Syria Livelihoods Program (SLP)
Project Type: Implementation (livelihoods, economic governance, grants)
Location: North East Syria
Date: 2020-2025
Under USAID’s Southern Syria Assistance Platform’s Building Resilient and Inclusive Communities in Conflict (BRICC) IDIQ, Proximity is delivering the five-year Syria Livelihoods Program.
Focused in Raqqa, Hasakah, and Deir ez-Zour, SLP leverages high-quality data and ongoing learning to implement program activities that revive professional livelihoods and strengthen economic governance. Through grants and iterative governance support, SLP helps to foster resilience and stability in conflict-affected communities across Syria, prevent the re-emergence of extremist groups, counter the influence of malign actors, empower communities to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the conflict, and pave the way for safe, dignified, and voluntary return of internally displaced persons and refugees.
The project has two key components:
Administering grants to revive local livelihoods and economies. We work with the private sector, CSOs, and local authorities to develop interventions that incorporate learning from recent activities and empower communities to lead inclusive growth.
Strengthening economic governance through greater civic participation, inclusion, transparency, and accountability in the decision-making process. Relying on primary data collected through the project, Proximity assesses CSOs, private sector enterprises, and local authorities to understand gaps in training and supplies. Interventions are then designed to meet those needs and provide stakeholders with technical assistance for local economic development, vocational training and business mentoring, capacity building to women’s offices, and institutional development.