Providing Education and Care for Syria’s Littlest Refugees Providing Education and Care for Syria’s Littlest Refugees “We are the children whose voices are not being heard: it is time we are taken into account”i Given the protracted nature of the

FAWCO signed this Statement developed by the NGO Committee on Migration. FAWCO UN NGO Rep Jane Politi worked with the Committee drafting this Statement.  

Providing Education and Care for Syria’s Littlest Refugees

“We are the children whose voices are not being heard: it is time we are taken into account”ⁱ

 Given the protracted nature of the Syrian refugee crisis, a response must include a humanitarian approach that is also a sustainable one based on community building. A response starting with the youngest children can be a resource for development and social cohesion.

At present, hundreds of thousands of refugee children are severely neglected worldwide. They make up approximately 50% of all refugees, and they risk spending their entire childhood in refugee camps, urban slums or rural villages away from home.ⁱⁱ They are the most vulnerable to human rights violations,ⁱⁱⁱ poverty, abuse, violence, exploitation, and trafficking; they experience high levels of toxic stress,^iv with negative consequences that last into adulthood.^v They need help now.

Particularly vulnerable are refugee children aged birth-5^vi: early intervention is essential under highly adverse conditions. There is a well-documented connection between adverse early experiences and a wide range of costly community problems such as mental/psychological problems, lower school achievement, higher rates of criminal behavior, substance abuse, and chronic diseases.^vii Refugee children’s “development can proceed in a positive direction if parents or other caregivers provide consistent responsiveness and communities provide resources and support that strengthen the families’ capacities.”^viii Effective interventions must encompass health, nutrition, protection and education, in a holistic approach.

Help by the international community must incorporate the goals of UNHCR Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP), which promote protection and education for refugee children and stress the importance of a resilient approach that strengthens the capacities of communities in the five host countries. ^ixAlso needed is the implementation of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) ^x programs which play a critical role in alleviating childhood trauma, toxic stress and deprivation. It creates the human and social capital needed for development, and contributing to social cohesion and peace building^xi. ECEC is consistent with the “No Lost Generation Initiative”, endorsed by the 3RP.^xii 

To provide the education and care needed by these refugee children, we offer the following recommendations:

• Collect disaggregated data on children (age, sex, nationality, religion, country of origin, vulnerability, disability etc.) to better inform the planning of services needed;

• Raise awareness of refugee children’s rights, listening to refugee children’s needs and requests, and considering them not as a cause of expenses, but as a source of investment;

• Give refugee children opportunities to heal and thrive through education, childcare and psychosocial care;

• Create jobs, livelihoods and development initiatives for refugee children, their families, and local populations, employing both refugees and locals to expand facilities, as educators, and as childcare providers;

• Strengthen refugee communities, so that they may become contributors to the economy and productive members of the host society;

• Empower refugee women, involving them in childcare initiatives and psychosocial counseling, to reinforce a culturally relevant approach, family integrity, social cohesion and improved intercommunity relations;

• Support mothers in developing children’s competency skills, cultural identity, relationships, and psychological wellbeing;

• Implement ECEC programs through collaboration with grassroots organizations and local NGOs, with cost reduction and increased efficiency in mind;

• Recognize that education as well as childcare and language learning can create a more educated, skilled population of refugee children better prepared to be part of a peaceful and constructive settlement in the hosting society.