First and Last Responders: Civil society strengthening in the Syria crisis

The majority of Syria’s civil society organisations were born of the crisis as women and men in Syria and the diaspora sought to respond to the needs of their affected communities. With limited international presence, these mostly young organisations are the primary responders challenged with meeting the needs of people caught in one of the most complex humanitarian crises today and challenged with managing often sizeable funding from international organisations and their accompanying requirements. The 3-year RISE programme funded by the IKEA Foundation supported a broad range of these civil society organisations to be better able to deliver vital support to children and their communities during the current humanitarian emergency. 

The purpose of this paper is to document the learning from Save the Children’s RISE programme in Syria as a contribution to the discourse on localisation.