Breaking Barriers: How Women are Paving the Way in Syria Civil Defence’s UXO Program

When women like Faiza* wake up in the morning, they have one thought in mind – a mission to cleanse Syria of every last piece of unexploded ammunition so that, as she says, “our spaces are safe for all women, children, and men.”

The war in Syria has left a trail of deadly cluster munitions and unexploded ordnance in its wake, with the potential to wreak devastation decades after they were dropped. As a member of the Syria Civil Defence (SCD), Faiza undertakes the dangerous and painstaking work of identifying where these unexploded weapons might be – work that could take her to the wide open spaces of rural areas, where farmers try to safely eke out their living, never knowing what could lie beneath the soil, or to an abandoned house in a densely packed urban area, where one wrong move could send shockwaves through the community. This work is always informed by the need to decide whether to attempt to remove the deadly unexploded ammunition, or, where this is deemed impossible, mark the area as unsafe in the hope that this will keep civilians away.

Dealing with unexploded ordnance (UXOs) might sound like a nightmare for most, but for Faiza, the opportunity to be involved in this lifesaving activity has been a dream come true. A dream that at first seemed impossible, since previously only men were considered for this work due to cultural limitations. But all that changed a little under a year ago, when a training opportunity arose, and she started working as a surveyor for the Explosive Hazard Removal Center within the SCD. Faiza and 11 other women who shared the same dream of making a difference formed the first cohort of women to join the SCD’s UXO team, and their involvement has had a profound impact on the way communities view the role of women.

“In my opinion and from my experience, it’s now possible for a more conscious generation that understands the role of women, and the work they do whether it’s UXO work, or any other role,” says Faiza, adding, “it creates value for the role that they play, and the positive impacts they have.”

Faiza was selected through a competitive application process and underwent rigorous theoretical and practical training on unexploded ordnance and explosive materials. For her, it was an opportunity to join the SCD and be able to perform a task that other people might see as something women do not do. Beyond saving lives, her motivation, she says, “is to stay in this field, and prove that women can excel in all fields of work.”

Integrating Women in the Response to Conflict Response and Rebuilding

The SCD has been a pillar of strength and symbol of community resilience since it began in 2014 in response to the Syrian conflict, providing lifesaving support in Northwest Syria, including its program to identify and remove unexploded ordnance in local communities funded by Global Affairs Canada from February 2022 to March 2023. Recently, this program has undergone a major shift: women have been integrated into the UXO teams. Not only has this improved SCD’s UXO work, but it has caused a positive change in Syrian communities, pushing forward gender equity in the context of an active conflict. Faiza explained that, “Over the 11 years of the Syrian revolution, I have developed complete faith in the humanity of [the SCD] and witnessed the ability of volunteers to sacrifice their lives to save others...This is what motivated me to be a part of the [SCD]."

When the SCD began UXO work in 2016, it did not necessarily focus on gender balance, prioritizing the neutralization of unexploded ordnance. Soon, though, it became apparent that men working as UXO volunteers could not always access women and children to ask questions about potential UXO in communities because of traditional beliefs limiting these interactions. This reality led the SCD to prioritize the recruitment of women to UXO teams

The process of creating an inclusive team was not as straightforward as simply embarking on a recruitment drive. However, practical challenges such as the need to update training and policies to reflect inclusivity, and to provide women’s bathroom facilities at UXO centers, could be relatively easily addressed. More difficult to deal with were the social norms relating to women in the workplace, with challenges around balancing work and home responsibilities coming to the fore, and pushback from some community members who expressed disapproval of women like Faiza’s involvement in UXO work, which is seen as dangerous and unsuitable for women.

While these problems presented complex challenges for the SCD, they also ?provided an opportunity to attempt to address these. SCD did this through a multi-pronged approach, including community awareness sessions and social media campaigns about the critical work of UXO teams and the importance of involving women, particularly in terms of their ability to survey women and children in the communities; providing women with competing commitments, such as childcare, the option to work in administrative support at UXO centers when field work required traveling great distances; and physically modifying UXO centers to ensure their adequacy for mixed gender teams. In addressing each of these challenges as they arose, the SCD was a powerful ally to women who wanted to serve their communities by preventing the awful impacts of UXO from the conflict.

The importance of enabling women’s involvement in this work, and the associated increased access to other women and children in communities, cannot be overstated. In one example, a six-year-old child, who attended an awareness session provided by SCD’s women volunteers, was able to recognize an UXO item in the field where his father was working, and prevent his father from dealing with the unexploded ordnance himself. This story, which could have had a very different ending had the child not attended the awareness session, has become part of the community narrative, demonstrating the vital role women and children can play in saving lives and preventing accidents.

Furthermore, the involvement of women and girls in Syria’s ongoing conflict better enables them to provide support in other emergency situations. When the northern and western parts of the country were rocked by earthquakes in February 2023, the training these women received for UXO work provided them with the necessary experience to be involved in the emergency response. As Faiza remembers, “everyone had a role in the response, and each according to their ability. Other volunteers viewed every woman volunteer with a positive, appreciative, and respectful perception...…We work as one team and one unit.”

Shifting Gender Dynamics

Women’s involvement in UXO work also has an incredible ripple effect for the lives of women and girls in Syria. Because the SCD has such a positive reputation among Syrians, their increased engagement of women is shifting community and family dynamics toward gender equity. Some women volunteers are the main providers in their households, and household chores and decision-making authority are ?more equitably shared between partners and family members as a result. Having a job has improved household economic conditions and many women are now able to be more independent and self-confident, enabling them to be responsible for their own decisions. Further, women volunteers empower and educate women in their local communities. “It presents possibilities and creates an example of leadership for girls in the community to move forward and persist in their educational attainment, and work until they achieve all that they dream of. In addition, [a positive impact is on] our mission to cleanse Syria from every bit of ammunition so that our spaces are safe for all women, children, and men,” says Faiza.

By June 2023, there were 16 women involved in UXO programming in Syria. These women continue to push boundaries and work in new ways to support their communities and their country. They are a shining example of how women can and should be involved in conflict and other emergency response and recovery and, as Faiza says, “in all fields of work.”

*Faiza’s name and some personal details have been changed to protect her identity.

For more information, read our latest technical brief on Women’s Integration in the Syria Civil Defence Unexploded Ordnance Activities.

This article was authored by Zouhir Al Bounni, senior program manager in Chemonics’ Middle East and North Africa (MENA) division, Gabriela Arribalza Matos , previously a technical specialist with Chemonics, Nada Raslan , a specialist in Chemonics' gender equality and social inclusion technical team, and SaraJane Renfroe, previously a senior associate in Chemonics' MENA division.