Weaving Hope: Upgrading Syria’s Garment Industry and Workforce

Project information

• Objectives

  Revitalizing the Textile Sector

  • The project aims to modernize Syria’s textile and garment industry by upgrading outdated equipment and rehabilitating damaged infrastructure. This would boost production efficiency, enhance quality, and improve workplace safety, laying the groundwork for sustainable growth.

  Improving Working Conditions

  • By promoting fair wages, safe environments, and formal employment, the project works to improve job quality across the sector. It emphasizes protecting workers’ rights and addressing informal labour practices.

  Strengthening Skills and Institutions

  • Vocational training centres and technical support institutions will be upgraded to better respond to market demands. Special emphasis is placed on inclusive, market-relevant skills development for women, youth, persons with disabilities, and returnees.

  Boosting Market Access and Sustainability

  • The project helps Syrian enterprises align with international standards and reconnect with regional and global markets. It also champions the use of green technologies and responsible business practices to foster long-term environmental and economic sustainability.
• Outcomes

  Strengthening the Textile Sector

  • The project enhances the textile sector’s capacity for sustainable growth, decent employment, and international competitiveness. A comprehensive mapping exercise identifies key stakeholders, existing gaps, and emerging opportunities; the analysis is gender-responsive and includes insights into productivity and social inclusion.

  Skills Training and Inclusion

  • Improved access to inclusive, market-driven skills training is expanded, especially for women, youth and vulnerable groups. Workforce development programmes, co-designed with TVET institutions, trade unions, and other partners, equip beneficiaries with practical skills to succeed in the labour market.

  Institutional Capacity Building

  • Technical centres and universities are upgraded with modern equipment, improved curricula, and industry-recognized certification systems. Strengthened institutional and managerial capacity ensures the sustainable delivery of high-quality training aligned with industry needs and inclusive development.

  Enterprise Upgrading and Market Linkages

  • Targeted enterprises implement customized upgrading plans, integrating sustainable technologies and improved operational practices. Access to markets is enhanced through trade fairs, business-to-business (B2B) events, and value chain networking, thereby boosting competitiveness.

  Decent Work Conditions

  • Private sector actors receive tailored support to enhance occupational safety and health (OSH), gender equality, and workplace productivity. The project promotes international labour standards through SCORE training, establishment of worker committees, and OSH awareness campaigns.