Backgrounder - Canada provides $68.2 million in additional programming to partners operating in Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon

Backgrounder

The Syria conflict continues to affect millions of vulnerable people in Syria and in the neighbouring countries of Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.

To help alleviate the suffering, the Government of Canada has announced up to $68.2 million in funding for 28 humanitarian projects that will deliver support for food assistance, health, mental health, child protection, shelter, water sanitation and hygiene.

In Syria, a total of $23.35 million will be allocated as follows:

For security reasons, non-governmental organization partners operating in Syria have not been named.

1. Up to $11.35 million in additional grant funding to the World Food Programme to provide food assistance and improve livelihood-strengthening activities for up to 4.25 million people, provide supplementary feeding for young children and pregnant and lactating women, improve monitoring to ensure assistance reaches those most in need and support logistical efforts to reach people in besieged locations.
2. Up to $1.25 million in additional grant funding to provide emergency assistance to vulnerable residents to bolster family income and prevent negative coping strategies such as the selling of productive assets.
3. Up to $500,000 in additional grant funding to strengthen essential primary health care services, including pediatric and gynecological services, and support capacity building and training in emergency response activities.
4. Up to $1.5 million in additional grant funding in southern Syria to increase access to gender-sensitive hygiene supplies and water storage for highly vulnerable households. The project will provide hygiene, baby and elder kits and rehabilitate wells for particularly underserved groups and people with specific vulnerabilities.
5. Up to $1 million in additional grant funding to improve access to clean water and help smallholder farmers restore agricultural production. The project will provide essential agricultural inputs for smallholder farmers to improve household livelihoods and food security, as well as help them improve agricultural practices.
6. Up to $1.25 million in additional grant funding to provide basic health care services to conflict-affected people in Aleppo.
7. Up to $1.5 million in grant funding to provide timely and confidential medical responses, case management and referral services to survivors of gender-based violence; provide mental health care, counselling and psychosocial services to conflict-affected people, particularly adolescent girls, boys and women; provide safe spaces, recreation and life skills to conflict-affected youth and their families; and provide life-saving basic services to war-wounded or conflict-affected people with disabilities.
8. Up to $2 million in additional grant funding in northern Syria to support field hospitals, war-damaged health facilities, physical rehabilitation facilities and mobile rehabilitation units.
9. Up to $500,000 in additional grant funding to provide clean drinking water, improved sanitation facilities and a hygienic living environment for people in Idlib; provide shelter repair kits for internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in camps and in urban settings; and provide protection services for vulnerable people, including psychosocial support and counselling, specialized support services for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, and safe places for children to play.
10. Up to $2.5 million in additional grant funding to provide emergency food assistance to conflict-affected people in hard-to-reach areas.

In Iraq, a total of $33.5 million will be allocated as follows:

