Under the Syria Response Plan, UNHCR planned to provide core relief items to over 3.5 million beneficiaries (some 7,000 families) in 2015. At year-end, UNHCR had supported more than 3.2 million people (approximately 642,650 families) with more than 9 million items in 12 out of 14 governorates (all except for Al Raqqah and Deir-ez-Zor). Almost half of all individuals assisted were covered in Aleppo (some 785,000 people) and rural Damascus (some 758,600), followed by Homs (some 327,700) and Idlib (some 269,100).
As the NFI sector lead, UNHCR is committed to the Whole of Syria approach for the provision of basic and domestic items to IDPs. In order to maximize its resources as well as to increase its outreach, UNHCR organizes the distribution of its core relief items through national partners and local organizations, which makes it possible to reach areas which many other agencies are not able to access. Thus, cross-line delivery assisted over 471,000 individuals in 33 hard-to-reach locations inside Syria.
In addition to maintaining its regular stocks of core relief items, UNHCR also maintained a contingency stock of some 5,000 family kits in its logistic hubs and warehouses in Homs, Qamishly, Sweida and Tartous, as well as its two main warehouses in Damascus. Another warehouse is operated by a partner organization in Aleppo. This allowed UNHCR to respond to emergency needs in a swift and flexible manner, in particular if multiple emergencies take place in different regions in the country. For example, in the first half of 2015, emergency responses were required at the same time in Aleppo, Dara’a, Hama, Homs, Idlib, and Qamishly. Field offices mobilized their contingency stocks maintained in case of displacement in their area to ensure timely response.
Core relief items were dispatched to national partners at an average rate of 20,000 households per week in the beginning of 2015. The dispatch level was reduced during spring and summer to approximately 8,000 households per week, but increased again during autumn and winter, when standard items were complemented by winter assistance items.
The 2015-2016 winterization programme began in the second week of October with a prioritized target of 150,000 winter kits to assist a total of 750,000 individuals. The winter kits comprised winter clothes, high thermal blankets and additional plastic sheets. Some 452,317 beneficiaries received winterization items as part of the regular delivery between the second week of October and the end of 2015.
In December 2015, as a part of the peace agreement in Al Waer in Homs city, UNHCR participated in two inter-agency convoys to the besieged areas which had not received humanitarian assistance since 2013. The distributed items benefitted some 45,000 individuals and included mattresses, blankets, baby and elderly disabled diapers, sanitary napkins, plastic sheets, kitchen sets, sleeping mats, hygiene kits, jerry cans as well as winter clothing.
Pursuant to a UN Security Council Resolution, a total of 47 cross-border convoys took place: some 28 through the Bab al Hawa crossing in Turkey and the other 19 through the Ramtha crossing in Jordan. These missions provided CRIs for over 468,750 individuals in Aleppo, Dara’a, Hama, Idlib and Quneitra Governorates.