EU trust fund launches 350m euro aid package to Syrian crisis

AMMAN — The EU Trust Fund launched on Tuesday the "single biggest EU response package ever" to the Syrian crisis, worth 350 million euros, to help up to 1.5 million refugees and their host communities in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq. 

The programmes will — in the coming months — help refugees and overstretched host communities through the provision of basic education and child protection, better access to healthcare, improved water and wastewater infrastructure, and support to resilience, economic opportunities and social inclusion, according to an EU statement released Wednesday.

"[The] decision is concrete evidence of EU solidarity with Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey — those countries hosting the largest number of Syrian refugees who flee violence and persecutions," the statement quoted Federica Mogherini, EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy/vice-president of the European Commission, as saying.

"The war in Syria is the biggest humanitarian crisis we have been facing for decades; we have a duty to provide support to refugees and the communities that are hosting them. The Trust Fund will... help us be ready to ensure that if a ceasefire is in place, we can rapidly deliver on the ground inside Syria," she added.

Commenting on the support, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said: "Europe and the countries in Syria's neighbourhood are facing the biggest refugee crisis since the end of World War II, affecting all of us. 

"Our response must be a joint one if we want to succeed," he noted. 

"With fifteen member states already contributing, the EU Trust Fund embodies this common effort and already bears fruit; within a very short timeframe, we have managed to launch the single biggest aid package ever in response to this crisis," Hahn added.

"I am convinced that this is the most effective way to address the root causes of the current migration crisis, and to turn despair into hope and future for the refugees.”

The 350 million euro aid package consists of four different programmes.

The first programme is a 140 million euro education programme that will finance "a massive scale-up" of support to the education ministries in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan to enable them to enrol an additional 172,000 refugee children in school.

It also provides for accelerated learning programmes, non-formal and early childhood education and child protection activities, the statement said. 

The second programme is the 130 million euro resilience and local development project, responding to "the urgent need of improving economic opportunities for refugees and vulnerable host communities beyond dependency on humanitarian relief".

"It will be implemented through a mix of single-country and multi-country activities by European NGOs, EU member states development agencies, and the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement," the statement said. 

The programme will target more than 400,000 people across the region.

The third is a 55 million euro health programme aimed at widening and enhancing access of refugees across the region to primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare, psychosocial support, and protection from sexual and gender-based violence. 

It will reach and benefit at least 700,000 refugees, the EU said.

In the fourth programme, 25 million euros will be used to set up a water, sanitation and hygiene programme for Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan and Lebanon, where the needs for supporting municipal water and wastewater services are greatest. 

It is expected to benefit up to 1 million people, the statement said.

"In partnership with the host governments, all these actions will be fully aligned and implemented in accordance with the refugee crisis response plans of the affected countries, in particular the Jordan Response Plan 2016-2018, the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan, and the national plans in Turkey and Iraq, as part of the regional UN refugee and resilience response framework in this regard," the EU added.

The EU Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis was launched one year ago to provide a regional response to a regional crisis, thus enabling the EU and its member states to jointly intervene, flexibly and quickly, in response to shifting needs. 

The Trust Fund has reached a total volume of 610 million euros (570 million euros from the EU budget and just over 40 million euros from 15 member states), out of which Tuesday’s 350 million euros and 40 million euros adopted in May are now already mobilised. 

The remaining funds will be mobilised in early 2016, taking into account the possible needs to support the implementation of the November agreement reached in Vienna by the International Syria Support Group, the statement said.