Executive summary

With the international community navigating a potential transition from emergency response to early recovery in Syria, focus is turning to civil society engagement to promote sustainable growth. In the absence of government support in service provision throughout Syria, there is even greater pressure on local communities to provide for themselves. One way which communities in Dar’a, in government-controlled southern Syria, have navigated this is to hold local fundraising campaigns, known as ‘Faza’at’, to raise money for infrastructure projects. Although not without their pitfalls and problems, Faza’at held in January 2023 raised SYP 39 billion ($4 million) donated by locals and expatriates and contributed significantly toward improved provision of water, electricity and internet services.

Here, CA-SYR unpacks the Faza’at in Dar’a and their potential to contribute to early recovery, within the parameters and restrictions created by the government in post-conflict Syria.

Introduction

In January 2023, residents in Dar’a governorate organized a number of ‘faza’at’ – a ‘fazaa’ is a local community-led crowdfunding campaigns – to raise money for infrastructure projects throughout the governorate. The faza’at raised SYP 39 billion (US$4 million), which was used to improve basic service provision, including water, electricity and internet access.

The Syrian government’s involvement in these campaigns has raised questions about the nature of civil society in Syria post-conflict, and whether there is room for it to develop organically in the current political climate. In 2010, just prior to the outbreak of the Syrian conflict, it was estimated that the local charities provided SYP 6.5 billion worth of financial support and services and provided assistance to approximately 2.2 million Syrians. Following the start of the conflict, hundreds more charitable CSOs began operating in the country, as the government lost control over much of its territory. The presence of these organizations diminished as the government then re-took control, and established reconciliation agreements with the opposition, particularly in southern and central governorates. This happened in Dar’a where reconciliation led to the establishment of government-sponsored NGOs (ie, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and Syria Trust) which supplanted numerous CSOs and NGOs operating in the area, leaving the governorate with almost no room for civic engagement. Many activists also left the area following Damascus retaking control.

The success of the faza’at in Dar’a in January initially indicates growing civil society engagement in Syria and offers an opportunity to explore how community and government relations have developed since reconciliation in 2018. Humanitarian actors, as discussed during the 2023 Brussels VII Conference ‘Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region’ are keen to promote the importance of continuing to work with and provide financial and capacity-building support to Syria’s civil society to encourage early recovery in the country. Similarly, sideline events by UN agencies at the conference also stressed the need to support civil society, highlighting the role of civil society organizations in promoting recovery.

CA-SYR aims to contribute to these recent discussions, through analysis of how the community-run faza’at in Dar’a contribute to early recovery, and the criticisms and pitfalls of these initiatives. The faza’at offer insight to explore how civic engagement has developed in Dar’a, particularly since the governorate’s reconciliation with the Syrian government in 2018. Criticisms of them include the awareness of heavy government involvement in both organizing and implementation of the projects (with varying success), and the potential for the initiatives to further entrench political and economic inequality between communities (which can be traced back to government loyalties). While this report does not intend to establish parameters for civil society engagement, or say whether faza’at can or cannot be identified as purely civil society initiatives, it does aim to provide a more grounded understanding of how communities are responding to improve standards of living in southern Syria.