Syria
In January 2023, the UN decided to deprive Syria of aid providing from the World Food Programme. In a country already hard hit by the war and by the unilateral coercive measures placed by major Western powers, this has serious ramifications for humain conditions in Syria. According to the United Nations itself, more than 12 million Syrians are in a situation of food insecurity.
SOS Chrétiens d’Orient Syrian mission has decided to launch projects that would allow the local population living conditions sustainable improvement in order to avert the risk of famine. The solution adopted is to rehabilitate the automatic bakeries which, in Syria, supply bread at a regulated price accessible to all, including the poorest in society. Many of these bakeries were damaged by the fighting during the war. In the Homs region, for example, the bakery in the small town of Al-Qusseir is now operating very poorly. Although it should be producing more than 10,000 bags of bread a day to supply all the region, it can only manage to make around 5,600.
Teams from the Syrian mission of SOS Chrétiens d’Orient approached this bakery to evaluate the possibility of renovating and modernising it. Therefore, a feasibility study and price offers were used to define the project featuresة assess the work and purchase the equipment required. The work needed to restore the bakery and add an additional production line will cost 140,000 euros.
This major project would allow the bakery to provide bread for several thousand families over the long term. This type of projects is therefore much preferable to the distribution of direct one-off food aid that would have to be constantly repeated. In addition, if it proves successful, this model of projects could be duplicated in new living areas that also have automatic bakeries that can be rehabilitated, which have already been identified by the SOS Chrétiens d’Orient teams.
