From 2017 to 2023, the Middle East Quick Start Packages provided financial support to German municipalities and municipal companies for establishing and deepening partnerships with municipalities in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey that are hosting Syrian refugees. At the start of the project, there were few to no partnerships with a development focus in those countries – except of Turkey. In the 54 initiated partnerships, the municipalities jointly developed solutions to tackle local challenges exacerbated by the rapid population influx of Syrian refugees in the host communities. Common fields of actions included solid waste management, education, vocational training, renewable energies or urban development. In this way, the host communities received support to improve municipal services for the local population as well as for refugees.
From 2017 to 2021, the "Middle East Quick-Starter Package I" funded partnerships between German municipalities and host municipalities of Syrian refugees in the Middle East. In its five years of implementation, 41 projects were funded:
- 10 projects in Jordan
- 25 projects in Lebanon
- 6 projects in Turkey
