* Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
The crisis in Syria seems unending at the moment. Meeting the humanitarian needs in the country is one of the largest challenges owing to the insecurity in particular. Still DRC manages to meet emergency needs. And as the battles go on, the needs just get bigger and bigger.
Despite the challenges DRC distributed 3,000 hyigene kits to the opposition held area of Aleppo this week and just last week, Danish Refugee Council, distributed mattresses, hygiene kits and clothes to 10,000 displaced people in Sweida in the southern part of Syria – close to the border to Jordan. The week before 35,000 individuals received the same kind of package in Aleppo and Idlib. More than 330,000 individuals have received Non Food Items-packages from DRC inside Syria, in 2013 alone. DRC coordinates all its emergency assistance with the Syrian Red Crescent and ensures distribution in disputed, government held as well as areas held by armed groups. Besides the 1.5 million refugees in the surrounding countries, more than 4 million are internally displaced in Syria. That means nearly 30% of Syrian people have left their homes amid the violence.
“We are one of the INGO’s with the best humanitarian access in the country. And with the needs for distribution being one of the largest challenges, being able to meet the emergency needs to this extent is very important,” says Charlotte Kjørup, DRC country director in Syria. The one area, where we are presently faced with most problems of access is the southern governorate of Dara’a. This is otherwise an area, where DRC until 8 weeks ago ensured delivery of hygiene kits at least once per month.
With the turn of the hot summer months and more favorable conditions for bacteria and diseases to flourish, the need for hygiene kits increases for the internally displaced living at rehabilitated schools – turned into shelters.
“We are working in 40 shelter schools in four different governorates and our remote capacity is growing every day,” Charlotte Kjørup says and continues: “We are having teams of engineers in Aleppo, Homs, Dara’a and Damascus governorates working on making these former schools more livable for the displaced people and ensuring minimum standards of hygiene and sanitation.”
In addition to meeting the emergency needs, DRC also targets the medium needs of the ongoing crisis for the Syrian people – and thereby thinking of the future for the conflict affected population.
“We are implementing vocational and psycho-social skill trainings in order to better equip people to cope with the current situation, and not least think about their future, even though it can be difficult with the current situation in mind,” Charlotte Kjørup says. DRC provides in coordination with MoE and private institutes vocational training to 150 people.
In response to the Syrian crisis, DRC has adopted a flexible, holistic and beneficiary-centric approach to protection, emergency response and future durable solutions for conflict and displacement affected populations. DRC’s overarching theme for the regional intervention is protection - and working to assist underserved caseloads as close to their point of origin as possible. DRC has been working in Syria since 2007 and has a significant operational presence in the country. The primary task today is to distribute basic relief aid and rehabilitate shelters to displaced and conflict affected Syrians in Homs, Dara’a, Aleppo and Damascus governorates.
