The Newsletter of February 2023_ Issue 7

As a continuation of the mobilization and advocacy campaign that has been worked on by the Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in Northeast Syria (CSO-NES).

Within the framework of the Coalition’s goal to enhance the role of civil society in developing local communities in northern and eastern Syria, advocating for issues that concern the region at the local, national and international levels, exchanging information and knowledge between organizations and promoting effective cooperation between them, meetings were held for organizations affiliated with the Coalition in the regions of (Euphrates _ Al-Raqqa_ Al-Jazeera_ Deir Al-Zour) to discuss the issue of mobilization and advocacy that attracts the attention of organizations and civil society, including the mechanisms used for the issue and the proposed implementation periods, which were adopted by the coalition of civil society organizations in north and east Syria and worked on during the last period. A case was identified for each region and worked on, as

Deir Ezzor Region has chosen The “electricity” case

Where work was done to launch the hashtag (#Deir Ezzor_ drowns in Darkness) as the first mechanism followed for the campaign, followed by sharing a statement on social media to be signed by the participating organizations that support the issue of electricity, and the statement focused on the crisis that the residents of the region suffer from and the basics of the problem And its implications and solutions that can be resorted to, and the statement has been signed by 64 local organizations affiliated with the Coalition in Deir Ezzor Region, and then some members of the Coordination Committee and members of the Local Board and the technical office of the Coalition of Civil Society Organizations in Northeast Syria made a field visit to each of the Energy Committee Finance and agriculture.

Euphrates Region – Work has been done on the issue of “the Expatriate Card”

The hashtag (# we are All Syrians _ No for the expatriate card) was shared by the organizations affiliated with the Coalition through their pages on Social Media sites, to follow up on the issue with the concerned authorities.

The technical team and several members of the organizations affiliated with the Coalition, after coordinating with the members of the General and Local Board, visited each of the Interior Committee and the Executive Office in the Civil Administration of the Tabqa Region and listened to them in detail about the expatriate card, and the members participating in the campaign explained the outputs and mechanisms that they reached during the meeting Civil Society organizations and alternatives that may help find a solution to end the expatriate card, as it is sometimes an obstacle to the arrival of merchants, industrialists, and investors to the region, and sometimes it may prevent families from seeing their relatives. The Executive Council has shown its full assistance in finding a solution after coordinating with the Legislative Council and stakeholders. The Council has registered all the proposals submitted by members of the campaign.

Raqqa Region: “The Mechanism for Distributing Grants to Organizations and Selecting Partners”

Where a meeting took place between several members of the Coordination and the project coordinator in the Technical Team of the Civil Society Organizations Coalition with Mr. “Samer Al-Nashif” Head of the Office of Humanitarian Affairs and Labor, where he talked about the existence of a tendency in the office to evaluate the work of organizations in partnership with the office of the Coalition, so that the office can help Donors evaluate the work of the organization in general.

“Here Is Syria” Campaign

The Coalition of Civil society Organizations in North and East Syria launched the “Here ls Syria” Campaign, which is based on collecting in-kind and material donations through distribution points that those in charge of it identified and announced on February 9th, and pledged to deliver them to the affected people in the stricken areas in north and northwest Syria. The Coalition succeeded, through its network of relations and coordination with civil organizations, including the “White Helmets” and other parties in northern Syria, in bringing in 66 trucks full of in-kind materials as a first batch, through “Aoun Al-Dadat “Crossing on the thirteenth and fourteenth of February, and sending money sums. The campaign, which will continue until the 16th of February, comes in response to humanitarian calls and based on the humanitarian duty and responsibility of the Civil Society to provide aid and assistance to the afflicted people in areas of northern Syria as a result of the February 6th earthquake. The collecting of donations and in-kind and material aid included the four regions in northern and eastern Syria: (Al-Jazeera – Deir Ezzor – Raqqa – Euphrates). The regions of Afrin, Idlib, and northern Aleppo witnessed a severe earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 on Richter Scale, centered on the city of Kahramanmarash and other areas in southern Turkey, and violent aftershocks that left thousands of victims, their number exceeding 5,500 people and the number is increasing, and more than 7,500 were injured, large numbers of people under the rubble of buildings destroyed by the earthquake, and great destruction in cities that have been declared as stricken areas.
It is scheduled that there will be a second convoy within the “Here is Syria” campaign, which the coalition will deliver to the stricken areas in northern Syria, similar to the first convoy.