Understanding resilience: Perspectives from Syrians sought to examine resilience in Syria, from the experiences and reflections shared by Syrians inside the country. CARE and many other humanitarian agencies generally articulate resilience as “the ability of people, households, communities, countries and systems to absorb, adapt to and recover from shocks and stresses.” The research focused on the following questions:

1. What does resilience mean from the perspective of people living in Syria?
2. How has the conflict-affected the role of women within their families and communities (positively and negatively)?
3. How does it relate to the humanitarian community’s and CARE’s definitions of resilience?
4. What systems need to be strengthened to better support the resilience of households and communities in protracted crisis?

The results of this research are meant to contribute nuanced insight and in-depth understanding of resilience in Syria, in order to both inform humanitarian efforts, as well as to reflect on CARE’s Resilience Framework which provided the framework for analysis.