Damascus, 11 December 2020 - UNDP and UNICEF in Syria are delighted to share the news of a remarkable achievement by Syrian youth participating, for the first time this year, in the Generation Unlimited Youth Challenge 2019/20.

CreaDeaf, a team comprised of five young people, two young women and three young men, have won in the Equity and Empowerment category for their idea to actively engage with their community to ensure better services are provided for young Syrians living with disabilities and for more integration and inclusion.

CreaDeaf are an extraordinary team comprised of 22-year-old Imad, who has no disability but was born to a deaf father, and a group of inspiring deaf young people who teamed up with Imad. They include: Ahed, a 22-year-old makeup artist, Rasha, a 19-year-old animation specialist, her brother Hasan, a 22-year-old fashion designer and Aya, a 21-year-old. The five-member team is assisted by Farah for sign-language interpretation.   

Their passion and creativity had already grabbed the attention of UNICEF and UNDP teams at the initial application phase. Theirs was selected from amongst 800 applications to take part in the Generation Unlimited Bootcamp and went on to be one of two teams to receive seed-funding to establish a venue for skills development and the first Syrian website dedicated to deaf people.

Today’s win announcement is only a credit to their passion and effort but also to the potential inherent in Syria’s children and youth. And with such shining examples of this potential how can we not but stand beside them and support them.

Both of us, UNICEF and UNDP, are very proud to have been part of CreaDeaf’s journey and look forward to the many achievements awaiting them in their future.

Ramla Khalidi, UNDP Representative in Syria

Bo Viktor Nylund, UNICEF Representative in Syria