Syria
Northeast Syria: Rapid Gender Analysis Brief Ar-Raqqa, Deir Ez Zor and Al-Hasakah Governorates
The military escalation between 26 November to 8 December led to the fall of the Assad regime, which has been in power for over five decades, leading to a historic transition period in the region with many unknowns.1 Northeast Syria (NES) has faced continued socio-economic instability and a multitude of compounding crises related to conflict and climate disasters, which has disproportionately affected women and girls of diverse identities (i.e. female-headed households, widows, older women, adolescents, and those living with disability). Prior to the transition, over 2.6 million people were in need of humanitarian assistance in NES,2 and approximately 165,000 individuals lived in 253 IDP sites, of whom 57% were under the age of 18 and 56% were female.3 Since November 27th, an estimated 100,000 people (including 23,000 people fleeing violence in Lebanon4) have arrived in Ar-Raqqa and Al-Hasakah governorates seeking refuge from escalating hostilities across the region, with only 8% of assessed households knowing their intended destination.5
Access to services remains challenging due to various factors such as political unrest, roadblocks by armed groups, supply chain coordination difficulties, limited availability of frontline workers, heightened security threats and curfews, particularly in Al-Hasakah and Ar-Raqqa governorates.6 This civil unrest and population shifts will strain already limited humanitarian services and resources, putting vulnerable populations such as children, people with disabilities, older people, and pregnant and lactating women at greater risk. Emergency collective centers in Tabqa and Raqqa have already reached full capacity, and it is anticipated that more schools in Raqqa, Hasakah, Tabqa, Kobani, and Qamishli will be repurposed as shelters, further interrupting education across the region.7 Furthermore, increased hostilities and political uncertainty may impact women’s participation in political and leadership spaces.
This analysis highlights pre-existing and emerging vulnerabilities and risks within the Ar-Raqqa, Deir Ez Zor, and Al-Hasakah governorates with a focus on gender and age data to inform humanitarian programming in the early stages of the crisis. The Rapid Gender Analysis (RGA) methodology is designed to be built progressively and adapted to the shorter time frames, rapidly changing contexts and insecure environments that often characterize humanitarian interventions. Thus, as more information becomes available and the security situation allows, further data will be incorporated into this analysis. Read More...
Access to services remains challenging due to various factors such as political unrest, roadblocks by armed groups, supply chain coordination difficulties, limited availability of frontline workers, heightened security threats and curfews, particularly in Al-Hasakah and Ar-Raqqa governorates.6 This civil unrest and population shifts will strain already limited humanitarian services and resources, putting vulnerable populations such as children, people with disabilities, older people, and pregnant and lactating women at greater risk. Emergency collective centers in Tabqa and Raqqa have already reached full capacity, and it is anticipated that more schools in Raqqa, Hasakah, Tabqa, Kobani, and Qamishli will be repurposed as shelters, further interrupting education across the region.7 Furthermore, increased hostilities and political uncertainty may impact women’s participation in political and leadership spaces.
This analysis highlights pre-existing and emerging vulnerabilities and risks within the Ar-Raqqa, Deir Ez Zor, and Al-Hasakah governorates with a focus on gender and age data to inform humanitarian programming in the early stages of the crisis. The Rapid Gender Analysis (RGA) methodology is designed to be built progressively and adapted to the shorter time frames, rapidly changing contexts and insecure environments that often characterize humanitarian interventions. Thus, as more information becomes available and the security situation allows, further data will be incorporated into this analysis. Read More...
Rapid Gender Analysis VSLA in Emergencies Group Investment Phase
Since (2020), CARE Türkiye has supported community members in Northwest Syria, predominantly women, through VSLAs to facilitate women’s access to finance, support their economic empowerment, build resilience and social and economic solidarity. To enhance the sustainability of VSLA groups in Northwest (NW) Syria, CARE launched the new investment approach in December 2023. The collective investment supported 39 VSLA groups out of 98 groups consisting of 720 members (627 women) to engage in group investment to expand their business activities and income. To understand the gendered dimension of the investment approach to assess gender power dynamics, community perceptions, constraints, opportunities, and needs, CARE conducted its Rapid Gender Analysis (RGA) in May 2024. The RGA targeted VSLA members in the collective investment activities and VSLAs who have not yet been targeted in the activities to assess the different outcomes among the two groups. Seventy-four female respondents participated in the Focus Group Discussions and interviews. Read More...
