Syrian Arab Republic Crisis Response Plan 2021

Year

CRP last updated: February 26 2021

Funding last updated: January 05 2022

$89,150,000

Funding required

13,000,000

People in need

1,465,000

People Targeted

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IOM Vision

Building on IOM's expertise in providing life-saving assistance to those most affected by conflict, and recognizing the dynamic context within Syria, IOM will address humanitarian and protection needs and support efforts towards resolving displacement. IOM mainstreams protection, accountability to affected populations, protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) and risk mitigation throughout all its interventions while working closely with and strengthening the capacity of NGO partners.

As the Syrian conflict is in its tenth year, there are more than 6.5 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) across the country, among whom more than 2.7 million are in northwest Syria (NWS) – 62% of the total 4.4 million people in NWS. According to the NWS Humanitarian Response Plan (September 2020), 2.8 million people urgently need humanitarian assistance in NWS and 220,000 remain at immediate risk of displacement. Country-wide, 11 million people are estimated to require humanitarian assistance. Despite a decrease in large-scale military operations in Syria’s northwest since the 5 March 2020 ceasefire agreement, sporadic hostilities have persisted.

IDPs, host community members, and returnees face mounting challenges due to prolonged and protracted displacement, poor living conditions, restricted economic opportunities, and humanitarian actors’ limited access on the ground. These conditions have been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the associated restrictions on movement and gathering have further aggravated existing vulnerabilities. The situation remains a protection crisis, as affected populations are often at high risk of exploitation, abuse, trafficking, and violence. Nearly half the population in NWS now reside in emergency shelters. Destruction and damage to water supply systems have impacted communities’ access to safe water, with households reporting being forced to use unsafe water and adopt poor hygiene practices, increasing vulnerability to ill health. IOM remains committed to supporting vulnerable populations inside Syria with essential multisector assistance.

For all regional activities related to the Syria crisis, please see IOM's Syria Regional Refugee & Resilience Plan 2021.

IOM’s cross-border humanitarian activities are implemented in line with the annual Syria Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) and are closely coordinated with interagency Clusters, Technical Working Groups, and OCHA coordination forums. IOM plays an important role in the cross-border Shelter/Non-Food Items (NFI), Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM), Protection and Early Recovery Clusters and is actively engaged in the Health Cluster.

In the cross-border context, IOM works through Syrian NGO partners, requiring intensive coordination to ensure quality and accountability of project activities. IOM undertakes regular capacity building initiatives with its partners, to increase technical knowledge and strengthen overall performance and sustainability of the response. IOM is a key actor in the Humanitarian Liaison Group and Inter-Cluster Coordination Group in Gaziantep, Turkey. At the regional level, IOM is an active member of the Whole of Syria (WoS) Strategic Steering Group (SSG). IOM is also actively involved in the regional and country-based Durable Solutions Working Group led by UNHCR.

Given the UN's Level 3 designation for the Syria crisis, the response (which also includes IOM’s regional response operations) is overseen by a dedicated coordinator at IOM Headquarters. The IOM Syria team has significant expertise and experience in camp coordination and camp management, shelter and non-food items, WASH, protection, health, and early recovery, as well as displacement tracking and other cross-cutting issues such as PSEA.

In 2021, IOM also aims to expand health programming in northwest Syria in coordination with the Health cluster in order to meet targeted gaps, applying its global capacities in emergency health services. The unique situation in Syria has enabled IOM to establish expertise in remote management, strong monitoring and evaluation systems, and innovative processes to ensure accountability to affected populations and effective risk mitigation.

Objective
Saving lives and protecting people on the move

$79,200,000

Funding required

1,345,000

People Targeted

Internally displaced person, Local population / community

Primary target groups

Description of People and Entities Targeted

Internally displaced persons and affected communities in NWS who will be selected based on assessed vulnerabilities. Vulnerability criteria will ensure that assistance reaches individuals and households with greatest need, including newly-displaced, female- and child-headed households, and persons living with disabilities. Planning, prioritization and targeting with be based on the Humanitarian Needs Overview, and the sectoral severity ranking.

Funding confirmed 77%

23% Funding gap

Shelter and settlements

In order to meet the shelter and non-food item needs of affected populations in NWS, IOM will:

Procure, preposition and distribute emergency non-food items to newly-displaced persons and the most vulnerable households;
Repair and rehabilitate housing units and upgrade collective centres;
Procure and distribute family tents for newly-displaced and the most vulnerable households;
Provide tent insulation activities for winterization response;
Conduct basic IDP site upgrade works;
Pilot more durable and dignified transitional shelter;
Increase the proportion of assistance delivered through cash-based modalities;
Provide interagency services for common pipeline, preposition and stock delivery; and
Support the shelter cluster and relevant coordination mechanisms.

