In Syria the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom (FCO) funds several projects with the aim of promoting the Syrian model of religious co-existence and tolerance, empowering young people and reinforcing rule of law. 

Projects are identified in the first instance and implemented in Syria through government and non-government organisations and multilateral bodies, but are locally led by the Embassy, which clears the projects to ensure they fit with the overall country strategy.  

The Embassy Projects Team currently manages a portfolio of over twenty projects, many of them multi-year.

We held last June, in co-operation with the Ministry of Awqaf (Religious Endowments), an international conference “The Message of Peace in Islam” as the culmination to a project funded by the FCO.  The project aims to counter the extremist ideologue by examining and publicising the theological basis of Islam’s rejection of violence.

One ongoing project is a cartoon series, for worldwide distribution, that promotes messages of peace in Islam and the Syrian model of tolerance and peaceful co-existence between people of different faiths. An Islamic institution in Damascus is implementing the project.

On youth empowerment, we have begun work on a ‘Youth Parliament Syria’ project with a local NGO to provide a platform for the young to learn democratic practices and discuss issues of concern to young people in Syria.  And, following on from recommendations that came out of the First International Law Conference in Syria in July 2008, the FCO is funding the British Council to run a follow-up project providing training for Syrian judges and senior lawyers.  

On media front, the FCO is funding a regional project ‘The Inquirer Award’ that aims to raise the professional standard of investigative journalism and to recognise the work of excelling journalists in Syria and the region beyond (Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq). This project is in its forth year and managed by the British Embassy in co-ordination with the Thomson Foundation.

As well as having access to FCO Funding Programmes, the Embassy holds a small bilateral programme budget, which we use for smaller, quick-impact projects that support our objectives and build on work already done. For instance, following on from the success of an Embassy run workshop ‘Training NGOs on Project Management Skills’ in Damascus last January we are now funding a capacity building project for Palestinian Youth Organization.  

If you have any project proposals that you think will support our agenda please contact our Project Manager at the British Embassy in Damascus on roula.malas@fco.gov.uk.  We review all proposals before forwarding them to the Programme Team in London for assessment.