TOP LINE CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Humanitarian Needs
Humanitarian needs remain staggering in terms of scale, severity and complexity indicating little overall improvement in the humanitarian situation in Syria. Against the continued backdrop of high levels of violence and systemic violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL), no amount of humanitarian assistance and protection services can substitute for a political solution.
The Centrality of Protection
Hostilities remain the principal cause of Syria’s humanitarian crisis, resulting in countless deaths and injuries, mass internal displacement, lost livelihoods and widespread poverty and destitution. In this context protection needs should remain a priority, with the implementation of the Whole of Syria (WoS)
Protection Strategy essential in fostering an inter-sector approach that enhances the overall protective environment in Syria.
Humanitarian Funding
With the 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) only 33.4 per cent funded as of August 2017, humanitarians have prioritized helping those people in the most critical need of humanitarian aid. Continued under-funding will likely interrupt life-saving emergency assistance programmes, adversely affecting the ability of humanitarian organizations to reach these people. In this context, the support of member states is essential to i) make effective all pledges and ii) increase their financial commitment to principled and coordinated action in Syria.
Humanitarian Presence, Access and Reach
Although humanitarian partners continue to prioritize assistance to people facing the most severe needs, a combination of active hostilities, shifting control lines, administrative impediments and deliberate restrictions on the movement of people and supplies by all armed actors precludes sustained access to those in the most desperate need. The support of member states, particularly those with influence over armed actors, is fundamental in enabling the unimpeded provision of principled humanitarian assistance to people in need. The coherent and complementary use of various operational response modalities to ensure an effective, appropriate, safe and timely response to the most severe needs identified in Syria will also remain key.
Humanitarian Analysis and Prioritization
Amidst a challenging funding environment and given the scale of needs in Syria, continued analysis to ensure humanitarian aid reaches the most vulnerable people is essential. In this vein, efforts to provide granular analysis of needs and robust response analysis at the WoS level will be pursued to facilitate a common understanding of the humanitarian situation and to support targeted interventions.
Quality Assurance Efforts
The quality of the response is underpinned by a shared commitment among humanitarian partners to various response standards. Ensuring appropriate mechanisms through which affected people can provide feedback on the adequacy of humanitarian initiatives will remain essential in ensuring that the needs and concerns of beneficiaries guide the overall response of the humanitarian community in Syria.
Enhancing Resilience
With the crisis now in its seventh year, there is a need to reflect on the parameters of the response inside Syria. Efforts should be made to explore improving the resilience component of the response, to mitigate aid dependency and enhance community capacity in those areas of the country conducive to the implementation of more sophisticated programming
HIGHLIGHTS OF ACHIEVEMENTS (JAN-JUNE 2017)
Protection
3.5M protection interventions provided in 211 sub-districts through one or more prevention/risk mitigation, response or capacity-building activities.
Over 1.68M people were reached through explosive hazard risk education; more than 27,000 children were engaged in structured and sustained child protection programmes, including psychosocial support and 179,118 people were reached with women and girls empowerment and protection activities.
Food Security
An average of 5.4M people reached every month with food assistance, and 1.5M people with one-off emergency food assistance. Nearly 47,000 households benefitted from agriculture and livelihood activities.
Health
Nearly 9M medical procedures supported/ carried out and almost 6M treatment courses distributed. Over 131,000 children reached with immunization campaigns.
Camp Coordination and Camp Management
Over 364,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) reached with multi-sector assistance in planned camps, informal tented settlements, transit camps, and collective centers in four governorates.
Early Recovery and Livelihoods
Nearly 3.5M people benefited from improved safe access to basic and essential services and infrastructure 3M people have better access to clean and healthy work and living environment, with more than 25,000 people employed in debris and solid waste management of affected neighborhoods.
Education
Around 1.1M children and adolescent reached with formal and non-formal education services.
Nearly 180,000 children and adolescents have benefited from life skills and citizenship education programmes in informal settings.
Nutrition
690,000 children under five were screened for acute malnutrition 733,000 children under five received lipid-based nutrient supplements (LNS) or high energy biscuits.
Shelter/NFI
2.6M people received winter support and supplementary non-food items (NFI) assistance.
Almost 105,000 people in need assisted with shelter assistance.
WASH
8M people reached with direct humanitarian WASH assistance.
Logistics
Nearly 23,815 m³ of relief items dispatched through 27 convoys to the most hard-to-reach and UN-declared besieged locations. 700 trucks crossed to Syria using the Ramtha crossing, 481 trucks using the Kilis hub and 2,148 trucks using the Reyhanli hub. 11,963 m³ of relief items were stored in multiple warehouses inside Syria.