The Middle East
occupied Palestinian territories
Child participants: 12,846
Adult participants: 4,258
War Child staff: 12 staff with 100 volunteers
Local partner organisations: 15
War Child is present in both Gaza and the West Bank to protect children from harm and support their psychosocial wellbeing. We train community members to provide children with vital life skills and psychosocial support. We repair play and recreation spaces to provide children with a safe environment.
In 2018 War Child worked to strengthen the protection of Palestinian children from torture and other forms of degrading treatment - particularly those in the criminal justice system. These efforts saw specialised legal and mental health services provided for 1,423 affected children and youth over the course of the year. A further 1,198 caregivers also received mental health support.
Our advocacy efforts with the Palestinian Authority and law enforcement officials resulted in the release of five children in detention. These efforts will continue whenever children’s rights are violated.
Lebanon
Child participants: 17,307
Adult participants: 4,537
War Child staff: 134
Local partner organisations: 36
War Child is active across all governorates of Lebanon. We are active in more than 40 locations - including the most vulnerable areas of the country. We work in support of children from host communities as well as children from Syrian and Palestinian refugee communities. Our community-based integrated approach combines psychosocial support, child protection and education to enhanced effect.
We worked hard in 2018 to boost the inclusion of children with disabilities in both our psychosocial support and education programming. The year as a whole saw 126 children with disabilities complete education activities and take part in our psychosocial support activities.
We received increased recognition from both partner organisations and government ministries for the quality of our work. We were also asked to develop a national basic literacy and numeracy curricula in support of vulnerable children by the Lebanese Ministry of Education.
Syrian Response
Child participants: 49,431
Adult participants: 2,600
War Child staff: 22
Local partner organisations: 13
War Child is currently the leading agency providing emergency psychosocial support and education services to Syrian children in Lebanon. We are also present in Jordan to support the urgent needs of displaced Syrian children through our education and child protection programmes.
The year saw us move to relocate our operational hub to Cyprus. The move - which will increase efficiency and our capacity to respond to urgent needs - will be completed by early 2019.
The year was marked by prolonged fighting which saw the Government of Syria retake control of many areas of the country. This forced us to revise our approach at times - yet we were proud to reach nearly 50,000 children in spite of this challenging context.
Yemen
Child participants: 15,007
Adult participants: None
War Child supports the work of War Child UK inside Yemen to provide protection, education and emergency support to displaced and vulnerable children. Across the year some 4,000 students receive learning materials and support and a further 8,400 individuals were provided with emergency cash assistance for living needs.
The year also saw War Child continue its participation in the international Yemen Joint Response. The initiative - coordinated by the Dutch Relief Alliance - sees six organisations work together to deliver emergency humanitarian assistance. Our contribution focused on emergency child protection interventions.
Iraq
Child participants: 230
Adult participants: None
War Child supports the work of War Child UK inside Iraq to strengthen access to education. This work is centred on ‘education in emergencies’ programming - short-term interventions to address disruption to normal schooling. Expanding access to education for girls is a particular priority of our programme.
Over the course of 2018 our efforts saw us reach children and youth from different communities with targeted educational support. We also expanded our DEALS life skills intervention across all parts of the country - to provide psychosocial support to children living in an uncertain context.
Jordan
Child participants: 1,888
Adult participants: 104
War Child Holland supports the work of War Child UK inside Jordan to provide education to children from both refugee and host populations. War Child established a presence inside Jordan in early 2013 to respond to the Syrian refugee crisis.
The two organisations work together inside Jordan to implement Can’t Wait to Learn - our flagship e-learning programme to provide education to children affected by conflict - and the IKEA-funded project Time to Be a Child.
