Mercy Corps Launches Work in Syria to Assist Iraqi Refugees

Photo: Paul Dudley-Hart/Mercy Corps

Portland, Ore - This month, Mercy Corps will begin work to address the Iraqi refugee crisis in Syria. Mercy Corps will be the first American global relief and development agency to receive permission from the Syrian government to open an office inside the country since the crisis began. The United Nations estimates that there are 1.5 million Iraqi refugees in Syria, an influx that has put significant strain on the resources of that small nation.

About Mercy Corps' Syria Programs

This event will mark the launch of a vocational, information technology training program to provide job skills and computer training for Iraqi refugees and vulnerable young Syrians ages 16-25. The project will be implemented with the assistance Mercy Corps' local partners, the Syrian Computer Society (SCS) and The Union for Arab ICT Associations (IJMA3, or Ittihad Jameyet Maaloumatiyah Arabiya). The organization is also distributing a small amount of emergency food and hygiene kits in cooperation with a local partner, Middle East Council of Churches (MECC).