative survey followed by a qualitative study on domestic violence, launched by the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs with UNFPA’s support. The second report, the “Comprehensive Assessment of the Capacity and Needs of the Juveniles Social Care Institutions/Centres in Syria,” was launched and disseminated by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs with the support of UNFPA as a joint project between Gender and Youth components. Read: Day Press, Read in Arabic: Sana, Syrian Days
SYRIA: Workshop on Early Marriage
DayPress reported on 7 December that the People's Assembly, in cooperation with UNFPA, held a workshop on early marriage and its effects on family and society. UNFPA Assistant Representative Omar Ballan said that the Fund supports Syria in all the activities concerning empowering woman and providing the appropriate services in the field of reproductive health. Read: DayPress
SYRIA: Youth Reports Discussed in Latakia
Baladna reported on 29 May on a dialogue based on five in-depth studies on youth prepared by the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs (SCFA) with UNFPA support which covered, youth and RH, youth and Education, youth & employment, youth & Gender, and youth & Community participation. Read in Arabic: Baladna
SYRIA: Executive Board Visits UNFPA, UNDP Projects in Syria
Multiple media outlets reported on 22 May on a recent field visit by the UNFPA/UNDP Executive Board to Syria. The group, which included 10 diplomats, visited a number of UNFPA and UNDP projects and met with government officials to address UNFPA cooperation and the ongoing effort to incorporate population and development issues into national policy. Read: Tishreen and in Arabic: Al Baath, Baladna (22 May) Syria News, Syria News
SYRIA: UNFPA Supports Development of Gender Training Manuals for NGOs
Thara reported on 4 April on the development of training manuals on gender issues prepared by the Ministry of Social Affairs with support from UNFPA. Read in Arabic: Thara
SYRIA: Deputy Foreign Minister Receives UNFPA Representative’s Credentials
Champress, Sana and Syria News reported on 31 March and 1 April that Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Fayssal Mikdad received the credentials of Asr Ahmad Toson as representative of the UNFPA in Syria. The two discussed the standing cooperation between Syria and the UNFPA and means for developing it. Read in Arabic: Champress, Sana and Syria News
SYRIA: UNFPA Presents SWOP Report for 2009
Baladna and Tishreen reported on 1 April that the 2009 SWOP report, Facing a Changing World: Women, Population and Climate, was launched at the national level on 31 March. Three presentations were shared during the event: UNFPA Assistant Representative Omar Ballan, Refaat Hejazi from the State Planning Commission (SPC) on the Syrian State and Khomaina Ahmed from Junior Chamber International (JCI). Read in Arabic: Baladna
SYRIA: New Booklet on HIV/AIDS
Syria Today reported on 3 March that the government has published a booklet with the UNFPA and the Ministries of Health and Information. According to Etab Altakee, a gender and communications officer with UNFPA, the booklet aims to “raise awareness and provide journalists with the tools to handle this issue responsibly”. The booklet provides accurate, scientific information about HIV/AIDS and addresses commonly held falsehoods about the spread of the disease. It also lists journalists’ rights and responsibilities in covering the issue, including the right to information. Read: Syria Today
SYRIA: Media Campaign For Family Planning Is a National and Moral Responsibility
Syrian Arab News Agency reported 12 December Ministry of Information, in cooperation with UNFPA launched the Media Campaign for Family Planning and Mothers Health in Damascus. Resident Representative of the United Nations in Syria Ismael Weld al-Sheikh stressed the need for confronting negative behavior and wrong attitudes through communication based on respecting and understanding social and cultural characteristics.The campaign aims at spreading awareness about maternal health and the importance of family planning via various media activities such as television and radio programs, road advertisements, field trips, and more.
SYRIA: UNFPA Supports HIV/AIDS Workshop
Multiple media outlets reported 13 October that UNFPA supported a workshop conducted by Ministry of Health- HIV/AIDS national programme for the parliament on Situation Assessment & Response Analysis (SARA). The workshop aimed to provide a comprehensive view of SARA for the parliament, including the analysis, results and recommendations. Read in Arabic: Champress