A Participatory Assessment of Women’s Work Situation, Interests, and Perceptions
After 12 years of conflict, the humanitarian crisis in Syria remains one of the most complex in the world. Due to the protracted crisis, the lack of livelihood opportunities plays a crucial role among the several needs that affect the population. Across North East Syria (NES), livelihood is reported as the priority need by more than 80% of the population,1 in a general situation characterized by a lack of job opportunities and a high inflation rate. Women are particularly excluded from the labor market, with 82% of women in NES in age of work either unemployed or out of work.
In Raqqa city, a recent labor market assessment3 gave a general overview of the labor market profile of the area. The findings of the report were based on the information collected from workers, employees, and interviews with key stakeholders. The main sectors in which respondents reported to work were mostly construction and manufacture of related materials (23%), education (11%), transportation (10%), wholesale and retail trade (8%), and sewing and tailoring (6%). The main challenges reported by workers as barriers to finding employment were limited job opportunities (86%), high competition for available jobs (44%), lack of resources to start own business (38%), and lack of necessary skills/education (14%) or work experience (14%). Employers reported as barriers the request for high salaries, the lack of technical skills or experience, and the limited visibility of existing opportunities. People resulted to be employed mainly through verbal agreements and the level of informality assessed was high. Vocational training institutes were reported to exist in the city and to be mainly managed either by NGOs or privates, but also to be only partially accessible due to financial barriers and physical distance. The document reported lack of financial services and support for small businesses as one of the main needs, and highlighted opportunities in the sectors of industrial manufacturing, processing of food items and beverages, and alternative sources of energy (solar).
To answer the needs related to livelihood, in 2021 the ONG Un Ponte Per (UPP) started a project aimed at creating new/better job opportunities for vulnerable individuals, by supporting the establishment of new micro-businesses in Raqqa city as well as strengthening existing women cooperatives in Hasakeh Governorate. In Raqqa, UPP also manages, together with its local partner DOZ, a Women and Girls’ Safe Space (WGSS) that offers services to women who are victims or at risk of violence.
With the aims to understand the livelihood situation of women in the city of Raqqa better, to plan for a stronger integration between protection and livelihood activities in 2024, and to set the basis for an intervention focused on the support to women’s employment, which, as described in this brief introduction, is fundamental in NES context, UPP and DOZ organized and implemented between August and September 2023 a survey aimed at investigating the working conditions and the perception of “work” and work opportunities of women frequenting their WGSS. The results of this survey are summarized in the present document.
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