Results and conclusions

The pilot mapping has provided us with an idea about the reality of civil society organizations of Syria and their allocation and areas of work.

The pilot mapping has covered 802 civil actors although there are more than 900 civil actors according to the data; we noticed that these organizations work in several areas of civil activism in addition to that a high percentage of Syrian civil society organization work in many thematic areas at the same time.

The study shows that civil society in Syria generally focuses on three main fields: Media, relief and civil and advocacy groups

The Governorate that has the biggest number of active civil society organization is AL Hasaka which more than 158 organizations consider their main working area.

More than 44% of active actors in Al Hasaka are categorized as advocacy & Civil Organizations.

The Advocacy & civil organizations in Al Hasaka form 46% of the whole count of Syrian organizations that work on civil groups.

Al Raqqa and Dair Azzour governorates are considered marginalized due to their unstable security situation.

Al Qunaitra Governorate has the smallest amount of active Civil Society organizations, since the mapping could only identify 10 active civil society organizations that consider Al Qunaitra their main working place, which represents only 1% of all Syrian active actors.

Syria’s neighboring countries (Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey) are rich with Syrian civil society organizations. Our mapping has identified around 147 Syrian Civil Society organizations based in neighboring countries; most of them are Advocacy & civil Organizations, Relief and Emergency Organizations. Organizations based in the neighboring countries are mostly focusing on research (74% of the overall Syrian researching civil society organizations are based in the neighboring countries).

And of all Syrian civil society organizations focused on education, around 45% of them are based in the neighboring countries, so a clear interest in strengthening education is noticeable here.

Aleppo governorate comes second in the total amount of active Syrian civil society organizations, since around 109 Syrian civil society organizations were identified (14% of all Syrian civil society organizations). Around 29 organizations that deal with emergency and relief (17% of the overall Syrian civil society organizations) where identified in Aleppo, which is the highest percentage in the country.

Aleppo is also one of the most active cities when it comes to media, over 28 Media related Syrian civil society organizations (18% of the overall Syrian civil society organizations) where spotted in Aleppo, which is also the highest percentage.

In Dera’a Governorate, 21 Syrian civil society organizations were identified (3% of the overall Syrian civil society organizations), but even though the percentage is low, these organizations are considered the most specialized among Syrian civil society organizations They deal mostly with Child Protection, Advocacy, Emergency and Relief.

In Tartous Governorate, 17 Syrian civil society organizations were identified (2% of the overall Syrian civil society organizations). 5 developmental civil society organizations are located in Tartous (8% of the overall Syrian civil society organizations), also there are special thematic fields in Tartous that were not seen in other governorates such as Cinema and environment.

Damascus, the Capital of Syria, is rich with Syrian civil society organizations, 68 Syrian civil society organizations (8% of the overall Syrian civil society organizations) were spotted in Damascus.

The Damascus Rural region has witnessed active Syrian civil society organizations due to the unstable security situation and besiegement, Syrian civil society organizations (7% of the overall Syrian civil society organizations) were spotted in the area. There were 12 Syrian civil society organizations identified focusing on Relief and working in Rural Damascus (18% of the overall Syrian civil society organizations that work with emergency & relief).

Also, Lattakia Governorate has witnessed an abundance of civil activism due to the security situation, 15 Syrian civil society organizations were identified in Lattakia, (2% of the overall Syrian civil society organizations). 9 Syrian civil society organizations working on relief (5% of the overall relief Syrian civil society organizations) were counted in Lattakia.

In Al Swaydaa, 10 Syrian civil society organizations were identified (1% of the overall Syrian civil society organizations), most of them civil society organizations.

In Homs, 20 Syrian civil society organizations could be identified (2% of the overall Syrian civil society organizations). 55% of all civil society organizations in Homs deal with relief.

Idleb is considered rich with civil society activism, 39 Syrian civil society organizations were counted in Idleb (5% of the overall Syrian civil society organizations), and most of them deal with media and relief.