From the FIELD

Duration: April - July 2020

Funding Scheme: Urgent COVID-19 research call project funded by the Scottish Funding Council’s Global Challenges Research Fund

Principal Investigator: Prof Lisa Boden

The Challenge

More than a decade of civil war and a collapsing economy have forced 6 million or more Syrians into crowded living conditions along the Syrian border, into neighbouring countries and failed states with ongoing economic and political crises, and fragile and fragmented healthcare systems. The UNHCR is trying to ensure that there is full inclusion of Syrian refugees in response measures to the COVID-19 pandemic in the region (including Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan), but it is unclear what provisions are available if the capacity of healthcare systems in host countries is overloaded.

Research Aims

From the FIELD was an SFC-GCRF COVID-19 urgent research call project which explored the impact of COVID-19 on UN Sustainable Development Goals in humanitarian settings. In particular, we examined the impact of COVID-19 risk mitigation strategies (border closures, movement restrictions) on access to food, agriculture inputs and other health supplies, and how has this translated into the experiences of displaced Syrians living in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraqi Kurdistan and northern Syria. 

With support from the Cara Syria Programme and a team of local researchers with connections to displaced Syrian communities across the Middle East, From the FIELD used remote household surveys and digital ethnography (“digital food diaries”) to assess the impact of COVID-19 on displaced people’s agricultural livelihoods, exploring cross-cutting themes related to mental health, WASH, gender, employment, and food security.

Anticipated Outcomes and Impact

Understanding how information about disease, and measures taken to reduce risk, affects behavioural change and the daily lives/experiences of Syrians, is critical to improve long-term preparedness for  future food and health security emergencies.

This project was a first step in encouraging community-led responses by Syrians – something that was missing from early global health strategies in response to COVID-19. 

This work will feed into the AHRC-funded Syrian Food Futures project, as part of the work by the UoE-led Network of Expertise on Food and Health Security in Fragile and Conflict Affected States in collaboration with the Cara Syria Programme.

Read more about the COVID-19 response of the Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security at the University of Edinburgh here.

Publications

• Zuntz, A., Klema, M., Abdullateef, S., Mazeri, S., Alnabolsim, S., Alfadel, A., Abi-habib, J., Azar, M., Calia, C., Burke, J., Grant, L., and Boden, L. (2021). "Syrian refugee labour and food insecurity in Middle Eastern agriculture during the early COVID-19 pandemic." International Labour Review, https://doi.org/10.1111/ilr.12348.

• Burke, J., Abdullateef, S., Boden, L., and Calia, C. (2020). “Food security and mental health under the Covid-19 syndemic.” Humanitarian Practice Network, 14 October.

• Wagner, A., Al Kaddour, A., Abdullateef, S., and Boden, L. (2020). “Covid-19 and displaced Syrians’ livelihoods along the Turkey-Syria border.” Corona Times, 11 May.

• Wagner, A., Abdullateef, S., & Boden, L. (2020). “COVID-19 may not have reached Syrian communities in the Middle East, but its domino effects have.” Routed #10 “Epidemics, labour and mobility.”

• Boden, L., Wagner, A., Abdullateef, S. & Al Kaddour, A. (2020). “Community-led responses to COVID-19 are a matter of urgency in Syria.” COVID-19 Perspectives, 21 May.

Principal Investigator

The Research Team