The Cost of the Syrian Conflict

Friday, April 1, 2016

Interview of Conny Lenneberg (Regional Leader, Middle East and Eastern Europe Region, World Vision International) by Capacity4Dev

“We’ve lost a generation,” said Conny Lenneberg. “When children are out of school for three or four years, it’s very difficult to re-integrate them. There are hundreds of thousands of children out of school for that time.”

Report: The Cost of Conflict for Children: Five Years of the Syrian Crisis

“We need to think about how to prepare those children to have the skills and basic literacy they need so they can be productive in their own economy.”

“We need to plan for the day after, when a peace agreement is reached. Parents need a lot of pyscho-social support and training. So do youth, who have had distressing experiences and interrupted schooling.”

“What’s amazed me working with refugees is how passionate they are about return. They all talk about going back and rebuilding their country. Let them lead the process.”

Learn more about how World Vision is responding to the Syria Crisis.