2021 Annual Report
2021 has been the year of transition for Baytna. We started operating from our new headquarters in Brussels-Belgium in January and shut down all Turkey operations in September. The COVID-19 pandemic continued to challenge the work schedule. However, Baytna was quick to adapt all its programming to the pandemic realities. All training and capacity-building events were moved online through Zoom and Skype. Partners were required to develop COVID-19 contingency plans including changing the nature of some projects. The Museum of Activism, due to launch on the 10th anniversary of the Syrian uprising, was launched virtually instead of physically in March 2021 and was eventually launched physically in Berlin in October 2021. We also delivered three key research papers on sanction evasion tactics, Russian and Iranian business interests in Syria, and youth aspirations for the future of Syria.
The inability to secure work permits and banking issues in Turkey and Belgium pushed us to relocate our headquarters from Gaziantep in Turkey to Brussels in Belgium where Baytna is registered. The office in Gaziantep was shut down and the relocation happened in January 2021 after several delays due to the pandemic. This created new opportunities for Baytna to engage with the Syrian diaspora in Europe and be closer to EU decision-making centers. A new corporate identity and new color scheme were developed to reflect the identity of Baytna as
a hub and an enabler of civic activism inside and outside Syria in line with the move. On the programmatic level, the three programs of Baytna continued their activities as usual. In Baytna Inline program, we awarded 13 grassroots grants in three main areas of Syria (Northwest, northeast, and southwest) for a total of € 250,000. Moreover, the program organized 32 training events. Baytna Outline awarded 15 grants for a total of €150,000 and conducted 24 training events. Finally, Baytna Online continued updating content to its virtual platform https://baytna.online/ , awarded 10 grants for a total of € 40,000 and produced 7 video trainings. Total subscribers to the platform by the end of 2021 were 9553. Also, Baytna launched its new website in both languages, English https://www.baytna.org/ and Arabic https://ar.baytna.org/, and reactivated its social media platforms on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/baytnaa, Twitter https://twitter.com/BAYTNA1, and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/baytna/.