Elevating Married Adolescents’ Voices for Responsive Reproductive Healthcare in Syria
Increases in early marriage and pregnancy resulting from Syria's humanitarian crisis highlight a critical gap in adolescents' access to life-saving sexual and reproductive health information and services, and a larger need for adolescent-specific interventions grounded in gender transformative approaches. Seeking to address this, CARE, UNFPA and Syria Relief and Development adapted global evidence-based approaches to humanitarian contexts to create the Adolescent Mothers Against all Odds (AMAL) Initiative for pregnant girls and first-time mothers aged 10 to 18 years. Designed to improve the lives of young girls through responsive health systems and enabling environments, AMAL includes three components: a Young Mothers Club for first-time mothers and pregnant girls, participatory dialogues with health providers, and reflective dialogues with girls' marital family and community members. The AMAL Initiative intends to ensure responsiveness to the unique vulnerabilities of adolescent sub-groups by co-implementing with them. Select girls undergo additional leadership training and serve as adolescent representatives on community advisory groups sharing feedback for program improvement. One hundred-four first-time mothers and pregnant girls, 219 community members, and 120 health providers participated in AMAL in northwest Syria. In a mixed methods evaluation, facilitators administered monitoring tools to identify program improvements, pre-post surveys to assess outcomes, and end-line discussions to gather perceptions of impact. Girls reported a 47% overall increase in self-esteem, confidence, health-seeking capacity, and communication ability. Community support for girls' use of family planning increased by 27% and girls' equal access to services by 35%. Findings across all participant groups demonstrate decreased expectations of early marriage and increased acceptance of family planning post-marriage. Areas that participants cited for potential improvement included programming for girls/women above the age of 18 years, and additional training for health providers on long-acting contraceptive methods. These results show that participatory adolescent-centered sexual and reproductive health programming is not only feasible in crisis settings but can improve the self-efficacy of vulnerable adolescents to overcome barriers to accessing healthcare and improving well-being. The AMAL Initiative is now being scaled up through local partners in Syria and piloted in northern Nigeria. Read More...
Rapid Gender Analysis Policy Brief: Türkiye & Northwest Syria Earthquake Response
Earthquakes are gender neutral - they affect everyone in their vicinity - but their impacts are not. Gender inequality exacerbates the impact of disasters, and the impacts of disasters exacerbate gender inequality. The earthquake in Türkiye and Northwest Syria (NW Syria) – the largest earthquake to affect the region in 200 years - occurred in areas already affected by mass displacement and population movements for over a decade, as well as long-standing protection issues. One thing is clear, however, where the impacts of the earthquake are gendered, the response must be too. This first Rapid Gender Analysis (RGA) Brief explores existing gender, age and disability data and information to understand pre-existing vulnerabilities and capacities and how best humanitarians can respond to meet people’s different needs. Read More...
Sacrificing the Future to Survive the Present: North East Syria RGA
Amid a tense and fragile security situation, both male and female participants in this rapid gender analysis (RGA) identified their main concerns as their loss of income and livelihoods and the increased cost of food. The intensifying food crisis is further aggravated by disruptions to wheat production, climate change, continued insecurity and the war in Ukraine, which has significantly reduced Syria’s grain imports.
The fragility of the food system, combined with the water crisis and the near collapse of the labor market, has aggravated chronic food insecurity and malnutrition in the region, leading to profound short and long-term impacts on health and resilience. One in three children face malnutrition, and those under five need nutritional interventions, as do pregnant and lactating women.
Most households that took part in this RGA said their food needs were not being met despite aid distributions. Female-headed households, widows and people with disabilities are particularly vulnerable. About 38% of households living in camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) are female-headed.
The number of female heads of household and other women in the labor market has increased, but limitations on women’s mobility, economic participation and decision making persist, as do social and cultural expectations about the role of men as main decision makers and community leaders.
All respondents said the conflict was increasingly restricting their freedom of movement. Women’s main fears in terms of their mobility related to harassment and exploitation, and men’s to kidnap or recruitment by armed actors. All respondents identified lack of transportation, high costs and insecurity as the main obstacles to accessing health services. Read More...
The fragility of the food system, combined with the water crisis and the near collapse of the labor market, has aggravated chronic food insecurity and malnutrition in the region, leading to profound short and long-term impacts on health and resilience. One in three children face malnutrition, and those under five need nutritional interventions, as do pregnant and lactating women.