1. Up to $4 million in grant funding to the International Organization for Migration to provide IDPs in camps with greater access to primary, reproductive, maternal and child health care; strengthen awareness among IDPs and host communities on how to prevent and mitigate the spread of communicable diseases; strengthen referral mechanisms of front-line clinics with regional medical facilities; and build self-reliance among conflict-affected Iraqis by protecting their means of livelihood and increasing access to regular income.
2. Up to $9 million in grant funding to Mercy Corps to provide emergency multi-purpose cash assistance to IDPs and to returnees. This project will be implemented by a consortium of four leading international organizations in Iraq in the area of multi-purpose cash assistance: Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council, Danish Refugee Council and International Rescue Committee.
3. Up to $3 million in grant funding to Oxfam-Québec to provide water and sanitation assistance to newly displaced families, those experiencing protracted displacement, vulnerable host communities and returnees through small-scale rehabilitation of water infrastructure and provision of sanitation facilities. The project will also provide income-generation opportunities for IDPs and returnees and restore assets to returnees in liberated areas to help restart livelihood activities.
4. Up to $3.7 million in grant funding to Development and Peace Caritas Canada to provide shelter solutions for vulnerable IDP families, provide conflict-affected families with safe and adequate water and sanitation facilities, and provide displaced children with access to quality education and psychosocial support by establishing child support centres and supplying schools with teaching and learning materials.
5. Up to $2 million in grant funding to Action Against Hunger to provide mental health services and psychosocial support to vulnerable IDPs and host communities, establish baby-friendly spaces to support babies and their mothers, and provide the most vulnerable households with small-scale grants to help restart livelihood activities.
6. Up to $2 million in grant funding to International Medical Corps to provide primary health care services, including mental health services and support services for survivors of sexual violence, and improve community outreach services delivered by community health workers by providing public health education and services including vaccination, hygiene, maternal health, family planning and nutrition.
7. Up to $3 million in grant funding to Médecins du Monde Canada to increase IDPs’ access to comprehensive primary health care, including sexual and reproductive health care, mental health care, health promotion services, essential medication and emergency referral systems through static and mobile clinics.
8. Up to $3 million in grant funding to Handicap International to improve access to health services for people with disabilities through the provision of emergency physical and functional rehabilitation services as well as psychosocial support; reduce risk-taking behaviours and incidents related to explosive remnants of war through awareness campaigns, increasing the safety of crisis-affected populations; and work with humanitarian actors to ensure the needs of people with disabilities are integrated into assistance projects.
9. Up to $2 million in grant funding to CARE Canada to improve access to clean water and sanitation facilities for vulnerable IDPs and host communities by repairing and/or maintaining water networks and sanitation facilities in IDP camps, schools and host communities; establishing and supporting gender-balanced water, sanitation and hygiene committees in IDP camps; providing hygiene kits for women, girls and infants in vulnerable IDP households; and providing training and materials on cholera response for hygiene promotion staff.
10. Up to $1.3 million in grant funding to Canadian Lutheran World Relief to provide group psychological support workshops for traumatized IDPs to reduce the prevalence of family conflicts and tense community dynamics, enhance social cohesion, upgrade public water infrastructure and distribute hygiene kits.
11. Up to $500,000 in grant funding to World Vision Canada to fully roll out the Last Mile Mobile Solution platform (including coordinating the registration of vulnerable families and enhancing the efficiency and efficacy with which humanitarian partners provide assistance) and promote the sharing of data and best practices with humanitarian and NGO partners to inform response-wide planning of humanitarian activities.

In Jordan and Lebanon, a total of $11.35 million will be allocated as follows:

1. Up to $1 million in grant funding to World Relief Canada in Jordan to increase access to reproductive health care and other critical health services through cash-for-health support; implement a community health program; provide sexual and gender-based violence protection and trauma care; and increase the capacity of community health volunteers, medical staff and community members.
2. Up to $1.5 million in additional grant funding to CARE Canada in Jordan to improve access to information, protection and psychosocial services; provide emergency cash assistance to meet urgent needs; and increase access for vulnerable refugee and host-community women to sustainable livelihood activities.
3. Up to $2.35 million in grant funding to UNICEF to provide life-saving assistance to asylum seekers stranded at the Jordan-Syria border, commonly known as the “berm.”
4. Up to $3 million in grant funding to Handicap International in Jordan and Lebanon to improve access to existing basic services and provide physical rehabilitation services to persons with functional limitations, including people with injuries and/or disabilities; provide psychosocial support services; and strengthen the capacity of local rehabilitation service providers at the community, camp and health facility levels.
5. Up to $1.5 million in grant funding to World Relief Canada in Lebanon to improve the accessibility and quality of essential primary health care services, including for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, and increase awareness and the practice of improved health, nutrition and hygiene behaviours among vulnerable refugee households and host communities.
6. Up to $500,000 in additional grant funding to the Canadian Red Cross Society in Lebanon to help the Lebanese Red Cross Society and the Palestine Red Crescent Society assist refugees in Lebanon by providing quality emergency medical care to the most vulnerable conflict-affected people.
7. Up to $1.5 million in additional grant funding to Oxfam-Québec in Lebanon to improve access to safe water for refugee households living in informal tent settlements and improve safe access to emergency water and sanitation facilities and solid waste management services for conflict-affected people.

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