Background
Northwest Syria currently hosts over 2.8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). Since late April 2019, areas in southern Idleb and western Aleppo have experienced sporadic and significant escalations in conflict. This has displaced many civilians to areas in northern and western Idleb, and northern Aleppo, in order to seek refuge. At the time data collection commenced, approximately 158,000 IDP families were residing in Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM)-registered sites, with large numbers also residing in unregistered sites.
Between 1 December 2019 and 5 March 2020 almost 1 million people were further displaced3 as conflict escalated again. Several sub-districts in northwest Syria received significant numbers of new IDPs, including Dana sub-district (211,597), Azaz sub-district (107,616), and Maaret Tamsrin subdistrict (71,913). This influx of new IDPs is putting increased pressure on existing resources and services in an area where the ongoing conflict is already creating significant challenges in providing humanitarian assistance to people in need. A multi-sectoral, household-level camps and sites needs assessment was developed to address information gaps around priority needs for IDPs in northwest Syria.
Methodology
This assessment was initiated by REACH and the CCCM cluster, and feedback on the assessment was provided by the WASH, Early Recovery and Livelihoods, Shelter and Non-Food Items, Education, Protection, Health, Food Security and Livelilhoods, and CCCM clusters. Data was collected between 30 January and 16 February 2020, through 1,170 randomly sampled household-level interviews. Data collection was conducted by the Humanitarian Needs Assessment Programme (HNAP), with data cleaning and analysis conducted by REACH. Households were sampled to obtain statistically representative data at a 90% confidence level and a 10% margin of error at the sub-district level for registered sites in six sub-districts (Azaz, Maaret Tamsrin, Harim, Salqin, Badama, and Al Bab) and unregistered sites in two sub-districts (Dana and Maaret Tamsrin), and at a smaller aggregated cluster level for registered sites in Dana sub-district. Due to its large population, registered sites in Dana were sampled by dividing the sub-district into six smaller cluster units by aggregating already designated CCCM cluster units. At the sampling level these clusters are equivalent to the other six sampled sub-districts. Given the dynamic situation in northwest Syria, the information in these profiles should only be considered as relevant to the time of data collection.
Key Findings
Assessed sub-districts/clusters: 12
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Shelter: Over 80% of surveyed households in all sampled sub-districts except for Maaret Tamsrin (among its sampled unregistered sites) reported that they were living in family-sized tents. The majority of households in registered sites in Dana (over 94% of households in each cluster) and both unregistered and registered sites in Maaret Tamsrin (over 50% of households) reported having no access to electricity.
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Protection: Over half of assessed households in the majority of sub-districts/clusters reported they were missing some form of documentation. Most sub-districts/clusters (86%) had one or more households that reported a security incident in the 30 days prior to data collection.
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Health: Only 4% of assessed households in Azaz and 17% of assessed households in Atma reported that members of their household with a chronic disease had access to essential medicines. Less than 80% of under-five children in assessed households in Dana had received a polio vaccination.
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WASH: Less than 15% of assessed households in all sub-districts except Al Bab did not have enough water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning. In Al Bab, 26% of assessed households did not have enough drinking water and 30% of assessed households did not have enough water for cooking and cleaning. Over 10% of households in Badama and Harim had a member who could not access latrines, possibly due to disability or elderly status.
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Food security: The average food consumption score for households in Atma was 24, which is considered “poor” in the Syrian context. The average food consumption scores for households in Al Bab, Harim, Karama and Qah, and all sites in Maaret Tamsrin were in the 28-42 range, which is considered “borderline” in the Syrian context.
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Livelihoods: With the exception of two of the clusters in Dana, more than 50% of all households reported that the majority of their spending was going towards food