The Syria crisis is now entering its ninth year and having a disastrous impact on the lives of children, youth and their families. Collective efforts of governments and the international community have prevented at least another 2.5 million Syrian children from being out of school. However, every year, over one third or nearly 3 million school-age Syrian children remain outside of formal or non-formal education. In 2019, many children are not safe or do not feel safe, and their future is challenged.
The rapidly evolving context requires key actors in the Syria response to adapt and look beyond short-term access-oriented responses. Urgent reflection is needed to design longer term and sustainable strategies to make up for the loss of human capital. Innovative approaches need to be explored to ensure children and youth continue to be protected and have opportunities to engage in meaningful learning that provides them with the skills necessary to build a peaceful and prosperous future for themselves, their families and their communities. At the current pace, many will be left behind and progress towards meeting the ambition of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, particularly towards SDG4, will be challenged, not only in Syria, but also in the host countries.
During the London pledging conference in 2016, partners, donors and the international community made a commitment to ensure protection and learning pathways for children and youth affected by the Syria crisis. Since then, annual reports have been produced under the No Lost Generation (NLG) Initiative to document the progress made towards this promise and to contribute to the discussions of subsequent conferences in Brussels.
The present paper, prepared by NLG partners at the regional and country levels ahead of the third Brussels Conference on ‘Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region’ in March 2019, represents an update of the 2018 report: We made a promise: ensuring learning pathways and protection for Syrian children and youth, and includes:
• An update on the situation of education and protection for Syrian children and youth in Syria and the five host countries;
• A brief reflection on the way forward and key priorities for the Syria crisis education and protection response at this critical time; and
• A review of progress made in 2018 towards the key recommendations set out in the 2018 report:
We made a promise: ensuring learning pathways and protection for Syrian children and youth (see Annex).