Hacking the Syrian Refugee Crisis
Behind-The-Scenes in the Middle East for Fovrth’s forthcoming docu-series
BEIRUT, LEBANON + AMMAN, JORDAN — Throughout the winter of 2017–2018, Fovrth’s been on-the-ground in Lebanon and Jordan filming the latest episodes of the upcoming documentary series on the Syrian refugee crisis.
Since 2016, with the support of UNICEF and UNHCR, Fovrth has been filming the progress of three teams of entrepreneurs committed to “hacking the Syrian refugee crisis.”
March will mark the seventh anniversary of the Syrian war. The loss and suffering of the Syrian people is immeasurable, and while a warring factions and outside actors obscure a political solution, more than half of the Syrian population remains displaced.
In Lebanon, over a quarter of the population is now Syrian refugees. In Jordan, a country also home to Iraqi and Palestinian refugees, more than 1.5 million refugees have fled from Syria.
“The Syrian refugee crisis in this region is of a magnitude we’ve rarely seen before. We’ve reached a scale that has bypassed the second world war,” explains Mirielle Girard, UNHCR-Lebanon. “This is why we have to keep thinking of new ways to approaching humanitarian response.”
Since 2016, the three teams of young entrepreneurs have been piloting, incubating, and field testing ground-breaking solutions to the challenges that both humanitarian providers and Syrian refugees face. Despite many hurdles, much of their technology has proved that it can not only serve Syrian refugees, but also refugees and low-income families worldwide.
As the crisis continues, so does the need for innovation. Fovrth will continue to film the progress of the three teams, as well as the countless struggles and triumphs of refugees and humanitarians, through the Summer of 2018.
Tony Ayala is Director of Photography and Associate Producer at Fovrth Studios.
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