Middle East and North Africa

Children and young people in the Middle East and North Africa account for nearly half of the region’s population. Many are exposed to political instability, violence and forced migration. Child marriage, as well as child labour, are both consequences of poverty. As the unemployment rate of young people in the region is the highest worldwide, they face difficulties to access employment. Terre des hommes (Tdh) works with local partners, community leaders and national authorities to give children protection, education and access to justice.

742,935 children, young people and their relatives were supported in 2020 Sharing is caring!

157,523 children were supported in humanitarian crises in 2020 Sharing is caring!

45,490 people were trained on migration-related risks for children and ways to prevent them in 2020 Sharing is caring!

Our programmes in the region

Children and youth in migration

Tdh makes sure that children and young people affected by migration have access to appropriate and good quality protection services in their countries of origin, transit and destination. We tackle the issues of child labour, child marriage, and violence against children, with a focus on child participation and youth empowerment. Key actors are trained to provide a child-friendly and protective environment which ensures children’s rights. Sports and art activities are a tool to empower refugee and migrant children and young people psychologically and socially.

Access to justice

We work in conflict prevention and resolution via restorative approaches based on child-friendly justice by promoting alternatives to trials, non-custodial measures, custodial care and effective prevention and reintegration processes for children at risk and in conflict with the law. To achieve this, we collaborate with formal and traditional justice actors, organisations and networks, as well as with children and their families. We combine advocacy, research, innovation and quality and accountability in our specialised areas: customary justice, prevention of violent extremism, gender injustice and religious injustice.

Mother and child health

Our mobile midwives in Afghanistan reach out to women in urban and peri-urban areas. These house visits provide access to healthcare for people who have no access to basic services such as sanitation, water and transportation. Preventive messages on the cruciality of vaccination or hospital and medicalised delivery are also spread. In Morocco, we make sure children with vulnerable backgrounds who have heart problems or other complex diseases get access to specialised care.

Humanitarian aid

We work in protracted crisis contexts like Palestine and Afghanistan, but also in the neighbouring countries of Syria. In Iraq, we support the re-establishment of the education system in the post-war context. Cash-based assistance is increasingly becoming a core element of Tdh interventions in the zone, as it leaves the choice of what is most important to buy up to the families. We supported children in humanitarian crises after the explosion that happened in Beirut on August 4th, 2020. Tdh's comprehensive response to the COVID-19 emergency targeted vulnerable households in needed to support the containment and control of COVID-19 and reduce their vulnerability to the steep collateral protection, socio-economic and health outcomes impact that accompany the outbreak.

Countries of intervention

Supported by

Making a positive impact for children - MENA Annual Report 2020

Africa Asia

Europe

Latin America

Middle East and North Africa

Child protection

Children’s health

Children in humanitarian crises

Innovation

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Events in Switzerland

Companies

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Legacies

Philanthropy

Volunteering

Middle East and North Africa