In regions Syria and MENA and in groups Syria and Whole of Syria

North-West Syria Hub

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2022-09 Factsheet - X-Border Operation - Turkey Hub

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September 2022
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Binaa Organization - Dignified Shelter Units

Highlights

Humanitarian Situation Overview:

The overall humanitarian situation remains dire in north-west Syria (NW Syria), with the population reaching approximately 4.4 million people as of September 2022. Humanitarian needs continue to be driven by the impacts of over a decade of hostilities exacerbated by economic deterioration and multiple displacements.

As of September 2022, more than 2.8 million are internally displaced, many of whom are living in over-crowded locations with limited access to essential services. 1.8 million of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) live in 1,420 camps or informal sites. Most of these sites are self-settled and lack proper site planning, camp management and basic services. Women and children represent 80 per cent of this caseload while more than 74,000 IDPs are reported to be persons with specific needs.

 

Priorities:

Winterization

One of the top priorities for the Shelter/NFI Cluster during the 3rd quarter was the preparations for the upcoming winterization response. Long, extremely cold and unpredictable winters in NW Syria cause acute suffering for 2 million people living without adequate shelter. In the recent years, more extreme weather conditions, including sub-zero temperatures, heavy snowfall, and widespread flooding have been observed. With around 800,000 people living in old tents (61% of which are more than 2 years old) winter needs are acute. As the UN Security Council resolution authorizing the Cross-Border mechanism expires in the middle of winter, it is critical that this year’s winterization response is adequately funded and implemented well in advance of the UN Security Council vote on 10 January.

The Cluster has published an updated version of the Winterization Guidance Note. The document should be regarded as the absolute minimum recommendations to support vulnerable households in NW Syria. The Cluster also shared a winter advocacy note and continues to engage in discussions with donors on the high needs versus available resource. A coordination meeting was conducted in September with the partners who shared winter response plans. The Cluster continues to identify gaps and overlaps based on the plans reported.

As of mid-October 2022, cluster members have secured US$ 31.6 million out of the US$ 66 million needed to support the people in need with the minimum survival level of support. With the current funding, the Cluster is able to reach some 976,000 individuals. Another US$ 34.5 million is required to reach the one million people in need that are currently not targeted. This winter season, around 70% of the planned winter response will be implemented via cash modality. Approx. 73% of the targeted individuals live in IDP sites.

 

Dignified shelter and living conditions

Another priority for the Shelter/NFI Cluster during the 3rd quarter was the continued efforts and advocacy around dignified shelter and living conditions. The dignified shelter and living conditions approach promotes more multi-sectoral response planning, implementation and monitoring, investments in more dignified site infrastructure, wider stakeholder engagement and reduced reliance on continued repeat emergency services. The cluster has published an Action Plan that outlines how to transition IDPs living in tents to more dignified shelters that are better suited for protracted displacement. Since March 2022, cluster members have been able to reach some 6,100 families in 35 registered IDP sites with dignified shelter. Another 16,800 families living in old tents across 63 IDP sites are currently targeted by ongoing projects.

As part of continuous efforts to integrate AAP into the dignified shelter and living conditions strategy, the Cluster is together with the AAP Advisor and the CCCM and Protection Clusters planning to conduct case studies in IDP sites that have recently transitioned to dignified shelter. The studies aim to capture most significant changes experienced by the affected population as well as challenges and lessons learnt.

Contingency Planning

Due to the uncertainty of the renewal of the UN Security Council Cross-Border resolution in January 2023, the Cluster is continually engaged in contingency planning processes. Most of these are OCHA-led and relate to a) coordination services, b) ability to respond to humanitarian displacement if there is a non-renewal, c) ability to respond to further conflict-induced displacement in the event of an expansion of hostilities or military action inside NW Syria. The SNFI Cluster maintains a small contingency stock of relief supplies through its partners, however, the stock levels are relatively low.

SNFI has also been involved in the development and response to different scenarios, led by INSO. These look at four possible implications of a non-renewal: a) no change to the current response arrangements, b) minimal change with modest disruption, c) transition to NGO-led response, and d) a worst-case chaotic breakdown of the response. SNFI has contributed to the formulation of a response to these scenarios and continues to advocate for a continuation of longer-term shelter programming as well the maintenance of adequate funding levels for the response.

 

Response Overview

SNFI Cluster members continue to actively respond to the needs of the newly displaced population as well as protracted IDPs in NW Syria. At the end of the 3rd quarter of 2022, 535,000 individuals received core NFI assistance in the form of NFI kits, kitchen sets, mattresses, jerry cans, carpets, solar lamps, tarpaulin, and blankets. In addition, 705,000 people were reached with seasonal/supplementary NFI distributions.

Shelter needs of approximately 672,000 people were addressed during the reporting period. As part of a complementarity approach, some sites and IDPs benefited from more than one SNFI activity. Of this shelter support, 39% was related to the provision of emergency shelter, 52% to the improvement of infrastructure in IDP sites, 5% to the installation of transitional shelters and 4% to shelter rehabilitation.

The Cluster continues to focus on strengthening gender equality both in programming, and in the Cluster itself. The cluster’s Gender Focal Point continues to work with the cluster coordination team and all cluster partners to strengthen engagement on gender, disability, AAP, and inclusion.

NFI

Shelter