Most households that took part in this RGA said their food needs were not being met despite aid distributions. Female-headed households, widows and people with disabilities are particularly vulnerable. About 38% of households living in camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) are female-headed.
The number of female heads of household and other women in the labor market has increased, but limitations on women’s mobility, economic participation and decision making persist, as do social and cultural expectations about the role of men as main decision makers and community leaders.
All respondents said the conflict was increasingly restricting their freedom of movement. Women’s main fears in terms of their mobility related to harassment and exploitation, and men’s to kidnap or recruitment by armed actors. All respondents identified lack of transportation, high costs and insecurity as the main obstacles to accessing health services. Read More...
CARE Rapid Gender Analysis – North-west Syria: SACRIFICING THE FUTURE TO SURVIVE THE PRESENT
The war in Syria has fueled one of the world’s most complex protracted humanitarian crises. The combination of mounting insecurity, economic decline, environmental stressors and the Covid-19 pandemic has had a catastrophic impact. After 11 years of conflict, north-west Syria, which is home to more than 4.6 million people, continues to experience recurring waves of violence and forced displacement and disruptions in the provision of humanitarian assistance. Idleb governorate recorded the highest death rate as a result of the conflict countrywide in 2021, accounting for more than 19% of the national toll, followed by neighboring Aleppo with 18%.
More than 90% of Syrians live below the poverty line, compared with 10% before the start of the conflict, and as of the end of 2021, 60% of the population were food insecure, a 57% increase on the figure for 2019. The agricultural sector continues to decline, and average food prices have risen by more 97% in a year.
The situation in the north-west is even more acute. Food prices have gone up by more than 120%, further increasing households’ dependency on humanitarian aid.5 The ongoing food crisis is expected to significantly amplify stressors on the most vulnerable, particularly the region’s 2.8 million internally displaced people (IDPs), as well as female-headed households, widows, women in general and children.
All participants in this rapid gender analysis (RGA), including adolescents, identified food, livelihood and health support as their main needs. Adolescents also highlighted the need for better education opportunities. The conflict and severe economic strain have led to more women becoming main breadwinners, but social and cultural barriers continue to impede their greater participation in decision making in the household and the public sphere. Read More...
More than 90% of Syrians live below the poverty line, compared with 10% before the start of the conflict, and as of the end of 2021, 60% of the population were food insecure, a 57% increase on the figure for 2019. The agricultural sector continues to decline, and average food prices have risen by more 97% in a year.
The situation in the north-west is even more acute. Food prices have gone up by more than 120%, further increasing households’ dependency on humanitarian aid.5 The ongoing food crisis is expected to significantly amplify stressors on the most vulnerable, particularly the region’s 2.8 million internally displaced people (IDPs), as well as female-headed households, widows, women in general and children.
All participants in this rapid gender analysis (RGA), including adolescents, identified food, livelihood and health support as their main needs. Adolescents also highlighted the need for better education opportunities. The conflict and severe economic strain have led to more women becoming main breadwinners, but social and cultural barriers continue to impede their greater participation in decision making in the household and the public sphere. Read More...
The Impact of Integrating Cash Assistance into Gender-Based Violence Response in Northwest Syria
Traditionally, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) have received aid in the form of in-kind assistance. Increasingly, however, cash and voucher assistance (CVA) is being used in humanitarian response to meet the diverse needs of those displaced by crisis and conflict. Preliminary findings by the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) indicate that CVA supports gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response activities, yet humanitarian GBV programming does not comprehensively or consistently consider using CVA. This is a critical gap, as a refugee, internally displaced, and migrant women and girls face multiple risks and incidents of GBV before, during, and after crises. Read More...
CARE RAPID GENDER ANALYSIS IN SYRIA: 11 years of crisis
”Life is mentally and physically exhausting. We can no longer go to hospitals because healthcare and medicines are so expensive. My children eat less. They no longer have milk because I had to sell my cows. We eat a lot less and we no longer eat vegetables because they are expensive” --- Woman living in a camp in Northeast Syria ---
* 90% of people live below the poverty line
* 12.4 million people are food insecure
* 50% of water systems DO NOT WORK Read More...
* 90% of people live below the poverty line
* 12.4 million people are food insecure
* 50% of water systems DO NOT WORK Read More...