Key Resources

Strategy Documents

ILO support to Syrian refugees and host communities: Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt
Projects in Jordan
  1. Supporting the strategic objectives of the London Syria Conference 2016
  2. Research and Advocacy Initiative for Mixed Migration Strategies in Jordan
  3. Employment through Labour Intensive Infrastructure in Jordan
  4. Supporting a National Employment Strategy that works for Young Syrian Refugees in Jordan (SIDA III)
  5. Enhanced Access to Employment Opportunities and Livelihoods in Jordanian Host Communities
  6. Syrian Refugee Crisis Labour Market Assessments in Jordan
  7. Tackling child labour among Syrian refugees and their host communities in Jordan and Lebanon
  8. Moving Towards a Child Labour Free Jordan
  9. Support constituents to build up an integrated policy framework towards formalization
Projects in Lebanon
  1. Enabling Job Resilience and Protecting Decent Work Conditions in Rural Communities Affected by Syrian Refugees Crisis in Northern Lebanon
  2. Tackling child labour among Syrian refugees and their host communities in Jordan and Lebanon
  3. Lebanon Labour Force and Households’ Living Conditions Survey 2014
  4. Support the establishment of social protection fund and universal health coverage in Lebanon
  5. Working Street Children in Lebanon: Profile and Size Assessment
  6. Supporting National Action to Combat the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Lebanon
     
External Resources
  1. UNHCR Syrian Refugee Response Portal
  2. Regional Syrian Refugee Resilience Plan

ILO Response: Syrian Refugee Crisis in Jordan and Lebanon

© Tabitha Ross/ILO
The Syrian refugee crisis embodies one of the largest and most protracted and complex humanitarian emergencies of modern times. Since 2011, the bulk of refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria have found refuge among host communities in neighbouring states. Among the Arab States hosting Syrian refugees, Jordan and Lebanon already had to contend with difficult socioeconomic conditions before the Syrian crisis, particularly in communities where refugees have now settled.

Host communities in Jordan and Lebanon now face a myriad of socioeconomic pressures stemming from the refugee crisis, including:
  • An increase in labour supply which results in increased employment competition as well as downward pressure on wages, particularly among low-income and low productivity jobs;
  • a rise in market demand which exerts upward pressure on consumer goods;
  • a decrease in access and quality of public services including utilities, infrastructure, healthcare and education.
  • an increase in child labour among refugees and host community residents, including the worst forms of child labour; and
  • rising social tensions and lower social cohesion among refugees and host community residents.

The ILO Response

As the Syrian refugee crisis continues, the evolving nature of the crisis necessitates a response that encompasses humanitarian and development interventions which provide access to livelihoods and decent employment. As part of the wider UN-response to the refugee crisis, the ILO Regional Office for the Arab States has adopted a cross-cutting development-focused strategy in Lebanon and Jordan which supports both refugees and host community residents in order to preserve social and economic stability as well as realise the rights of both to decent work and social justice.

As such, the ILO strategy builds on existing country programmes in both Lebanon and Jordan to implement country-specific interventions that focus on the following areas of response to:
  • Build the resilience of host communities in order to facilitate access to employment and livelihood opportunities;
  • strengthen institutional capacity and coordination mechanisms at local, regional and national levels to combat unacceptable forms of work with a focus on child labour; and
  • support policy development to ensure an employment-rich national response, embedded in the principles of decent work.

What's new

  1. © Ala’a Al Sukhni / ILO 2023
    A job changed my life as a refugee

    20 June 2023

    War in Syria forced Syrian Abdel Halim al Qasir and his family to flee to the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. Becoming a facilitator for the ILO’s Job Search Club project and helping other refugees inside the camp find new careers and job opportunities, has given him renewed hope for his and his family’s future.

  2. Decent work key to resilience of Syrians and host communities

    15 June 2023

    Syrian displaced persons and refugees, and the communities that host them, need concrete decent work opportunities, and to move from receiving assistance to generating income, the ILO says at the Brussels Conference on supporting Syria and the region.

  3. From Displacement to Decent Work: An ILO approach to building resilience

    15 June 2023

    Statement delivered by ILO Deputy Regional Director for Arab States Peter Rademaker at the Brussels VII Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region, on the ILO’s support to vulnerable and displaced people in Syria and neighbouring countries.

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