Funding required

$53,000,000

Funding confirmed

$24,463,556

Last updated: 05 Jan 2022

Plan types

46%

Funding confirmed

54%

Funding gap

Camp coordination and camp management

As part of IOM's Camp Coordination and Camp Management activities in NWS, IOM will:

Provide care and maintenance of existing reception centres and planned camps, along with site management support services in order to improve safety and hygiene and mitigate risks of GBV, and to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 spread;
Improve camp governance structures in informal/self-settled IDP sites by establishing site management committees that take into consideration gender, disabilities and vulnerable populations;
Strengthen partners’ technical and operational knowledge on camp management standards and activities through tailored capacity-building initiatives;
Identify and assess the needs of the most vulnerable populations living in informal/self-settled IDP sites through mobile teams support;
Establish an integrated, area-based approach to respond quickly to the emergency needs of the affected communities; and
Provide site monitoring activities, including the identification of alternative shelter solutions.

Funding required

$8,400,000

Plan types

Provision of water, sanitation and hygiene in emergencies

In order to address the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) needs of affected populations in NWS, IOM will:

Provide emergency WASH activities in IDP sites (including the provision and maintenance of sex-segregated latrines, water trucking if necessary, etc.);
Carry out basic infrastructure improvements in IDP sites to improve sanitation and reduce flood risks;
Construct decentralized sewer network systems and septic tanks in IDP sites and ensure proper operation and maintenance;
Conduct hydrogeological surveys and improve water networks in IDP sites; and
Mitigate the risk of COVID-19 spread within IOM-supported displacement sites by training community focal points on physical distancing, good hand and respiratory hygiene practices, providing hygiene promotion and awareness raising sessions, increasing safe water access, distributing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and hygiene kits inclusive of context-appropriate menstrual hygiene management (MHM) items, and conducting regular sanitization campaigns.

Funding required

$5,200,000

Funding confirmed

$4,379,126

Last updated: 05 Jan 2022

Plan types

84%

Funding confirmed

16%

Funding gap

Protection

In order to address the significant protection needs of affected populations in NWS, IOM will:

Provide specialized Gender-Based Violence (GBV) services, as well as Child Protection (CP) and legal advisory services through static facilities and gender-inclusive mobile outreach teams, including case management, integrated protection assistance, referral to health and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) services, and strengthening existing referral pathways in coordination with the Cluster;
Ensure on-site protection service provision in all IOM-supported Reception Centres and Planned Camps;
Expand coverage of informal IDP sites and hard-to-reach areas with mobile teams;
Support access to legal aid and civil documentation, with a focus on informal/self-settled IDP sites;
Provide housing, land and property due diligence support across sectors;
Provide dignity kits to newly-displaced women and girls;
Provide capacity building activities and protection mainstreaming support, including on GBV risk mitigation; and
Conduct regular protection monitoring and protection risk analysis.

Funding required

$3,200,000

Funding confirmed

$1,753,096

Last updated: 05 Jan 2022

Plan types

54%

Funding confirmed

46%

Funding gap

Basic needs, including food and multi-purpose cash assistance

In order to address the immediate food needs of affected populations in NWS, IOM will:

Provide monthly food baskets to the most vulnerable households;
Provide ready-to-eat rations for newly-displaced households;
Provide monthly assistance through cash-for-food interventions for food-insecure persons; and
Provide one-off short-term food assistance through cash as an emergency response for crisis-affected vulnerable people.

Funding required

$5,900,000

Funding confirmed

$2,480,482

Last updated: 05 Jan 2022

Plan types

42%

Funding confirmed

58%

Funding gap

Direct health support

In order to support the health needs of affected populations in NWS and reduce the spread of COVID-19 in supported displacement sites, IOM will:

Support health facilities identified by the Health cluster by offering comprehensive primary health packages and facilitating referrals to higher levels of care;
Increase COVID-19 testing capacity in NWS through the provision of new PCR testing machines operated through partners inside Syria in coordination with WHO;
Scale-up basic health and COVID-19 screenings in displacement camps throughout NWS;
Support the gap in Tuberculosis (TB) management through screenings in NWS, mobile clinics with chest X-Ray and sputum sample collection cabinets, and provision of diagnostic systems;
Provide nutrition support to TB patients in NWS through 1,500+ food baskets in the first half of 2021;
Provide short-term isolation tents for individual suspected cases of COVID-19 in IOM-supported displacement sites;
Identify and train community health focal points on COVID-19 awareness, surveillance, and referral pathways as well as awareness-raising sessions on health and hygiene promotion;
Distribute PPE for health care providers and humanitarian responders;
Provide support to Point of Entry (POE) health screening and monitoring activities; and
Support the rolling out of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns through training networks of community health volunteers on risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) to counter vaccine hesitance.

