Powering Progress in Northeast Syria
After years of conflict, USAID is partnering with Syrians to rebuild the electricity grid in northeast Syria line by line — paving the way for progress and prosperity
stay open longer and better serve their customers. / USAID Syria Essential Services II
Program
As a taxi driver in Ar-Raqqa, Syria, Hatem* was used to navigating busy streets and buildings destroyed by years of occupation by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Every hour on the road was an opportunity to earn a living for his family, including care for his son, who suffers from asthma. But regardless of what he earned, Hatem’s day was always ended by one thing — dusk.
“I would end my work at sunset, afraid that people might rob me or steal my car,” Hatem said. “I would return home to be with my family because they were afraid for me.”
Years of conflict damaged the power infrastructure throughout the region, leaving Ar-Raqqa and other communities in the dark.
The lack of streetlights, inability to reliably run machinery, light classrooms, or power hospital equipment limited opportunities for Hatem and others to earn income, learn, and reestablish communities. As they tried to get by at home with an expensive, diesel-fueled generator, Hatem also worried about his son Ahmed*, whose asthma was triggered by the pollution from generators and was afraid of the dark when the generators stopped.
After Ar-Raqqa was liberated from ISIS in 2017, USAID began working to strengthen the electricity sector in northeast Syria, powering homes and businesses and empowering communities to rebuild. In partnership with local authorities, efforts rehabilitated transmission lines and power stations, and provided more than 536,603 people with access to reliable, affordable power.
With the city’s lights back on, Hatem’s earning potential increased. “Now, I work longer hours and can return home at any time,” said Hatem. He is also pleased that his son’s asthma has improved and Ahmed is again playing for hours without a problem.
Building on progress in Ar-Raqqa, USAID worked to reconnect more communities. On April 16, power was switched on at the main water pumping station in the former ISIS stronghold in Hajin, marking completion of a two-year effort to restore the region’s electrical grid and power critical infrastructure. Because of this work more than 850,000 people in northeast Syria have access to a brighter future.
Radical Change Takes Hold
Living outside of Deir-ez-Zor City, Mustafa* struggled without electricity. “The village was dark and only a few people had generators,” he said. “Poor people could not afford power.”
For Mustafa, a farmer who relied on refrigeration to keep his produce fresh during transport to market, lost power meant lost income. Unable to afford ice, his crops would rot in transit, leaving him with little money to support his family and keep his farm running.
After USAID rehabilitated the power stations and lines into Deir-ez-Zor, local authorities worked to connect neighborhoods to the grid — including Mustafa’s.
“We had radical change in the area when we accessed electricity,” Mustafa said. “My refrigerator is now functional, so we do not have to sell crops immediately after harvesting.” With products to sell at market, Mustafa is now rebuilding his business.
Communities in the lower Middle Euphrates River Valley (MERV) were some of the hardest hit by ISIS occupation. Even before the fighting, many were constrained by limited resources and unreliable power.
Fatima* a member of the local authority in Deir-ez-Zor, struggled for years to provide her constituents in the lower MERV with safe drinking water. She saw disease spread throughout communities as families faced a choice between unsafe water or no water at all.
“The lack of electricity provided for drinking stations led to the dependence on diesel generators — which have many breakdowns reducing the hours of water access for citizens, which led to lack of safe and clean water,” she explained.
Alongside work on the power grid, USAID rehabilitated the lines to the main water pumping station — the first work of its kind in the region since the Syrian civil war began. When the power was switched on at the Hajin pumping station, clean water flowed to the community for the first time in years.
“Connecting water pump station[s] to electricity will have great impact…water stations will be functional all the time and provide [sic] the citizens of Hajin clean and safe drinking water,” said Fatima.
With improved infrastructure and access to critical resources such as electricity and water, a sense of normalcy and opportunity has returned. Electricity powers progress, and USAID’s efforts established a strong foundation on which communities in Syria can build a self-reliant future.
*Pseudonym
