What is Giving Compass?
We connect donors to learning resources and ways to support community-led solutions. Learn more about us.
Giving Compass' Take:
• Forbes reports on the dire Syrian crisis and the influx of refugees into Lebanon. With resources sparse, UNICEF and The Clooney Foundation for Justice have partnered to support eight public schools in the region for approximately 3,000 refugee students.
• While emergency funds are certainly needed, it's encouraging to hear about the partnership's efforts to create more sustainable solutions, with investments in school technology, counseling for trauma and social inclusion. Other orgs would do well to emulate the process.
• Looking to help Syrians affected by war? This article provides some resources.
The recent violence in Afrin, Idlib and Eastern Ghouta suggests all too graphically why the Syrian refugee crisis remains the largest humanitarian emergency since World War II. Syria's civil war has driven millions of families from their homes. More than 5.3 million Syrians — including 2.5 million children, for example — have been living as registered refugees in nearby countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. More than 90 percent of these Syrian refugees confront high poverty rates, high costs of living, limited job opportunities and the exhaustion of family savings.
Lebanon, which has the world’s highest per capita refugee population, has been particularly affected by an influx of more than one million Syrian refugees. This is equivalent to nearly one quarter of the country's total population before the Syrian conflict began. The surge has taxed local resources, particularly schools, and has affected both refugee children and Lebanese students ...
To help address the urgent needs of both Syrian refugee children and their host country, the Clooney Foundation for Justice announced a $3.25 million partnership with UNICEF in July 2017, which includes a generous donation from Google.org, and a $1 million in-kind technology contribution from HP. The partnership will support eight public schools in Lebanon as they provide critical education opportunities to approximately 3,000 formerly out-of-school Syrian refugee students.
Through support from The Clooney Foundation for Justice, these eight schools have opened doors for the first time to students in the second shift, allowing Syrian refugee students to enroll in school, and also to receive transportation and school supplies under the country-wide “Reaching All Children with Education” initiative of the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE) — to which UNICEF contributes.
Read the full article about Lebanon's refugee population and the role of The Clooney Foundation for Justice by Malcolm Farley at Forbes.