Context:
With the fall of the Assad regime and the takeover of power by the new president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, the situation in Syria has changed drastically in 2025. The country is now in a phase of upheaval and reorganisation. The president and government are making efforts to open up Syria internationally and build new diplomatic relations, and to make the transition peaceful and legitimate.
However, the security situation remains tense. Internal displacement, extremist influences, structural inequality and a weak economy are contributing to the country’s destabilisation. As a result, the risk of division and violence between different groups of the population is growing.
Objective:
A legitimate, inclusive and peaceful political transformation process is being supported.
Approach:
The Syria Peace Initiative is funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, the EU and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and operates in three areas:
1. Support for policy actors working for legitimate change in Syria
2. Strengthening of civil society and peace-building initiatives that help to make the process open and inclusive
3. Provision of research and analyses that allow the initiative's donors to make well-informed, fact-based policy decisions.
The Initiative works with a broad network of Syrian and international actors from politics and civil society who are involved in research, dialogue, mediation and peacebuilding platforms. It endeavours to bridge existing political, ethnic and religious divisions.
As of September 2025