Long before the revolutionary changes currently sweeping across the Middle East, Tharwa Foundation has been present on the ground working with nonviolence civil society activists in the hope of pushing for the kind of serious political and social reforms that could stave off the looming violent change. While success in this regard proved to be elusive, Tharwa activists remain dedicated to the cause and are trying to help mitigate the consequences of the various regional conflagrations.
Indeed, at this stage, Tharwa has two primary objectives:
- Provide micro-grants to refugees in emergency situations whose needs cannot be met by traditional NGOs with limited mandates. This might include providing tuition, the costs of medication, or any urgent financial assistance that is not of a recurrent nature. The amounts provided in these situations usually range between $200 and $2,000.
- Support young professional refugees trying to jumpstart their careers again by providing seed funding for their ventures. The amounts involved in this case range between $3,000 and $7,000 and are often meant to supplement existing budgets and close certain gaps.
Tharwa on the ground activists often do background checks and follow-up visits to ensure that our grants are used for the agreed purposes.
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| Damascus 2008: Child labor and unemployment among the youths were two of the main factors that helped spark the Syrian Revolution in early 2011. Children like this one and young men and women became major participants in the early protest movements. In many communities, across the country they even led the way. Today, children and youth make up the majority of Syrian refugees and IDPs. Tharwa activists have sought to shed lights on the plight of Syria's children and young, then, and continue to do so today. |