While the humanitarian world is full of conjecture about the possible non-renewal of the Syria cross border resolution, local and national NGOs are preoccupied by the impact this would have on the community in North West Syria.
The impact would be immediate and seriously affect the work of local NGOs, explains Fadi Al-Dairi, country director for Hand in Hand for Aid and Development (HIHFAD).
HIHFAD provides over 1.8 million services in health and nutrition and more than 1.25 million services in non-health programs such as livelihoods programming.
“We run the WHO supply chain so it would mean all medication and consumables coming across the border from Turkey into Northwest Syria comes through HIHFAD and then we distribute to about 80 facilities,” he adds.
Al-Dairi warns that cross-border assistance cannot be replaced by cross-line assistance – aid which is channeled through the Syrian government.
“The regime used to withhold aid from besieged areas – we are afraid it will be the same, that Northwest Syria could become another Gaza if the resolution is not renewed. If supplies come in cross-line the regime will pick and choose what they send to who. We have 800 trucks per month, crossing from Turkey. There is no way the regime will allow that number of trucks to pass from their areas.”
But, says Al-Dairi, the UN resolution is not just about trucks and WFP supplies, it is about programmes as well.
“The Syria Cross-border Humanitarian Fund (SCHF) is worth about $190 million per year. The SCHF will not be able to disburse any funds past 10th July if the resolution does not get renewed. We also have UNICEF, WHO, UNHCR all delivering cross-border programmes. These programmes will stop if we lose at the UN Security Council.
Rehabilitation of camps, running hospitals and schools cannot be done cross-line, they can only be done cross-border.”
Some Syrian NGOs working on the frontline organisations are 70 – 100% reliant on UN aid, he explains, and would have to stop working immediately.
The impact of Covid, global economic issues and the war in Ukraine are already being felt in Syria, as well as countries where HIHFAD fundraises,
“Fuel and food prices are going up, so people abroad have less money to donate. People in Syria cannot afford to live without remittances from abroad. Everything is unbelievably there expensive now.”
But for HIHFAD, the reliance on aid is unsustainable. The world’s media may have turned its focus to other crises like Ukraine, but the humanitarian needs in Syria are still very real.
“We don’t want to keep relying on humanitarian assistance and emergency responses. We need to move into the early recovery aspect by providing job opportunities.”
HIHFAD offers vocational training, focusing on people with disabilities, women-headed households and young adults.
“We need to strike a balance between aid supplies and livelihoods so people can live with dignity. That is what they want and need.
“I get a lot of calls and messages, and everyone wants a job. No one asks for food baskets or tents – they want to work and be self-reliant.”
He is clear that more balance is needed in how funds are allocated.
“I would like to see a shift to 50% humanitarian and 50% to livelihoods. We should slowly phase out humanitarian response and move to early recovery.”
But he warns that even if the cross-border resolution is renewed, the issue of funding to local and national organisations will not be resolved.
“In terms of localisation, the 25% funding direct to local NGOs promised from the Grand Bargain has never materialised. INGOs will not localise aid because it means they are going to lose funding if it goes to local organisations.
Despite HIHFAD’s excellent track record, they are still unable to access funding directly from donors.
“HIHFAD has been operating for 11 years. We have 10 years’ worth of accounts audited in the UK. We have what it takes but we are still not getting direct funding.
There is great capacity in Syria, and a lot of hard work has been put in place to strengthen these NGOs. It would be nice to see these efforts of international NGOs & Syrian NGOs being rewarded with some direct funding.”