Planning and monitoring funds for the Finnish Syria-support

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

The Strategy for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid in response to the conflicts in Syria and Iraq has been in place since 2017. A review process to the strategy will commence in the first half of 2020. The Finnish pledge towards the Syrian crisis in 2019 stands at 25 million euro. Financing needs are not expected to decrease in coming years. In 2019, around 9 million euro has been allocated and disbursed towards the Syrian crisis from the bilateral development cooperation budget line. For the coming years, an estimated 10 million euro has been planned to adress the crisis and vulnerable situation in the region. The Finnish support to Syria and Iraq is thematically broad, and changing conflict dynamics require a great deal of flexibility. Thus funds are needed for monitoring the existing (amounting to roughly 26 million Euros) and preparing the new interventions. Finnish funds are channeled through UN agencies, World Bank, Syria Recovery Trust Fund and (I)NGOs. Most of the monitoring is done by the MFA and Embassies' staff but also assessments, audits and evaluations are contracted to support this function.