Together, We Make A Big Impact
Our work in Syria is focused on 6 key missions:
Life-saving emergency assistance has been at the forefront of Big Heart programing since 2012.
Emergency response is delivered under our unique Northern Syria Response Facility (NSRF), a rapid response mechanism which offers flexibility, speed, and wide geographic coverage.
When a crisis hits, our teams are immediately mobilized to assess needs, rapidly deploy aid, and provide emergency assistance within hours of a crisis. Emergency interventions provide food kits, Ready to Eat (RTE) rations, essential Non-Food Items, and emergency cash vouchers / transfers.
Gravity of the worst crisis in a century:
• 13.4 million people remain in need of humanitarian assistance:
• 6.7 million people internally displaced by conflict
• 6.6 million Syrians forced to flee and become refugees
Key Facts and Figures:
960,000
displaced people assisted
fleeing from sudden crisis, living in insecure conditions
$2.9M
emergency assistance
distributed by transfer / voucher to people in the greatest need
$52.3M
emergency funding
from DfID, European Commission (ECHO); Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC); United Nations (FAO, IOM, OCHA, UNCHR, UNICEF and WFP) and USAID
Big Heart’s Food, Safety & Livelihoods program incorporates comprehensive need-based aid across modalities: repeat assistance food kits and vouchers; distribution of Ready-to-Eat rations; support to bakeries; provision of farming kits (seeds, tools), Cash Voucher Assistance and Cash-for-Work programs. Big Heart is a leading humanitarian actor in food security across Northwest Syria.
Big Heart takes a holistic approach to Cash Voucher Assistance by offering diverse Livelihoods programming designed to increase agricultural yield for farmers and households.
Our Cash-for-Work program repairs irrigation channels during the winter season, rehabilitating 22 kilometers of essential infrastructure in the Al Roj system, Idleb. Repairs benefitted 510 farming households and 160 Cash for Work households.
Key Facts and Figures:
2.2M
food kits delivered since 2012
4.4M
people reached via 43 projects
$116M
in funding
from ECHO, GIZ, USAID, SDC, United Nations (FAO, OCHA, WFP)
Big Heart has implemented life-saving and life-sustaining WASH assistance to rural, crisis-affected communities across Northwest Syria since 2015, reaching more than 1.3 million people (households, hospitals, schools) through supported water station networks.
Our WASH interventions include:
• Repairs, rehabilitation, and capacity building at water stations
• Irrigation, Solid Waste Management, improved drainage, sanitation management
• Establishing Cost Recovery Mechanisms for sustainable WASH services
• Public health and COVID-19 prevention practices, awareness-raising
• Provision of essential hygiene items
• Community mobilization
Key Facts and Figures:
2,152,899CM3
Of clean, potable water benefiting
1.3 million people in need
Increased operational capacity of supported water stations by 10-90%
16
WASH Projects
implemented using over $8.5 million in WASH funding from DfID; GIZ; United Nations (IOM, OCHA, UNICEF); USAID
Big Heart has reached over 220,000 conflict-affected vulnerable households with essential and life-preserving Seasonal Non-Food Item assistance: SNFIs, kitchen kits, clothing items, hygiene kits, COVID-19 hygiene materials, heaters, heating fuel, tents, mattresses, blankets, winter voucher assistance, shelter rehabilitation, and shelter repair voucher assistance.
Key Facts and Figures:
78,616
tents, hygiene kits, mattresses, and thermal blankets distributed
$114,900
in shelter repair vouchers
$52M
in SFNI funding
from USAID, ECHO, UNHCR, UNICEF, DfID, UN OCHA, UN IOM, SDC, SCHF
Big Heart’s comprehensive three-tiered approach to education has brought about real results for children and families. We are deliberate in improving teaching and learning, promoting student wellbeing and protection, and strengthening educational access and resources.
• Assistance to students in formal and informal education platforms, including
out-of-school children
• Provision of psycho-social support to children traumatized by war
• Rehabilitation and maintenance of school buildings and facilities
• Provision of teaching and learning materials, student and teacher kits
• Psycho-social support training for teachers, parenting workshops, structured
recreational activities for in and out-of-school children
Key Facts and Figures:
18,895
Children, 310 school personnel assisted
across 14 schools and informal education settings
Grades 1-12 education structured around quality courses in Arabic, English, math, and science
$3.0M
in education funding
from DfID, EuropeAid, United Nations (OCHA)
At Big Heart, we understand the significance of a healthy economy and a sustainable livelihood. Our leadership team has extensive experience and a robust network in the public and private sectors, both regionally and globally. We promote entrepreneurship by aiding the development of 300 small businesses via micro-grants, piloting peer-to-peer networks, and supporting packages to facilitate start-ups and business investment. Business assistance prioritizes the most vulnerable, including female-headed households, and a diverse array of local business:
• Traders
• Start-ups and existing shops – food, clothing, cosmetics, bakery, dairy, fruit handcarts
• Services providers: hairdressers, internet access vendors, electricity providers,
automobile repairs, sanitation, clothes mending, blacksmith and aluminum work
for industrial / construction needs
Key Facts and Figures:
$1,045,014
in voucher support
including food, agriculture and water vouchers to 7,430households
$135,080
in micro-grants
and entrepreneur support packages to 300 households
$3.4M
Total in cash assistance distributed
Advocacy
Our efforts go beyond field work. Since the beginning of the Syrian conflict, we have leveraged our unique understanding of Syria to decode complex realities, encourage problem-solving, and create inclusive long-lasting solutions locally with humanitarians on the ground and internationally with high-level stakeholders, policy-makers, and donors.
Engagement with the United Nations
In 2012, Big Heart was one of the first Syrian diaspora NGOs to positively engage the United Nations, prior to the UN Security Council resolution on cross-border operations. We were part of the first Humanitarian Liaison Group, a strategic body for cross-border operations from Turkey. Big Heart opened the door for increased participation of Syrian organizations in the relief architecture overseeing the humanitarian response in Syria. Since the earliest days of the conflict, we have engaged the UN for better representation of Syrian organizations and the Syrian people in UN-led coordination structures.
Syrian NGO Alliance
We are a founding member of the Syrian NGO Alliance, an organizing body of more than 20 leading Syrian NGOs focused on advocacy and coordination.
World Humanitarian Summit
Big Heart advocated at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2015 for strengthening inclusion of Syrian NGOs during discussions of the Grand Bargain and localization of aid.
UN General Assembly
Big Heart was selected to represent Syrian humanitarian organizations at the UN General Assembly EU High Level Meetings in 2018 and 2019. These fora were attended by foreign ministers and facilitated discussion of urgent policy toward the Syrian conflict and the resulting humanitarian catastrophe.
Civil Society Support Room
Big Heart has participated in the Civil Society Support Room thematic working group in support of an inclusive political transition nine times. UN Security Council Resolution 2254 mandated that the UN Special Envoy for the Syrian conflict seek a sustainable solution to the crisis through an inclusive Syrian-led political process which meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people. The Civil Society Support Room was established in 2016 by the Office of the Special Envoy to consult with a broad range of civil society actors.
Donor Conferences
Big Heart has participated in all major donor conferences for Syria, starting in London in 2016, followed by Brussels I, II, III, and IV hosted by the European Union. Big Heart has been invited to attend the Senior Officials Meetings, during which leading humanitarian donor countries review humanitarian priorities in advance of annual donor conferences.
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