Foreword From the UNHCR Representative
As the crisis in Syria entered its seventh year in March 2017, humanitarian needs continue to grow unabated, with 13.5 million people in need of assistance and nearly five million refugees having fled across the borders. There are also 6.3 million internally displaced, with 4.9 million people living in hard-to-reach and besieged areas without regular access to humanitarian assistance. Behind the staggering numbers, these are families and communities that have been torn apart, innocent civilians that have been killed or injured, houses that have been destroyed, businesses and livelihoods that have been shattered, infrastructures that have collapsed, as well as basic social services that have been badly damaged in some areas. People are increasingly facing difficulties in meeting their most basic needs, as four out of five Syrians are living in poverty and an estimated 69 per cent of the population living in extreme poverty.
In 2016, UNHCR implemented its strategy to extend its reach to provide protection to the most vulnerable people throughout Syria. As such, UNHCR supported the opening of 52 new Community Centers where partners and service providers now pool their resources to serve IDPs under one roof and provide harmonized packages of services. This brought the total number of operational community centres to 74 in eleven governorates, with each serving approximately 1,000 beneficiaries per month with a variety of protection, livelihoods support, life skills development and other services. I have visited many of these centers and proudly consider them important branches of our network enabling UNHCR to increase its outreach. We also recognize that for many different reasons we cannot always access every area or community and therefore UNHCR expanded its programme of outreach volunteers (ORVs) who are invaluable in assisting many vulnerable people who otherwise might be left without assistance. To ensure that UNHCR can work as close as possible with the communities, in cooperation with its partners, UNHCR identified and trained 751 new volunteers, bringing the total to 1,773 across the country. In addition, in order to maximize its presence and its operational footprint across key governorates, UNHCR continues to strengthen its humanitarian assistance and its protection and community services through increased partnerships and integration of further activities in the response. In 2016, UNHCR Syria had partnership agreements with 17 national NGOs, five international NGOs, and UN agencies. UN also worked closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Local Administration, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Health.
UNHCR as the protection and community services sector lead agency is coordinating the efforts of protection partners in the country to identify and mitigate protection risks, respond to the needs and enhance communities’ coping mechanisms and support a protective environment. As such, in 2016 UNHCR reached over two million individuals with protection and community services interventions, including capacity building of UNHCR’s partners and outreach volunteers, targeted material assistance, socio-economic activities, recreational activities, psychosocial support (PSS), legal aid, sexual and genderbased violence (SGBV) referrals, child protection services, community based initiatives, as well as awareness raising sessions on various issues, ranging from civil documentation procedures to prevention of SGBV and early marriages.
In a complex and most challenging context, UNHCR remained the lead agency and the main provider of humanitarian assistance, in the area of core relief items (CRIs) and shelter. In 2016, UNHCR dispatched five and a half million CRIs through its regular programme, inter-agency cross line and cross border missions, as well as airlifts, to four million needy individuals in 13 out of the 14 governorates. We delivered assistance in areas that are besieged and hard to reach and participated in 26 inter-agency convoys in 2016. UNHCR provided shelter assistance to 91,000 beneficiaries through the provision of emergency shelter kits, the rehabilitation of collective shelters, the upgrade of private shelters, and the provision of owner-oriented support. We ensured access to healthcare for nearly 700,000 individuals. We responded to the fresh internal displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, many of them multiple times, due to fierce clashes in many parts of Syria, such as Rural Damascus, northern rural Homs, Hassakeh, Daraa and Aleppo, to name a few. Throughout these displacements, UNHCR and its partners responded quickly, identifying those most in need and prioritizing them for the distribution of CRIs, such as shelter material, blankets, mattresses, plastic sheeting, kitchen sets, hygiene sets, jerry cans and solar lanterns. UNHCR also supported nearly 600,000 internally displaced Syrians who have returned to their homes spontaneously.
In an effort to improve the seasonal assistance provided to people to help them withstand the bitterly cold winter in Syria, UNHCR adapted the content of its kits and added new items, such as rubber boots, solar lamps, thermal under garments, winter jackets, sleeping bags, and in some instances stoves and firewood. The newly-adopted kits were drawn from the results of UNHCR’s needs-based and participatory approach with partners and affected populations, and were distributed including during the emergency response in eastern Aleppo in December 2016. As winter draws to a close, more than one million Syrians have so far received essential items that keep people alive in sub-zero temperatures, exceeding the initial target set for this type of assistance.
With nearly half of the population displaced in the country and across the borders as refugees, and while the destruction in many parts of the country continues, Syria is now at a crossroad. Syrians hope that the recent peace initiatives will pave the way to a lasting and sustainable resolution. In the meantime, it is essential that the lifeline provided by humanitarian aid is maintained and that efforts to increase the resilience of the Syrian people are redoubled. To this end, UNHCR has prioritized livelihoods support to empower Syrians to rebuild their lives. UNHCR has provided small business loans, start up grants, vocational training and most recently has distributed thousands of livelihood kits to carpenters, plumbers, electricians, painters, hairdressers and other specialized practitioners who had lost their tools during displacement. These interventions had a huge positive impact on their lives and the lives of their families, both financially and psychologically. Building on this success, UNHCR, in partnership with UNDP, FAO and other agencies, is planning to invest more in livelihoods initiatives in 2017.
In my second year in Syria, I have had the immense privilege to visit many more places in various governorates, meet with local partners and with the resilient, proud and hardworking Syrian people. The important work that has been implemented could not have been achieved without the support of UNHCR’s partners and technical departments and institutions; and I would like to sincerely thank all of them for their engagement and support to our humanitarian work. I wish also to commend the determination of UNHCR and other humanitarian staff to deliver assistance to the most vulnerable despite the risks in many places. It is my hope that through our joint efforts and cooperation, we will be able to collectively achieve more and to better assist the people affected by the crisis in Syria.
Sajjad Malik Representative
UNHCR Syria
