In Focus: Syria’s Welfare System in Transition

Syria’s transitional government inherited a skeletal welfare system in which citizens nominally had access to healthcare, social housing, subsidised goods, and retirement pensions, but reality on the ground was far bleaker. The new government, quick to adopt the free-market agenda and declare the end of the subsidy era, is still in the process of designing its social protection framework. This report offers an overview of what is left of the welfare state and examines the discussions between the government and international organisations to design social protection policies (which include a national cash transfer programme and a unified social registry project). It also looks into the financial viability of pensions, the strategy to counter the low levels of social protection coverage, the under-funding of social housing programmes, and explores the debate around health financing reform.