Funding required

$3,500,000

Plan types

Multi-sectoral support

Includes funding which supports multi-sectoral interventions or cannot be attributed to a specific activity area.

Funding confirmed

$28,423,533

Last updated: 05 Jan 2022

Read less

Man helps boy wash his hands in displacement site, Syria.

Objective
Driving solutions to displacement

$2,750,000

Funding required

25,000

People Targeted

Internally displaced person, Local population / community

Primary target groups

Description of People and Entities Targeted

Internally displaced persons and affected communities in NWS will be selected based on assessed vulnerabilities. Vulnerability criteria will ensure that assistance reaches individuals and households with particular vulnerabilities, including newly-displaced, female- and child-headed households, and persons living with disabilities. Planning, prioritization and targeting with be based on the Humanitarian Needs Overview, and the sectoral and inter-sectoral severity ranking

Durable solutions

In order to promote durable solutions for affected populations in NWS, IOM will:

Support early recovery and livelihoods through business development support to small and medium enterprises, vocational and agricultural trainings;
Support increasing income generation for vulnerable households through cash for work opportunities including sanitization of public facilities (markets, parks, streets, mosques) and private facilities (warehouses, barbershops, distribution areas);
Enhance inclusive community participation and social cohesion through community engagement and improved equitable access to basic services; and
Support the enhancement of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) for COVID-19 PPE and hygienic item production inside Syria.

These interventions fall under IOM's Progressive Resolution of Displacement Situations Framework (PRDS). The PRDS recognizes that the attainment of durable solutions is rarely a linear process, and therefore support to crisis-affected communities must remain adaptable, catering to persisting needs amidst placement while supporting individual and communal recovery efforts.

Funding required

$2,750,000

Plan types

Read less

Objective
Contribute to an evidence-based and efficient crisis response system

$7,200,000

Funding required

At risk communities

People Targeted

Entities Targeted

Internally displaced person, Local population / community

Primary target groups

Description of People and Entities Targeted

Humanitarian actors participating in the inter-agency PSEA Networks in all hubs for joint implementation of international PSEA commitments, as well as those contributing to the protection of civilians, the reduction of suffering and to building the resilience of affected populations throughout the Syria Response will benefit from the provision of technical and operational information management support.

Support services for response actors - rename

IOM will increase the technical and organizational capacity of I/NGO partners in NWS by hosting trainings, coaching sessions, webinars, and learning exchanges in key areas such as:

Procurement and logistics;
Project Cycle Management;
Finance;
Cash programming.

IOM will continue to provide WoS information management support for the humanitarian community, and will continue to host the WoS PSEA program and support the interagency humanitarian response in joint implementation of PSEA commitments. Through an established, robust interagency PSEA Network, IOM will continue to support the inter-agency partnership to decrease the risk of crisis‐affected communities experiencing incidents of SEA by humanitarian workers and provide technical and operational support to humanitarian actors to prevent, prepare for, and respond to SEA cases. Activities will include:

Coordination between the interagency PSEA Networks in all hubs, as well as between PSEA Networks and GBV actors to ensure a survivor-centred approach and systematic referrals to available services;
Capacity building of humanitarian workers and other stakeholders on PSEA, including investigatory capacity building;
Awareness raising and consultations with affected populations;
Support implementation of risk and mitigation measures;
Integration and mainstreaming of PSEA into the broader humanitarian infrastructure and linking to existing referral pathways;
Inter-agency community-based complaints mechanisms (CBCMs).

Funding required

$7,200,000

Plan types

Read less

Operational presence in

Syrian Arab Republic

International staff and affiliated work force

185

National staff and affiliated work force

^{The map used here is for illustration purposes only. Names and boundaries do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by IOM.}

^{Figures are as of 31 December 2023. For more details of IOM's operational capacity in country, please see the IOM Capacity section.}

Global Crisis Response Platform

Working across the Humanitarian-Development-Peace nexus