Reducing unemployment and poverty in Palestinian camps

With an unemployment rate reaching 56% among the youth between the age of 15 and 29, the Palestinian camps in Syria are in a difficult situation. “Seeds” project works on reducing this rate through training. Report.

Nourddine al-Aathar - Damascus, Eurojar

“We are suggesting new ideas in a pragmatic way that helps us build our own projects, while in the past, we needed continuous orientation.” With these words, Diana Madi, 21, describes her experience with “Seeds“ project, and with Damascus Training Centre, supported by the European Union. This project aims at taking care of Palestinian refugees in the camps. “I joined this project to consolidate my know-how and have the ability to get a job opportunity that could save me from my difficult economic condition,” she adds.

Diana and her friends received a 3-months training session in the framework of this programme. This training allowed them to acquire the knowledge to prepare feasibility studies for new projects. Diana explains:”We came up with the idea for a new project: to create a club for kids between the age of 5 and 6 to teach them the basics of good manners in a simplified and pleasant way. Once this project is launched, new employment opportunities for us and others will be generated, contributing, thus, to the reduction of unemployment rate inside the camps.”

Diana is now a volunteer in Damascus Training Centre and aims at reinforcing her computer skills. At the same time, she is looking to find organisms capable of funding her project.



Seeds project is part of a €2.5 million programme. It is supervised by UNRWA and aims at “increasing employment opportunities among Palestinian refugees in Syria”, thanks to a financial support by the European Union. This project supports the youth to face the economic and social crisis that they are facing. It is based on three strategies: the first one is to enhance employment opportunities, the second works on creating efficient recruiting services inside the Palestinian camps, and the third one encourages new initiatives of small private projects.

Palestinian refugees residing in Syria suffer from a difficult economic situation well-known on the international level. This urged the European Union to find solutions to reduce unemployment rates and poverty.

Some studies show that most of the Palestinian refugees in Syria live in camps; they are exposed to poverty and unemployment and lack basic skills. Employment opportunities for them are scarce as they have poor education and limited qualifications. Statistics from this study show that 6% of these refugees live with less than one dollar a day, and 25% with less than 2 dollars. The Norwegian organization FAFO notes that unemployment rate reaches 56% for those aged between 15 and 29 years old and 38% for those between 30 and 40 years old.

The coordinators of the programme, launched in 2006 and expected to end this year, have chosen Damascus Training Centre, established in 1961, to train Palestinian refugees whose overall number is nearly 500 thousand. The centre offers close to 13 specializations for those who have finished elementary school and 9 training programs for high school graduates.



According to those in charge of the project, the Centre offers training programs that respond to the country’s market needs. New specialties are also introduced, such as advertisement and electromechanical studies. These specialties are not available in the majority of universities and Syrian schools, yet they are highly sought by local enterprises.

Claude Isakov, head of the project, considers that Palestinian refugees are marginalized in the Syrian labor market. She goes on to say: our role is to inform the refugees on the latest developments of the labor market. She adds that most of those refugees do not count on the private sector, yet most of the employment opportunities are generated from this sector.

Three-month intensive sessions have been organized by the project’s team targeting Palestinian refugees. These aimed at helping those with limited capacities: most of them have abandoned school at an early age; they are already adults and do not have any qualifications to work under any circumstances. Among them are married women and those who wish to change their careers. Around 4300 refugees have already benefited from the project. Mrs. Isakov considers that the importance of the project relies in the new ideas that it generates. She notes that it is a pilot project that was limited to 5 camps out of 13 in Syria: Sabina in Damascus, Nayrab in Aleppo, the camps of Latakia, Homs and Daraa.

The remaining camps should benefit as well
The success of the project encourages the EU to plan for spreading the experience to all Palestinian camps in Syria, and to respond to the needs of their residents.

Claude Isakov stresses that 50% of the persons who sought help from the recruiting agencies established by the project in five camps, were able to get a job: this step responds well to the recruiting requirements in Syria and meets with the labor market needs.

The project’s managers consider that they were able to bridge the gap between those seeking jobs and employers thanks to the recruiting agencies able to establish contact between them.

In an effort to prompt young refugees to create their own projects, managers of Seeds project, in cooperation with the “Youth Association”, sponsored by first lady Asma el-Assad, trained students in Damascus Training Centre to reinforce their professional abilities.

Oula, holding a diploma in advertisement after completing two years in the Centre, explains that “Seeds programme is excellent because it triggered us to create new projects; it oriented us towards financing sources and taught us how to manage a project, understand the market rules, as well as the principles of marketing and competition.” She noted that thanks to the training she got, she was able to launch her own company, which organizes birthday parties. The duties of the company are to suggest ideas, prepare invitation cards and organize kids’ games, cake, etc. This initiative was welcomed and well appreciated by Syrian families.