How? Development Assets: Issue 2 2020: May - August iii DEVELOPMENT ASSETS Local Approaches from Syria Issue 2 2020: May – August Development Assets: Issue 2 2020: May - August 1 Contents About 2 Methodology 4 Development Interactions: Factors/Stakeholders 6 Local Communities 8 Government Action 22 Private Sector and Job Market 30 Development Assets: Syrian Private Media 36 Local Approaches from Syria Supported by Common Space Why? 40 Initiative 2020 www.developmentassets.org What comes next? 43 [email protected] Development Assets: Issue 2 2020: May - August 3 Furthermore, improving individual knowledge for citizens of various age groups provides an essential entry point to raising average community awareness and ability to invest, interact and evaluate on the basis of evidence and dialogues. This opens up new perspectives to view the same daily landscapes, allowing synergies among different stakeholders’ efforts, and regenerating realistic hopes for local communities. Development Assets is an attempt to Development Assets does influence the local development process not offer conclusions and Building a deeper in Syria today and to transcend from local judgements; it rather helps initiatives to a new level of cooperation rearrange the landscape understanding of the diverse among stakeholders. Such endeavor is along with its resources backdropped against explorable local and and dynamics in a construc- surrounding resources and national resources, with a comprehensive tive manner. It would vision rising above war and its geographic therefore enhance the ability enhancing interaction among ramifications. to create opportunities these resources generates by understanding local Expanding our perception of diverse interactions among stake- a positive community- surrounding resources and enhancing holders and presenting them interaction among these resources in a comparative way to help oriented energy and a better generates a positive community- narrow the gaps between oriented energy that is fully aware of its our communities in terms of awareness of the community’s environment and its needs, drawing on services, economy, society, environment and its needs new quantitative and qualitative value environment and space. chains for the development process. Community capital emerges locally and Development Assets could be systematically interconnects nationally and internationally, replicated at the level of each neighborhood, village, About encompassing Syrian migrants, expatriates municipality, city and country. and refugees. This opens up opportunities for investing such a community capital in Development Assets Team an integrated process of re-development and reconstruction. Development Assets: Issue 2 2020: May - August 5 Data presented in this issue relies on in various capacities; 20% were employed by non-profit primary sources obtained from: organizations, while 18% were employed in the public sector, 12% in the private sector, 17% were private business owners, 10% - A questionnaire of 665 activists across Syria. were self-employed workers and 21% were unemployed. - The Syrian Official Gazette, parts I and II. In total, 80% of the respondents indicated that they live in the same area they were born in, while 9% of them said they have - Syrian government media sources. lived in their current area for more than four years and only 8% - Syrian private media outlets. have lived in their current area for a period of between one and four years, while 2% moved to a new area less than a year ago. Between mid-July and mid-August 2020, an electronic questionnaire was distributed Respondents to the questionnaire answered questions about to 665 male and female activists located the state of services, community interactions, and the prospects across the country in an attempt to of development. Most of the questions asked included a be geographical comprehensive. The scale of options converted to numerical values from 1 to 5 to respondents were located in more than calculate the mean and standard deviation. In addition to the 60 different areas, and the sample took questionnaire, the study taps on data released in the Official into consideration population distribution Gazette from May to August 2020. Data was collected on new across Syrian governorates, based NGOs as well as companies registered during this period and on estimates provided by the United statistics were analyzed on their type and on which sectors Nations Office for the Coordination of and regions they represented. Data on decisions, declarations, Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates. and implementations by the Syrian government related to development and services was also gathered from the Syrian Respondents differed by gender, age and Arab News Agency (SANA), the Presidency of the Council of level of education; 58% were male, 42% Ministers’ web portal and the Official Gazette. This data was were female and their ages ranged from classified by sector, governorate and government levels. 17 to 72, while 19% of the respondents were over the age of 40. Approximately A sample of news and media materials related to development Methodology 70% of the respondents had completed was collected from 18 private Syrian media outlets during the undergraduate or postgraduate studies, second third of 2020. The sample size collected during this period while 18% had only completed high school amounted to 905 media items. These materials were extracted and about 11% had not completed high from the media sites in automated manner using sections and school. As for their marital status, 47% keywords and were classified by sector and region through an of the respondents were single and 48% algorithm built by the research team. were married, with a small percentage Data in this report is presented through preliminary statistics of respondents who are divorced and without in-depth analysis. It should be noted that there is a widowed. largely informal aspect of civil work and commercial activities Around 21% of the respondents indicated that is not captured in this study. This limits the possibility of that they worked within the education seeing the bigger picture in an integrated fashion. sector and 19% worked in social care. Other prominent job sectors included trade, healthcare, IT services, agriculture, manufacturing, professional and scientific services. The respondents were employed Development Assets: Issue 2 2020: May - August 7 Level of 100 Interest Satisfaction 5 Overall, service levels have become less Level* High divergent among governorates this third. Interest Satisfied ry Some governorates that had enjoyed 32 Ve a relatively better level of services until 4 the first third of 2020, like Tartus, Aleppo 28 and Hasakeh, suffered from a drop in Figure 1: Level of 24 3.5 satisfaction with service levels this third. community satisfaction In other words, no governorate or city now 20 compared to guarantees its residents a significantly 3 government and media better level of services. Syrian private 16 interest in the second media’s coverage of issues related to Syria third of 2020 as a whole increased from one third to 12 2.5 two thirds, which emphasizes that services 8 and development issues are increasingly 2 Government Media becoming less region-specific. 4 Private Media In this third, respondents’ satisfaction with Level of satisfaction Low of local communities health services decreased significantly. Interest Not Satisfied - r s y * Percentage of private Meanwhile, both state and private media le uel te ety Te F and government Wa increased their focus on health issues, tation Health especially in the context of Covid-19. Saf media materials that Education Electricit Cleanlines cover each sector and security Respondents’ dissatisfaction with anspor communication Development Tr services aligns with poor living conditions; respondents’ answers indicate that families Interactions: struggle to obtain food and essential living Trading 69.93% needs in all governorates. 16.5% Factors/ 25.41% In this third, the number of newly registered Manufacturing 6.99% 13.0% companies decreased significantly 5.19% Government Media Stakeholders compared to the previous third. Wholesale Telecommunications 9.79% Private Media 11.3% trade, import and export companies still 3.0% had the largest share of newly registered Health 2.80% 27.0% companies, while the number of newly Figure 2: Sectors 23.31% licensed manufacturing companies Tourism 1.40% of new private 1.7% decreased. The health sector still does not companies compared to 3.98% attract private sector investments despite Culture 0.00% government and media 4.3% the deterioration in health conditions and interest in the second 4.20% Agricultural 1.40% the increased media interest in this sector. third of 2020 11.3% 7.29% Education 2.10% 7.0% * The size of each 8.2% slice reflects the Banking and finance 2.10% 12.2% number of new 23.87% companies registered Construction 3.50% in each sector. 7.8% 4.09% Development Assets: Issue 2 2020: May - August 9 Local development must begin by forming of satisfaction with health services were recorded in 1 On a scale from 5 to 1: very satisfied a good understanding of the relationships Jaramana and Douma. - satisfied - neither satisfied nor and roles within the local community, dissatisfied - not satisfied - not as the efforts of local stakeholders In light of the Covid-19 pandemic, respondents in the satisfied at all - I don’t know are foundational to the success of the cities of Raqqah and Qamishli complained