Six years into the Syria crisis, the United Nations and partners remain committed to providing life-saving assistance to the 13.5 million displaced and conflict- affected people inside Syria, protecting the rights of 4.81 million refugees in neighboring countries, and building the resilience of the 4.4 million people in vulnerable communities hosting them. Coordinating this effort remains a crucial challenge.

In response, the Helsinki Conference on Supporting Syrians and the Region on 23 and 24 January, 2017 provided the platform to present the humanitarian priorities for Syria in 2017 and launch the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP) for 2017–2018, which extends to Syria’s neighboring countries.

The international community used this platform to discuss the humanitarian and development challenges and opportunities to build resilience in Syria and neighboring countries. The conference highlighted the experiences of a wide range of partners - UN agencies, international financial institutions, the donor community, civil society and the private sector - in finding long-term solutions to respond to the protracted crisis, and allowed them to exchange ideas on challenges and solutions in dedicated panel discussions on a range of themes.