Building on the reality
of a fragmented, profoundly local, operational context in Syria, this Project
proposes a regional and city based stabilization and peace-building approach.[1] Regional stabilization zones have been
identified that build on existing socio-economic connections and the shared
interest in functioning urban infrastructure, services and local
economies. Therefore, using an urban approach (see Implementation
Strategy below), the Project will restore damaged infrastructure to improve quality of life, strengthen local
planning processes that rebuilds the trust between communities and municipalities, and to identify and strengthen opportunities for
communities, neighborhoods, and cities to work together to establish recovery
and bottom-up processes that
offer pragmatic benefits for Syrians.[2]
During the past three years, UN-Habitat has gained
significant experience in the conflict sensitive use of urban infrastructure
and services to promote stabilization and peace-building in Syria. A comprehensive package of conflict and
stakeholder analysis tools have been developed to engage with local
stakeholders to develop multi-sectoral Neighbourhood Action Plans.
More recently, UN-Habitat's Neighbourhood
Planning Approach was adopted by the UN Joint Programme on Resilience and Recovery,
a multi-agency programme including UNICEF, UNFPA, UNDP, FAO, WFP and UN-Habitat
The Importance of Cities
The rationale for an
explicitly urban approach to stabilisation includes the following:
·
Cities now host at least 75% of the Syrian population (in contrast to
some 53% in 2010). Currently, some 60 cities and towns hold roughly 90% of
Syria's urban residents (including the vast majority of IDPs, who have imposed
additional burdens on cities but also brought important resources with them).
Most contested areas are urban and most of Syria's remaining wealth and human capital is in cities.[1] Cities are also where people will likely
return first and where social tension, or social cohesion, will emerge.
[1]
As of June 2016 there were nearly 600,000 Syrians who living in one of 20
besieged cities, towns, or neighborhoods in Syria. This represents an increase of more than
100,000 Syrians living in besieged areas from January 2016. A further 4.8 million Syrians live in one of
165 hard to reach (HTR) areas. In almost
all cases, the besieging actor is the Government of Syria. (United Nations Besieged and Hard to Reach
Communities List, June 2016)
Stabilisation
Definition
In 1992, the UN defined
peace-building as “A range
of measures targeted to reduce the risk of lapsing or relapsing into conflict
by strengthening national capacities at all levels for conflict management, and
to lay the foundation for sustainable peace and development”, and further
refined it in 2009 to focus on five areas: (i) Support to basic safety and
security; (ii) Political processes; (iii) Provision of basic services; (iv)
Restoration of core government functions; and (v) Economic revitalization. In Syria, stabilization is only being introduced
to the “Whole of Syria” agenda 6 years into the conflict; many of the elements
defined above have yet to be evolved. UN
Habitat with partners working across Syria, has further refined the UN definition of
stabilisation to focus on three stabilisation outcomes which can contribute
towards the overall goal of stabilisation in urban areas:
·
Stable Local Governance: Ability of the people to enjoy the collective
benefits and services of their local communities.
o
Conditions required:
§ Provision of essential
services
§ Civic participation and
empowerment
·
Sustainable Economy: Ability of the people to pursue opportunities for livelihoods
within a system of economic governance bound by law.
o
Conditions required:
§ Macroeconomic
stabilisation
§ Control over the illicit
economy and economic-based threats to peace
§ Market economy
sustainability
§ Employment generation
·
Social Well-Being: Ability of the
people to be free from want of basic needs and to coexist peacefully in
communities with opportunities for advancement.
o
Conditions required:
§ Access to and delivery of
basic needs services
§ Access to and delivery of
education
§ Return and resettlement of
refugees and internally displaced persons
§ Restoration of social
networks
[1] Refer to ‘People's Process in Post-Disaster and
Post-Conflict Recovery and Reconstruction', UN Habitat publication.
[2] Locally based civilian representatives that
are involved in decision making, community mobilization, and service delivery.
Normal
0
false
false
false
EN-US
ZH-CN
AR-SA
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
