‘Manahel’ is Arabic for ‘fountains’ – of hope, of knowledge, and of life. The programme is part of the Syria Education Programme (SEP), funded by UK aid and implemented by Chemonics . It provides access to safe, inclusive, and quality learning opportunities for children in conflict-affected areas of Syria and delivers the support that educational actors need to manage education effectively.

As well as paying teacher stipends to keep schools open and functioning, Manahel focuses on pedagogy, curriculum and planning, inclusion and child protection. It promotes the importance of education for girls and delivers interventions in psycho-social care, child safeguarding and protection, fixed and mobile library support, teacher training and coaching, monthly teacher learning circles, accommodation for children with mild or moderate disability, and improved literacy and numeracy instruction.

Manahel has so far impacted more than 600,000 children over the course of the project in northern Syria’s Idleb and Aleppo provinces (2018-2023) and will start a second phase of the programme (2024-2028).