UNHCR-supported community centres provide protection services such as child protection activities, psychosocial assistance, and support to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. UNHCR and partners also provide legal assistance, for instance to obtain civil documentation and register vital events like births and marriages. The services provided at the community centres are available for refugees and asylum seekers, IDPs, returnees (i.e. refugees and IDPs having returned to their home areas) and host communities.
Besides the community centres, mobile units also offer protection services based on identified needs in underserved or remote locations. These respond flexibly to population movements and increase outreach to the most vulnerable populations who do not have easy access to the community centres.
The community centres are supported by a network of outreach volunteers. The outreach volunteers play a fundamental and active role in building trust between UNHCR and the communities. They inform communities about the services available in the community centres, identify community needs, provide first response, and refer cases to the community centres for other services providers for further intervention.
As of September 2024, UNHCR is supporting 114 community centres and 113 mobile units in all 14 governorates of the country and engaging some 2,210 community outreach volunteers to strengthen its protection activities.
For refugees and asylum-seekers, UNHCR conducts refugee status determination, registration, and resettlement, when applicable. Some refugees and asylum-seekers may also benefit from additional protection services such as multi-purpose cash assistance and scholarships for students.
Cash-Based Interventions
UNHCR uses cash-based interventions to help the most vulnerable refugees and asylum-seekers meet their urgent needs. Vulnerability is determined using either a scoring system based on age and gender special needs or a panel review of individual protection risks, with the eligibility reviewed every two months.
In 2024, UNHCR increased the monthly multi-purpose cash grants value to 1,108,000 Syrian Pounds (approximately USD 81) per average family (of three) as compared to the previous rate of 680,000 SYR (USD 54 as of March 2024) reflecting inflation and currency depreciation in 2023. A one-off emergency grant is also available for urgent protection needs. In addition, refugee and asylum-seeker families receive winter assistance with an average of US$ 350 per eligible family (of three). Education grants also support refugee students in covering transportation and education material costs, as schools in Syria are free of charge for refugees. The value of the education grant is 600,000 Syrian Pounds for primary students and 1,000,000 Syria Pounds for secondary students.
Core Relief Items
UNHCR Syria prioritizes the provision of CRIs including blankets, sleeping mats, mattresses, jerry cans, plastic sheets, kitchen sets, and solar lamps to vulnerable people as a life-saving activity. Priority is given to newly displaced families, families living in hard-to-reach areas, returnees, vulnerable groups (unaccompanied minors, older persons, single women or women-headed households, persons with disabilities, persons with chronic diseases, people at risk due to inadequate shelter conditions, and vulnerable host community members), and new arrivals (families who have not been reached, and emergency cases of those in last-resort sites).
In some parts of the country, the weather conditions are excessively harsh during summer and winter. Besides the provision of CRIs, UNHCR distributes supplementary seasonal items such as winter clothing and rechargeable fans to provide additional protection against extreme and life-threatening weather conditions.
Shelter Interventions
In the camps in north-east Syria hosting mainly Iraqis and Syrian displaced persons, UNHCR distributes tents and emergency shelter kits and helps maintain camp infrastructure. In urban and rural areas, UNHCR helps people repair houses damaged due to the crisis by providing materials such as doors, windows, electrical equipment, and water and sanitation facilities at the household level. At the community level, UNHCR also restores basic services such as pavements and communal facilities and installs solar streetlights. In areas where spontaneous returns of IDPs and refugees are ongoing, UNHCR restores communual basic facilities including minor repairs to schools, primary health care centres, civil registries, markets, sewage systems, water and irrigation systems, removes debris, and distributes solid waste bins.
Livelihoods and economic inclusion
UNHCR supports vulnerable people to increase self-reliance and reduce their dependency on assistance by providing agricultural support (seeds and livestock), restoring vocational training schools and irrigation systems, and assists people to start-up small businesses through trainings and grants.
Health
UNHCR health points are run by community health workers in some of the UNHCR-supported community centres. A range of health promotion, disease prevention, and referral services are provided there including health counselling, health support groups, screening for early detection of health problems, and support of community-led health initiatives. Trained doctors also provide medical consultations in some health points such as mental health and psychosocial specialized services. UNHCR focuses on building sustainable health capacity in the community through community health outreach volunteers.