Facing Challenges, Moving Forward: Annual Report 2024-2025
Summarising a year full of incredible highs - like the fall of the Assad Regime - and incredible lows - like the ongoing genocide in Gaza - feels daunting every year, but even more so this year as we and the entire sector are also grappling with the foreign aid funding crisis triggered by the new US administration. Simultaneously, there are incredible opportunities to support Syrians as they rebuild their country, as well as moral and legal imperatives to hold war criminals accountable and to protect the International Criminal Court and other institutions from actors that seek to destroy them. These arise against the backdrop of severely constrained resources, not just among NGOs but among the entire UN system, impacting humanitarian, human rights, and justice endeavours. Needs have never been greater, and resources have never been tighter, at least in the post-World War II era.
Nevertheless, it was a year of exciting growth for Synergy, and we hope to maintain the momentum despite the setbacks. Although our work in Syria was unavoidably paused for a few months by funding issues, we still accomplished our goals and have recently released the two reports reflecting this work. We also kicked off a three-year project to pilot our Stigma Toolkit for Justice aimed at improving the capacity of justice institutions to deliver better outcomes for conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) survivors. Be sure to follow us on social media for updates and resources related to the roll-out of the toolkit in five countries and to learn from the CRSV survivor experts who will support and inform the implementation of our work. We also initiated our work in Palestine with the hiring of a Palestine County Representative and a scoping visit to meet with local organisations and government agencies to see how we can support and help advance their justice initiatives. We are committed to raising awareness of the war crimes, genocide, and ongoing settler-colonial violence impacting people in both the West Bank and Gaza, amplifying Palestinian organisations’ advocacy efforts, and supporting efforts to hold perpetrators accountable. Look for our upcoming report this fall, which will explore the sexual violence being perpetrated every day by Israeli settlers, officials, and armed forces against Palestinians in order to further Israel’s settler-colonial strategy and erasure of Palestinian experiences.
We joined several international initiatives and coalitions, including the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, we hired four new Synergy team members, and we increased the number of technical and survivor experts on our roster, making us a truly global organisation with people supporting our work from Mexico to Spain to Jordan and well beyond. As always, we are grateful to our donors and partners for their support of our work. We could not do it without you, and we value our shared commitment to advancing justice and accountability around the world.