The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KR-I) currently hosts some 38 per cent of its Syrian refugee population in 9 camps, distributed across the governorates of Dohuk (4 camps), Erbil (4 camps) and Sulaymaniyah (1 camp).
Support will be provided to the camp management: the Board of Humanitarian and Refugee Affairs (BHRA) in Dohuk, the Erbil Joint Crisis Coordination Centre (EJCC) in Erbil and the JCCC in Sulaymaniyah.
In addition to bearing the costs of salaries and incentives of government hired or seconded staff covering collaborative functions ranging from administration/finances, to technical support staff and general field/protection, equipment and logistics, UNHCR has endeavoured for the past two years to assist the authorities to fulfil their responsibilities to coordinate with partners operating in the camps, conduct registration of refugees, and respond to protection-related concerns (community mobilisation and participation, complaint mechanisms). It is expected that ongoing interaction with government camp management staff (e.g. registration clerks, field and protection monitors) and further training in areas jointly identified between the authorities and UNHCR will bring about increased benefits for the refugee population hosted in the camps in a number of areas.
Whereas coordination among partners at camp level is now fairly ingrained, further progress has to be made to actively involve the communities in a more transparent manner, as well as ensure effective complaint mechanisms. In support to the camp management authorities, UNHCR will strive, through enhanced and mainstreamed communication with communities, to reinforce and capacitate the communities to assume greater ownership of processes and activities affecting them. Simultaneously, and whilst UNHCR aims to ultimately phase out its financial support to the authorities for camp management purposes, it has to be noted that in anticipation of continuously deteriorating economic conditions, the level of funding for the planning year may not be reduced as substantively as one could have aspired to. Through Activity Info, UNHCR will continue to gather data pertaining to progress achieved in each sector of response and provide monthly dashboards aiming to more effectively support programmes coordination and planning.
UNHCR has been engaged in mainstreaming SGBV under the camp management sector, in order to strengthen the prevention element, through training of partners across the country on core concepts of SGBV, referral pathways, and tips for safe and principled referral, and reporting of PSEA and this will continue to do so in 2018.