Syria

Building peace, one child at a time

Swaadna Al Souriya’s Peace Education programme helped over a hundred children affected by the Syrian conflict grow their confidence and learn how to peacefully resolve conflicts.

When conflict tore Syria apart in 2011, the lives of an entire generation were upended. Families lost everything. Children grew up surrounded by conflict, displacement and fear.

For over a decade, local organisation Swaadna Al Souriya has stood alongside Syria's women and children, and at the end of 2024 they launched a Peace Education programme designed to give children the skills to imagine, and help build, a better future.

Over six months, 117 children took part in 21 sessions covering everything from building trust and understanding emotions, to resolving conflict and dreaming of what peace could look like. Step by step, the children were given space to open up, connect with each other, and grow. By the end of the programme, the children were speaking enthusiastically about what they'd learned: how to handle conflict, how to trust and how to support one another.

These children have already lived through more than most people experience in a lifetime. What Swaadna Al Souriya gives them isn't just education, it's the belief that their futures can look different. That peace isn't just possible, it's something they can help to build.

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