Our work in Syria and Lebanon
Oxfam Denmark works to ensure that the most vulnerable communities in Syria and Lebanon have access to life-saving humanitarian assistance, while supporting them to rebuild their lives with dignity, resilience, and sustainable opportunities for the future.
Photo: Islam Mardini/Oxfam
5.9 million people
need acute human assistance in Syria
5000+ women and girls
in Lebanon have received menstrual hygiene kits by Oxfam Denmark in 2021/2022
7 water systems
are being rehabilitated with solar power.
81.668 people
in Syria and Lebanon received humanitarian assistance by Oxfam Denmark in 2021.
Syria and Lebanon remain among the most fragile countries in the world. In Syria alone, the civil war has left 13.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Years of conflict, economic collapse, fuel shortages, water scarcity, and limited access to health care have caused living conditions in both countries to deteriorate at an alarming pace.
Building Resilience in Syria and Lebanon
Oxfam Denmark works to rehabilitate and upgrade water systems—transitioning them to solar power to ensure secure, sustainable access to safe water for drinking, sanitation, and hygiene.
We provide essential protection services to vulnerable communities, with a particular focus on addressing gender-based violence. This includes psychosocial support, legal referrals, and case management for survivors.
In addition, we strengthen livelihoods by improving income diversification and enhancing the capacity of small-scale farmers, helping them adapt to changing conditions and sustain their communities.
Women are constantly at the frontline when disaster strikes. We are the nurses, the mothers, the wives, the aid workers, the doctors, the cleaners, the business owners, the teachers, the directors. We are also almost always expected to save the day. But we cannot and should not be expected to always save the day.
Nour Shawaf
Humanitarian Programme Coordinator, Oxfam in Lebanon
Give Women a Dignified Menstrual Experience
In times of crisis and conflict, managing menstruation becomes an even greater challenge for women and girls. Limited financial means, inadequate toilet facilities, scarce access to water, and the weight of social stigma all make it difficult for women in conflict settings to manage their monthly cycle with dignity.
That is why we distribute menstrual kits containing sanitary pads, underwear, and soap—while also engaging both men and women in education about menstruation to help break the stigma.
With your support, we can ensure that women never have to choose between buying sanitary pads and buying food.
Our goals in Syria and Lebanon
- To ensure that women and girls have their menstrual hygiene needs met, providing them with both privacy, dignity and increased knowledge.
- To sustainably rebuild water and sanitation infrastructure, improving agricultural practices as well as improving hygiene practices protecting against infectious diseases
- To secure that crisis affected people, particularly for gender-based violence survivors, have access to protection services and increased knowledge of their rights.
- To ensure that crisis affected people, including women and youth, have increased food security and sustainable, resilient livelihoods.
Photo: Islam Mardini/Oxfam
Support Oxfam Denmark’s Humanitarian Work
You can help Oxfam Denmark assist victims of war, conflict, and natural disasters around the world by donating to our work.
Facts about Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Syria
- Since the war began in March 2011, 6 million people have been internally displaced within Syria and over 12 million have left their homes.
- 80 percent of Syrians now live below the poverty line.
- More than one in three of the population of Syria relies on an unsafe water supply.
- Lebanon is one of Syria’s most heavily impacted neighbours, holding 1.5 million Syrian refugees with little capacity to support them, meaning 98% of these refugees live in extreme poverty.