We are a right based organisation, founded in 2013, with a mission to foster transformative justice as the foundation for genuine and sustainable peace in Syria, by supporting people-led movements, structures, narratives, and discourses that enable self-determination, equal rights, truth, and the reimagining of transformation.
The ousting of Assad is the end of Syria’s most brutal dynasty. It brings down with it any aspirations to rule Syria forever. The Syrian people have made it clear: Forever no more. This is the dawn of immense challenges and great opportunities. The prospect for a just, democratic and peaceful Syria is more attainable now than ever. To embark on this journey of building Syria’s future, the trauma of authoritarian reign, crimes committed against civilians, as well as the deep underlying structural injustices need to be addressed.
The Syrian civil society’s perseverance, hard-earned trust, and clarity of direction, most notably women-led efforts from the revolution to Assad’s fall, represent an invaluable social capital for steering this exceptional historical moment towards justice, healing and prosperity.
As an integral member of the Syrian civil society and its collective efforts, we, at Badael, are committed to our mission. We honour this commitment by continuing to uphold the values that have informed this mission from our foundation to date.
As our name suggests, developing viable alternatives is at the core of our philosophy. The fundamental values underpinning this philosophy are:
Grassroots: We believe that transformative and lasting change occurs organically and from the bottom up.
Feminist: We employ an intersectional feminist approach in every aspect of our work and consider it the primary prism for countering all forms of structural injustice.
Rights-based: We are accountable to the Syrian people, and particularly, the groups and communities with whom we work. We remain cognizant of our positionality, power and legitimacy. We endeavour to work with rights holders horizontally, building on strengthening endogenous capacities and resources to ensure sustainable impact.
Focused on the Excluded Majority: We provide platforms and opportunities for Syria’s excluded majority to ensure pluralistic, representative and symmetric discourse, participation and decision-making.
Critical and Creative Thought: We believe that there are always alternatives to oppressive structures and in order to find them, we need to engage with our surroundings in a critical and innovative way.
Our Board of Directors
Our Team
