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Northern Syria- Zaher Al-Obaido is looking for a new job opportunity in the field of community health within humanitarian organizations operating in the northwestern regions Syria More than 10 years ago.
Zaher was working within one of the international organizations active in the region, but he and more than 100 other employees lost his job due to the cessation of projects. World Food Programme Northern Syria.
In his interview with Al Jazeera Net, he expresses his despair and frustration about obtaining a new job due to the scarcity of employment opportunities and the reduction in the number of workers working with humanitarian organizations following the cessation of their projects in northern Syria.
Al-Obaido says, “Within one day and one night, my life was turned upside down. I was receiving a salary of 500 dollars, enough to last me the end of the month, and I was helping the family of my brother who lost his life at the hands of the Syrian regime.”
Negative repercussions
The World Food Programme’s reduction of its support – to significant levels during 2024 in northern Syria – caused humanitarian organizations to dismiss hundreds of their employees, resulting in families losing their children’s income.
Dozens of humanitarian projects that directly affected the health, hygiene, and education sectors were also halted, in addition to reducing the financial support provided to the displaced by more than half, while humanitarian organizations transferred the support provided on a monthly basis to another every two months.
In this context, a source in the OCHA agency, affiliated with…To the United Nations – According to Al Jazeera Net – the program stopped its support for organizations due to a decrease in funding, as the World Food Organization was bringing 260,000 baskets monthly to the regions of northwestern Syria, in addition to education and water projects provided by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), from which it benefits. Tens of thousands of displaced people.
He said that projects to build caravans, sanitation, and transport garbage – all supported by United Nations agencies – began to stop following the new reduction.
The same source indicated that there are fears that the situation in the north of the country will turn into a disaster and famine will occur during the new year if the lack of aid and the withdrawal of organizations continues.
In turn, the Syria Response Coordinators team launched an urgent appeal to cover the humanitarian sectors in the northwest of the country.
The team estimated the sectors’ need for support as follows:
- Education sector: $24 million.
- Food security and livelihoods sector: $32 million.
- Health and nutrition sector: $13 million.
- Shelter sector: $32 million.
- Water and sanitation sector: $18 million.
- Protection sector: $1 million.
- Non-food sector: $9 million.
“Disastrous situation”
A source in the team told Al Jazeera Net that the humanitarian situation has become catastrophic. He called on all humanitarian organizations and bodies to contribute effectively to securing the winter needs of the displaced in the camps in general.
The same source called for working to provide the necessary services to the most vulnerable groups, and urged organizations to repair previous damage in the camps and sewage networks, provide the necessary insulation to prevent rainwater from entering the tents, and work to pave the roads in the camps and new and old settlements in general.
With the entry of the new year, according to the response team, the price of a standard food basket sufficient to feed a family of 5 people for one month rose to about 98 dollars (2,793 Turkish liras), an increase of 147 liras over last October, which consumes 67 liras. % of a day laborer’s salary for an entire month, after inflation rates in the region rose to 75.04% compared to last year.
The percentage of camps suffering from food insecurity rose to 88.7%, and 95.1% of them suffer from difficulties in securing bread.
The number of people in need of humanitarian aid reached 4.4 million civilians, an increase of 11% over last year, and the percentage is expected to rise by 17.3% until the end of the current year as a result of exchange rate changes, the stability of food prices at a high level, and the increase in the prices of some other materials, according to the team. Response.
‘massive deficit’
For his part, Samer Suleiman – who lives in a camp in the Ras Al-Hosn area – complains that the humanitarian aid provided to him has decreased by half, as last year he received $104 per month, while he now receives $65 this month.
Suleiman told Al Jazeera Net that the families were divided into 3 categories, the first receiving $117, the second $104, and the third $52, from the “ACTED” organization working in the countryside. Aleppo AndIdlib.
He added that this year, the organization reduced the amount, distributing $65 to the first category, between $33 and $52 to the second, and $25 to the third, an amount that is not enough for any family to last two days.
Jamil Salloum, a humanitarian worker, explained that the new reduction prompted residents to reduce the number of daily meals and the quantities of food to obtain basic necessities, “in a new step towards the abyss and increasing the gaps in funding the humanitarian response in Syria.”
He added that the percentage of families that reduced the number of basic meals reached 71.2%, while – within the camps – it reached 93.8%.
Salloum pointed out a huge deficit in humanitarian response operations without any announcement from the United Nations about funding winter response operations, which shows the expected catastrophic consequences for civilians in general and the displaced in camps in particular during the current winter season.
It is noteworthy that dozens of local and international humanitarian organizations operating in the northwestern regions of Syria have suspended dozens of United Nations projects, especially those affiliated with the World Food Programme, causing hundreds of families to lose their only income for living and their level of unemployment to rise.
