Shabana: Syria must remain on the list of donors' priorities

Damascus-SANA

The Regional Director of the United Nations Population Fund, Louay Shabaneh, stressed that Syria must remain on the list of donors' priorities, as the needs are great and the crisis in the country is not over yet.

During a press conference today, at the end of his visit to Syria, Shabana made it clear that Syria has not escaped the cycle of need despite the improvement in the situation, calling on donors who provided generously to increase funding because the needs are great.

Shabana explained that the Fund's work in Syria is expanding due to the facilities provided by the government in the field of access to various population centers and the opening of offices for it in several places in the country, indicating that there has been a positive development from an operational point of view, which allowed access to other groups of needy people.

Shabana pointed out that the services provided by the fund increased this year by 37 percent compared to 2019, but the concern continues due to the increase in needs on the ground and the increase in sites of need for reproductive and sexual health services and combating gender-based violence, pointing to the importance of expanding the nature of programs The fund to enhance the resilience of the communities hosting the displaced.

Shabana expressed his hope that the Syrian state and donors will reach as soon as possible to develop the strategic framework document that organizes the work of the United Nations in Syria with the aim of reaching all target groups in the economic, social, environmental, population and relief fields.

Shabana explained that the needs on the ground are many and greater than the amount of funding available, stressing the importance of achieving a state of harmony in providing services and setting priorities so that there is efficiency and effectiveness in using the available funding, indicating that by the end of this year, the Fund will have spent approximately $45 million in its activities. And that the initial estimate of the fund's needs for the next year is about $60 million, of which only $10 million is available so far.

Shabana reviewed the stations of his visit to Syria, where he was briefed on the progress of the programs offered by the Fund and held discussions related to strengthening local partnerships in order to reach the needy by improving services and alleviating suffering.

In turn, the representative of the Fund in Syria, Iyad Nasr, explained the Fund's openness to expanding the framework for obtaining financing to include the private sector and profit-making companies that wish to provide aid to the needy. Solar powered.

Nasr pointed out that the Fund has been working since the beginning of the eighth month to prepare work plans with partners before the end of the donor funding years, which is a new procedure that the Fund is taking to complete the necessary procedures before the end of this year by proactively trying to obtain the necessary funding for programs and meeting needs.

It is noteworthy that the United Nations Population Fund has been working in Syria since 1971 within four areas related to sexual and reproductive health, youth, population and development, in addition to combating negative behaviors related to gender-based violence.

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