Under the patronage of H.E. Mrs. Asma al-Assad, the First Lady of Syria, The Syria Trust for Development held The First International Development Conference of Syria 2010 on the 23rd and the 24th of January 2010 in Damascus, Syria. The Conference hosted leading international, regional and local development practitioners and theorists to provide a forum for exchanging ideas and experiences about development projects/successful interventions from around the world as well as raise awareness on development issues and related challenges that Syria and the region are facing.

The conference attendees benefited from a wide source of experts debating around specific development topics such as rural development & community empowerment, culture, children & youth, employment & entrepreneurship, with a focus on sustainability as a cross-cutting issue.

Parallel workshop sessions during the conference encouraged participants to present and discuss related case studies and learn about best practices and lessons learned, whilst subsequent plenary sessions provided the opportunity for policy discussions.

The conference provided an opportunity for stakeholders in the development sector to network and create opportunities for collaboration as well as identifying mechanisms on how the business and civic communities and government can participate in and support the development process.

For more information about the conference, please visit the conference webpage:  http://devconf2010.syriatrust.org/conference