ACES (Action for Community Empowerment in Syria)
Health, Protection, and Education for vulnerable communities affected by conflict displacement, oppression, and disaster
OUR MISSION
ACES is an officially licensed local NGO operating in northern Syria. We started our work in 2022 in collaboration with Columbia University (New York) to provide mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) training to professionals serving communities impacted by war and trauma in the region.
ACES works in the mental health, protection, and education sectors to build capacity and strengthen resilience in individuals, families, institutions, and multiethnic communities in northern Syrian regions affected by conflict, oppression, displacement and disaster.
WHO WE ARE
Our team consists of healthcare professionals, educators, and community leaders dedicated to promoting mental health and wellness for people of all ages, ethnicities, and abilities in northern Syria.
WHAT WE DO
ACES collaborates with grassroots leaders to implement programs that enhance the psychosocial well-being of marginalized communities that have experienced war, genocide, oppression, torture, displacement, and natural disasters.
We empower local communities by:
· Building capacity and raising awareness about the importance of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS)
· Forming partnerships with NGOs with similar goals
· Raising awareness and developing programs for protection of women and children from abuse
· Training educators to use effective methods to foster children’s academic and socioemotional development
· Providing support for people with special needs
· Facilitating collective healing from trauma and fostering a brighter future.
Since March 2023, ACES’ lead trainer, Professor Bonnie Miller, psychotherapist and Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Virginia (USA) via Zoom, and Shiler Sido, ACES’ director, program coordinator, and translator, have facilitated dozens of in-person workshops throughout northern Syria on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) for thousands of healthcare workers, educators, community leaders, women’s groups, people with special needs, and local NGOs in North and East Syria, We have also extended our reach to others through remote Zoom workshops in North West Syria.
Since February 2024, Shiler Sido has initiated in-person activities for adolescents and young adults to improve their mental health and develop leadership skills. Additionally, ACES’ podcast series on psychosocial support strategies for young people now reaches hundreds of listeners.
In Spring-Summer 2024, ACES launched a comprehensive campaign with community leaders in all sectors in Qamishli and al-Hasakah on Gender-Based Violence (GBV). Through training workshops, media campaigns, and forums, we gathered stakeholders to discuss recommendations for awareness raising, gender-based violence prevention, and support for survivors This ongoing and sustainable program has trained hundreds of participants and shared their recommendations with government authorities in the Justice, Health, Education, and Women’s sectors.
ACES’ Summer and Fall 2024 two-pronged initiative focuses on Child Abuse and Maltreatment Prevention (CAMP) in Qamishli, its surrounding countryside, and Newroz camp, home to thousands of internally displaced persons in the Derik region of North East Syria. Through training workshops, parenting programs, sexual abuse resistance programs, and activities for hundreds of school-age children in Newroz camp, ACES raises awareness, offers positive parenting strategies, and suggests other preventive approaches for reducing the high incidence of physical, psychological, labor, and sexual maltreatment of children and teens in northern Syria. This ongoing program will also propose recommendations to government agencies in order to collaborate with civil society to protect children and teens from all forms of abuse.
WHERE WE WORK
ACES has facilitated in-person workshops throughout North and East Syria and connected virtually with hundreds in North West Syria. Our beneficiaries include members of the Kurdish, Armenian, Syriac, Yezidi, and Arab communities, who collaborate in our workshops to improve the situation for everyone in northern Syria.
ACES operates in the yellow area of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.
