Baytna in times of change

Published 22/07/2024 Brussels-Belgium

Baytna, registered in Belgium as Baytna pour le soutien de la société civile, has been proudly supporting Syrian civil society for more than 10 years. During this time, Baytna has served as a catalyzing force for more than 500 civil society projects totaling more than €7M. Moreover, Baytna has provided more than 3,000 training days along with those grants. Baytna takes it fiduciary and programmatic responsibilities seriously, and maintains and enforces strict policies with regard to business ethics, compliance, and transparency.

Like all organizations working on Syria-related programs, Baytna has felt deeply the crunch of shrinking civic space at home and abroad, donor fatigue, overcompliance of banks, and other administrative and legal challenges. To address these challenges, Baytna embarked on a major restructuring exercise with a focus on moving as many positions as possible to inside Syria. Baytna also conducted a deep-dive on the organization’s administrative costs to ensure maximum efficiency and efficacy. Throughout this process, Baytna has been integrating management best practices and state-of-the-art compliance mechanisms into its day-to-day operations.

Like all times of change, they can be venues for many speculations and misunderstandings. Therefore, Baytna feels it is appropriate to reaffirm its full commitment to developing and empowering Syrian civil society. Baytna also reaffirms its deep association to its core mandate: to serve and enable.

We encourage all stakeholders – beneficiaries, donors, and Syrian civil society – to join, ask questions, and stay updated on our work. Please talk to us!