MEDirections is delighted to share a new Research Project Report from the Wartime and Post-Conflict in Syria project (WPCS). This publication is available in English and Arabic.

Non-governmental organisations in the city of Aleppo have undergone deep transformations since 2011. Relying on various tools, the regime ensures its domination over registered local NGOs and their international backers, primarily to serve its own interests and those of its war-born networks and only marginally to address the needs of the local population. Based on qualitative interviews with local actors and a sample of 17 local NGOs, this paper examines the role of the biggest charity and development associations which operate in the fields of relief aid, healthcare, education and care for orphans and the disabled. The paper also analyses the different levels and mechanisms of intervention used by the regime in the NGO sector.