Learnings from Cash Grant Support to Small and Medium Food Shops in Northwest Syria

The majority of vendors working within GOAL’s areas of operation survive on slim margins and are highly susceptible to market and currency instability, often resulting in an inability to restock on time due to a lack of financial capital. Vendors are often confronted with other issues such as the lack of appropriate infrastructure, equipment, and electricity. These challenges faced by vendors in Northwest Syria (NWS) negatively impact the community they serve, resulting in reduced availability of affordable, diverse, and nutritious foods.

With Bureau of Humanitarian Aid funding, GOAL Syria started providing business support to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) selling food commodities in March 2021. The SME support aims at strengthening markets in NWS through increasing vendors’ resilience to market shocks. This is done by supporting small vendors through a comprehensive approach involving the provision of business support technical assistance and cash grants.

The aim of this learning brief is to understand the effect over time of the cash grant component of the SME support by comparing the findings from the assessment conducted before receiving support, after 1 month, and after 6 months of receiving it.