EMPOWERMENT FOR SYRIAN INTERNALLY DISPLACED GIRLS: PROJECT SOAR & SYRIAN CSOs LAUNCH GIRLS SOAR IN SYRIA PROGRAM

A new project launched for the needs of Syrian internally displaced girls through an empowerment toolkit on wheels: Girls Soar in Syria (GSS). With the support of the Swedish Postcode Foundation, Project Soar is partnering with three Syrian CSOs to launch GSS for at risk teen girls in Northwest Syria.

Following a ten year civil war, Syria’s situation remains challenging, with more than 500,000 dead and 6.5 million internally displaced. Fleeing violence and death, Syria’s internally displaced teen girls are at particular risk of gender-based violence, early marriage and early motherhood. It is in this environment that Morocco-based Project Soar, a nonprofit organization with a mission to empower teen girls, is working to strengthen teen girl resilience by partnering with three CSOs in Northwest Syria for a pilot project.

Project focus group research with IDP girls aged 13-15 and their parents showed the vast majority expressed feelings of depression and fear. Most girls were not currently in school, although nearly all desired returning to education. The girls all strongly believed there should be equality between genders and are interested in attending a Project Soar-like program, with parents sharing their interest to support girls’ participation provided safety considerations were met (full report here).

Project Soar used research findings to adapt its signature 26-workshop empowerment curriculum specifically for Syrian teen girls. As a girl progresses through the program, she undergoes a transformative process whereby she develops her self-confidence, speaks up, embraces her adolescent body, advocates for her rights and sets future goals.

Now nine months into the project, Project Soar’s pilot GSS project has implemented 189 workshops across four locations, helping 170 girls to unlearn harmful stigmas and beliefs that limit their aspirations, and allowing them to understand their value, voice, body, rights, and path - the five Project Soar pillars of empowerment.

The project also promotes social cohesion between IDP and local communities, by inviting both IDP girls and local resident girls as beneficiaries. Providing a safe space in which to learn from one another, project facilitators find discrimination has diminished throughout the course of the program. This has wider implications in promoting lasting social cohesion in local communities in Northwest Syria.

“I have an important knowledge now of how to determine my path and I will not let anyone interfere with that.”
- A 16 year old GSS girl after a Path workshop

“I learned to be capable and claim my right to education like boys. I learned to be strong and never give up my rights as a girl."
- A 15 year old GSS girl after a Rights workshop

Maryam Montague, Project Soar Founder and Executive Director, says “The Soar Solution adapted for Syrian at risk girls allows them to increase their skills and self-agency to avoid child marriage. It has the potential to impact hundreds of thousands of internally displaced adolescent girls”.

Project Soar has aspirations to scale up following the ongoing successful pilot and is looking to gain more Syrian partners and potential donors who wish to see GSS help many more girls achieve empowerment for a brighter future. (END)

About Project Soar: An award winning non-profit organization active in 41 sites across Morocco, Project Soar has provided 177,100+ hours of empowerment to thousands of Moroccan girls. In 2021 100% of Project Soar Girls passed the Baccalaureate and less than 1% married underage. The New York Times called aspects of the program “extraordinary.” Michelle Obama’s CNN documentary, We will Rise, featured Project Soar’s work to fight menstruation poverty. www.projectsoar.org

About Swedish Postcode Foundation: The Swedish Postcode Foundation is a beneficiary to the Swedish Postcode Lottery and provides support to projects that foster positive social impact or search for long-term solutions to global challenges. Since 2007, the foundation has distributed over 1.7 billion SEK in support of more than 700 projects in Sweden and internationally. https://postkodstiftelsen.se/en/