A. SITUATION ANALYSIS

Description of the disaster

The conflict in Syria has been the largest and most complex humanitarian crisis in the world, resulting in internal and external displacement; the loss of thousands of lives; and severe damage to infrastructure, roads, buildings and livelihoods. After 10 years of conflict, more than five million Syrians have been displaced to neighboring countries, including Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and other countries in North Africa. Turkey began hosting large numbers of Syrian refugees shortly after the onset of the crisis in 2011. The total number of Syrian refugees accommodated in 14 camps already exceeded 100,000 at the end of 2012. An Emergency Appeal (EA) was issued. launched to help people in Syria displaced by Syria and other neighboring crises for six months, focusing on camps and border areas between Turkey and Syria. By the end of 2016, the number of camps had grown to 23 and the number of refugees in camps to over 250,000, with more than 2.5 million residing in urban areas. Needs assessments identified urgent needs for psychosocial support and referral (information) services for Syrian refugees living in urban areas outside the camps.
Those seeking protection had formal access to social, economic and health services, but faced barriers to fully accessing them, such as a stagnant economy, language barriers in the education system, overburdened health services and inflation in housing costs. During this second phase of the Appeal, which began in 2016, activity gradually shifted from providing relief items primarily to address urgent needs to meeting the longer-term needs of refugees. and their host communities. The establishment of various community centers in the most populous provinces of Turkey, where the majority of refugee communities reside, has made it possible to offer complex services in various sectors, including protection, livelihoods, health, education, PSS and social cohesion. In 2020, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions exacerbated the needs and vulnerabilities of refugees living in Turkey, resulting in job loss, deteriorating socio-economic situation and impact on health. physical and psychological. human health. While most of the response related to COVID-19 has been conducted under the IFRC’s global COVID-19 call, activities under this call have adapted to changing needs and the operational context. .
As of July 2021, Turkey continued to host more than 3.74 million refugees, of which 99% were Syrians registered under temporary protection, the rest comprising nationals of Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and other countries registered under international protection. Some 54,074 Syrian refugees1 currently live in seven government-run temporary accommodation centers (camps) with access to shelter, food, education, health and social services, although this number continues decrease with the gradual closure of camps across the country. The remaining 3.63 million live in overcrowded urban areas, often in difficult circumstances and with limited resources, despite laudable humanitarian aid efforts by Turkish government authorities.
According to the General Directorate of Migration Management (DGMM) of Turkey, 98.5% of the Syrian refugee population continues to live in urban areas across the country, with the majority in Istanbul (14.31%), followed by Gaziantep (12.28%), Hatay (11.82%) and Şanlıurfa (11.50%), or 49.91% of all Syrian refugees registered in Turkey in these four cities only.
The above 10 cities alone host over 78% of all Syrian refugees in Turkey. Other cities that host a large number of refugees are Ankara, Kahramanmaraş, Mardin, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Osmaniye, Diyarbakır, Malatya,
Adıyaman and Batman. In total, all of these 20 cities are currently home to some 99% of the 3.69 million refugees granted temporary protection in Turkey3.
For operations in the camps and along the border areas in the early years of the Appeal, needs assessments were carried out on an ongoing basis by the teams deployed to the field, who in turn informed the volume and type assistance to be provided. Initially, the needs were listed as shelter, health care, food and basic necessities and, under the coordination of AFAD, the TRCS focused on immediate food and basic needs of the people. households in camps. WFP supported the food component implemented by the TRCS through a cash for food electronic card modality.
A baseline survey carried out in Sanliurfa in the first quarter of 2015 identified the need for a shift towards livelihood opportunities and a longer-term approach, with people expressing a desire to be able to work to support their families, learn Turkish to access work and integrate, have access to education for their children but also to preserve their language and culture; and create spaces for children and adults to gather and socialize safely, while also addressing the stress of displacement through psychosocial support.
Given the need of Syrians to better integrate into community and social customs, a key topic with other humanitarian actors and authorities has been to consider the needs of host communities in areas where Syrians have settled. At the same time, the stigma and social acceptance of displaced people is better addressed alongside the rights and opportunities of local populations. Needs assessments and baseline studies were conducted prior to the opening of community centers for the past several years and for longer term needs. The studies aimed to provide a better understanding of specific vulnerabilities, needs and priority areas, integration challenges and the labor market situation in the respective locations. In 2017, a MADAD country-level baseline survey was conducted in Turkey. Timely beneficiary satisfaction surveys and evaluation exercises as well as regular focus group discussions (FGDs) also informed programming as needed. For example, according to feedback from those supported, more advanced Turkish language courses, including professional language training, were offered from 2017.
Mainly in cooperation with universities, the Turkish Employment Agency (ISKUR) carried out regular labor market analyzes for major cities in Turkey. The results of these analyzes, along with TRCS’s own field data collection and coordination with ISKUR, have helped the National Society plan its livelihood activities for refugees and host communities in a way that responds to existing labor market needs at the start of the program years in 2017 and 2018. As part of the follow-up to the recommendations of the MADAD mid-term review (September 2018) and the results-based follow-up of the EUTF (October 2018) , TRCS began to conduct robust local labor market analyzes to determine the livelihood needs related to refugee and host communities in cooperation with the local ISKUR and the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Organization (KOSGEB ) prior to technical and vocational training in each location, with the aim of further improving the overall employability of refugee and host communities in the Turkish labor market. The analyzes included an update of the main economic indicators of the city labor market; demographic and socio-economic profiles of the beneficiaries examined; working conditions and Turkish employers’ approach to hiring refugees under temporary and international protection, potential stakeholders and cooperation initiatives on the ground as well as labor market demands and vacancies for refugees and members of the host community. As part of the response to the findings, the National Society has adjusted its livelihood programs to integrate farming and herding skills for refugees and host community members at different locations in Turkey. This included an expansion of existing agricultural training courses conducted in cooperation with the provincial agricultural directorates of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MOAF). The themes per site were chosen according to the sectoral needs determined by the Directorates and / or by the Chambers of Commerce of the respective provinces.