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Livelihood Tool-kit

Distribution of Sewing Machines—Farah Community Center, Adra

In order to empower people by helping them generate livelihoods and enhancing their self-reliance, the Syrian Society for Social Development, in cooperation with the UNHCR, distributed professional toolkits (sewing machines) to a number of beneficiaries at the Farah Community Center, Adra, in the Rural Damascus Governorate.


The Program has had a significant impact on the lives of beneficiaries and their socioeconomic situation; in some cases, the beneficiary’s access to the toolkit was a real qualitative leap in their life.

 

There is always light despite darkness

Words worth contemplating and reflection , Qamar, a 22-year old, an IDP from Jobar, lives with her family in a rented apartment in Al-Hameh and her father goes through hardship to make little income.
She has always had passion toward the high tech world, namely, PCs and Lap Tops. Completing high school, she chose to pursue a bachelor’s degree in IT, as she wanted to master everything involving PCs, especially its components and parts, how to perform maintenance, programming, and networks.
However, her family was not able to buy her the IT tools required for the practical part of the university’s curriculum. Consequently, she felt embarrassed in front of her peers and gave up her dream quitting college.
Luckily, hope knocked on her door again, when an outreach volunteer visited her to assess her financial and educational needs, encouraging her to apply to the Livelihood Toolkit Program (PC Maintenance Tools). Later, the program’s committee held a panel interview with Qamar and reached a decision to offer her the toolkit.
During our follow up visit, Qamar expressed her happiness: “The toolkit was like a shining star that lit my way, motivating and enabling me to pursue my higher education and work. Now, I am working for an IT maintenance shop in Al-Bahsa and making adequate money to support my father.”
She carried on, “I am really grateful to SSSD and UNHCR. I am thankful to everyone who had a helping hand in supporting my education journey. I am thankful to everyone who participated in finding me a good paying job, keeping me away from abuse.”

The Oak Tree

Abu Samer, 56, is a man who is, in his very person, a summing up of the ongoing Syrian Crisis. After being displaced with his wife and four children, he ended up living in a shop where there is only one empty square meter to sleep over their belongings, with neither a bathroom nor a kitchen (all had to go to the neighbor’s to relieve themselves!).
When he was monitored by ORVs, his son’s burial paper was still in his hand in the aftermath of a bombing in Bab Touma forty days before. At this point, there was more crying than talking!
Gradually, Abu Samer opened up. He had been working as a plumber before his exodus. Thus, his name was suggested to receive a livelihood toolkit and, as such, his candidacy to meet with the competent committee was presented. And he succeed!
Abu Samer showed up to receive the toolkit. He was so overjoyed that his eyes were filled with tears. He continuously mumbled words of gratitude and prayers for success. “Thank God,” he said, “I can work again now!”
After handing over the kitbag to him, the follow-up team paid a field visit to Abu Samer during his work. The kitbag had indeed offered him the possibility to earn a decent living away from the exploitation he suffered by having repeatedly to rent it. The new kitbag has so far greatly contributed to improving his income and livelihood

A Vocation for a New Life

Souad is 60. She fled Aleppo to Rural Damascus, Jaramana, with eight married children. Displacement forced them to live and their families together with their mother in the same house. With the deteriorating living conditions, the family faced material hardships and financial pressures and, soon enough, problems caused by cramming so many people in a small space surfaced and made things even worse.
Having been monitored by ORVs, Souad came to know about the services offered by the SSSD Community Center in Jaramana and expressed her wish to enroll in vocational training and learn a trade in order to secure an extra income and support her large family.
In the sewing workshop she showed exemplary commitment and enthusiasm for learning.
Yet, Souad suffered from a sight problem in her eye, which made it difficult for her “to chain-stitch,” to use her technical wording. But she insisted on learning, asking the trainer for help. The latter did not hesitate to explain at length things pertaining to design and cutting methods. Her fellow beneficiaries were also too willing to help.
Souad responded to the sincere help. Things became easier over time and the problem of her eye became less oppressive as she grew accustomed to sewing techniques.
The trainer and her fellow beneficiaries noted Souad’s spectacular progress, which prompted them to encourage her more by asking her to help with the clothing design.
By now Souad could hardly wait for course hours to come, learning how to accept everyone’s attentions with gratitude. She became more sociable and friendly. Soon this good influence spread to her family as well.
At the end of the workshop, Souad informed us of her wish to open a small private business in clothing design and sewing along with other fellow beneficiaries. She expressed her heartfelt thanks to the Community Center and to all those who helped her benefit from the service, both professionally and humanely.

Livelihood Tool-kit

The Livelihood Tool-kit Program targets IDPs, returnees, and affected host community members. In compliance with specific criteria, the Program aims to promote their self-reliance and facilitate their return to the labor market by improving access to a range of professional work tools. It assists skilled IDPs who had lost their key productive assets (especially basic work tools) to resume work, by way of a professional trade or other enterprise, in order to generate an income sufficient to meet their basic needs.

What is a livelihood tool-kit?

This is a basic set of equipment and/or tools considered indispensable for a worker’s practice of a particular trade or profession. Each piece of equipment and/or tool is designed to be carried and used manually. For example: carpenter’s toolkit, electrician’s toolkit, painting tools and equipment, sewing kit and machine, men’s shaving and haircutting toolkit, etc.

 


Livelihood Toolkits Program 2018

In order to meet the challenges faced by people who lost their occupations during the crisis, the Syrian Society for Social Development (SSSD), in cooperation with the UNHCR, activated the Livelihood Toolkits Program. The Program focuses on empowering professionals by providing them with new tools to help them reenter the professional labor market and generate enough income to meet their basic needs. The most vulnerable have been targeted through clear mechanisms by which the Program operates.
The livelihood toolkits offered by SSSD covered the following occupations: sewing, mobile phone and computer maintenance, smithery, plumbing, carpentry, electrical installations and repairs and wall painting. In 2018, 2,407 professional toolkits were distributed in the following governorates: Damascus and Rural Damascus, Sweida, Hama, Tartous, Homs and Hasakeh.

 

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