Century International: “‘Early Recovery’ Aid Can Provide Vital Relief to Syrians—If Donors Follow Through”

I have a new piece for The Century Foundation’s Century International, this time on “early recovery” aid to Syria and the contentious politics around it:

https://tcf.org/content/commentary/early-recovery-aid-can-provide-vital-relief-syrians-donors-follow/

In July, the UN Security Council unanimously endorsed humanitarian “early recovery” assistance in Syria as part of a larger compromise on aid to Syria. Early recovery (or "resilience") aid is aid intended to bolster recipients' ability to support themselves, and thus sustainably reduce humanitarian need. It often involves support for basic services. Previously, the U.S. and some other donors had resisted early recovery aid, which they saw as too close to support for Syria's reconstruction.

After July's Security Council vote, we're seemingly past that. Every major donor country supports early recovery assistance to Syria, at least in theory. There are still questions about the practice, though: donors are debating amongst themselves over how to define "early recovery" and avoid contributing to reconstruction that buttresses the Syrian government; and it's not clear where the money for early recovery will actually come from.

Despite all that: this latest international endorsement of early recovery opens up new possibilities for donor aid to beleaguered Syrians, including, in seemingly the most ambitious early recovery initiative so far, a proposed effort to rescue water facilities on which millions of Syrians depend. Now it's on donors to follow through and deliver the support that Syrians need.