UNDP Syria

By Annika Folkeson On a little farm in Ruha, rural Sweida, one finds something as sophisticated as a biogas digester. With the manure from only three cows, farmer Jamil Abu Darahamein can produce enough biogas for two households – and perhaps more when they figure out how to store the gas.
Read more...

  “Plastic contains chemicals, chemicals give you cancer, and from cancer you die”, Tamara, 12, explains in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. Her reply is the correct answer to the three-question quiz distributed to the children at Sabarin school...
Read more...

On December 5th, approximately 125 volunteers set out into various neighborhoods all over Damascus to clean up the city. After leaving the meeting place of Melab Al-Fayhat at 8.30 in the morning, they dispersed into Sumaria, Kafr Souseh, the Old City, Mezze and Baramkeh - equipped with plastic...
Read more...

Read more...

Not far from the bustling city of Aleppo in the north-east lies one of Syria’s most impoverished regions, where approximately 58% of the country’s poor live. Within this region is Jabal Al-Hoss, a rural community home to over 157 villages, with a population hovering around 250,000. While...
Read more...

Women of Jabal Al-Hoss, one of Syria’s poorest areas on the outskirts of Aleppo, are viewed as non-productive burdens on the society and are thus deprived from accessing education, inheritance and land ownership. Current statistics show that women in Syria still noticeably lag behind their male...
Read more...

  In the recent Syrian parliamentary elections held on 22-23rd April 2007, 31 of the 250 parliamentary seats were filled by women and female parliamentarians have gained positions in the twelve parliament committees. Of those women, 17 or 55% participated in a regional project, launched in...
Read more...

National Agricultural Policy Centre analyst Mahmoud Al-Shreef slaps the palm of his hand to hammer home his point: “Many of our farmers are no longer looking for ways to improve production or investigating alternative crops,” he says. “Some of this state support has affected the land...
Read more...

Over thousands of years, Syria has witnessed the birth of several civilizations; people from all over the world moved to settle in the fertile land, mild climate and perfect geographical location in between three continents. However, throughout history, several natural disasters struck the...
Read more...

Syria has undergone a fundamental change in its thinking towards economic and social development in the past few years, a recent UNDP-Syria sponsored workshop heard. From Right: Minister of Economy and Trade - Amer Lutfi, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs - Abdallah Al-Dardari, and...
Read more...

“The Quran demands us to use our mind, not just to depend on ancient traditions, and take new ideas and adapt them to the present. Through our preaching we can encourage people to use their minds to think”, states Suad Tershan, a dentist assistant , who teaches in the Abu Bakr Asadiq mosque...
Read more...

  For centuries goods have flowed between Europe and the Arabic gulf, Asia and the Mediterranean. Syria’s strategic location between these major trade routes has ensured that commerce always played an important role in the country's economic life. Managing the flow of goods, collecting...
Read more...