North-west Syria

Situation Report
Feature
Al-Akidat camp
Al-Akidat camp is home to about 360 displaced families. After over a decade of war, 800,000 people in north-west Syria still live in tents. 25 December 2022. (Photo: OCHA/ Mohanad Zayat)

2022 Humanitarian Response in Review: Key Challenges

High humanitarian needs continued to outweigh assistance and overstretched services. In 2022, 4.1 million people rely on humanitarian aid to meet their most basic needs - an increase of 20 per cent from 3.4 million in 2021. The CCCM cluster reported that 87 per cent of displacement sites are self-settled, the majority of which lack adequate camp management systems. The humanitarian situation is particularly dire in the winter seasons. In mid-January last year, heavy snow, rain, winds and freezing temperatures damaged or destroyed over 10,000 tents in nearly 300 displacement sites, impacting directly 57,000 people. The year also saw additional burdens with inflation and increasing food prices. In May 2022, the World Food Programme (WFP) was compelled to reduce the size of food rations by 13 per cent due to overstretched resources and funding.

Uncertainty about Security Council resolution renewals complicated the response. In August 2022, only four trucks crossed from Türkiye to north-west Syria - the lowest since the start of the operation in 2014 - due to pre-positioning efforts amid a period of uncertainty around the renewal of Security Council resolution 2585 in July. Periods of uncertainty also brought about other challenges particularly in implementing programs that address protracted needs after over a decade of war. The Education cluster for instance reported that a six-month extension led to short-term funding which then excluded education support that caters beyond one semester of school.

All clusters were underfunded throughout 2022. By the last quarter, the three top under-funded clusters by the end of December 2022 were WASH (98 per cent underfunded), CCCM (88 per cent underfunded) and Education (72 per cent underfunded). The WASH cluster reported that funding shortfalls have hindered the cluster’s response capacity during the cholera outbreak. According to the Protection cluster, reductions in GBV programming funding in 2022 have threatened the continuity of life-saving services, including safe spaces, for women and girls at a time when suicide cases among the same group were on the rise in Syria. At least 12 humanitarian organizations operating community-based child-friendly spaces and Psychosocial Support (PSS) mobile teams reported a full suspension of their activities due to funding gaps. Meanwhile, the SNFI cluster reported that they currently face a 50 per cent funding gap for this season’s winterization response.

Economic deterioration created additional burdens for families and the response. Currency depreciation and rising inflation have weakened people’s purchasing power, forcing communities in north-west Syria to increasingly adopt negative coping mechanisms such as buying less food. In 2022, one in three children in the area suffered from at least one form of undernutrition. The instability of the economy also impacted the operationalization of the response. The Nutrition cluster, for instance, reported that the prices of nutrition commodities, including key ingredients, packaging and international transport, have increased by 25 per cent since 2021. Additionally, the average lead time for procurement and prepositioning of supplies inside Syria increased from 2-3 months in 2021 to 5-7 months in 2022.

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