Syrian Arab Republic

  • Humanitarian Response Priorities
  • From: 01/01/2025 to: 31/03/2025
  • Published: 28/01/2025
  • Coordinated by: OCHA

Syrian Arab Republic Humanitarian Response Priorities – January-March 2025 / Part 4 : Sector needs and response

3.9 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

People in need
14.4 million
People targeted
2.5 million
Requirements (US$)
$97 million

Sectoral impact:

  • Humanitarian WASH needs are estimated to increase over the coming months, among old and new displacements, disruption of water and sanitation services and power supply, ongoing hostilities, water and vector borne disease (WVBD) spread, water scarcity, socio-economic crisis, new spike of inflation, and onset of winter.
  • Ongoing hostilities have caused a significant deficit in water and power infrastructure, affecting the operation of WASH systems. Subsequent disruption in WASH service provision increases public health risks, especially within communities already affected by a prolonged water crisis or recent active AWD transmission. Low wastewater treatment capacities and widespread disposal of untreated wastewater pose significant public health and environmental concerns.
  • Thousands of newly-displaced individuals in north-east Syria reside in temporary overcrowded receptions centres with reduced access to WASH goods and services. Vulnerable populations are increasingly exposed to the risk of infectious diseases and GBV incidents.
  • Disruptions in existing IDP sites in the north-west and north-east have direct physical and mental well-being and protection consequences, notably on children, elderly, women and girls.
  • Critically bad sanitation conditions, poor hygiene practices and deterioration of water quality cause increased public health risks, including WVBD and leishmaniosis, and alarming and unprecedent malnutrition rates. By end of 2024, several AWD cases were reported in northern Syria.
  • Risk of explosive remnants of war persists in several areas, including in areas of return, which hampers access to delivery and use of WASH services.
  • In north-east Syria, water scarcity remains a major challenge, with over 80 per cent of water supply systems not functioning mainly due to damaged power systems. This caused 1.8 million people to lack access to safe water, including 610,000 residents and IDPs in Al Hasakeh, with Alouk water station not operational.
  • In potential areas of returns, WASH services have decayed and are unable to properly serve the population.
  • Economic downturn and limited household revenues remain a challenge for vulnerable communities and households in accessing safe and equitable WASH services and hygiene items. The downturn also affects the prices of services and goods, increasing the cost of the response.

Immediate needs:

  • As of November 2024, 14.4 million people are in need, with 77.5 per cent in acute need. Over 870,000 more people are in need compared to last year, mostly in northern Syria.
  • In north-west and north-east Syria, over 2 million IDPs living in camps and informal settlements are still in need of life-saving WASH services. In north-east Syria, new IDPs in emergency collective centres lack proper access to life-saving WASH services. Two thirds have not received any water supply and sanitation services.
  • A significant number of IDPs and their hosting communities are in dire need of WASH services.
  • Communities affected by WVBD need targeted WASH response to reduce mortality and to control the spread of the diseases.
  • Malnourished children and PLW need proper WASH in nutrition interventions.
  • WASH conditions in institutions, including healthcare facilities, remains substandard. Inadequate WASH conditions in schools affect enrolment and attendance rates, particularly affecting girls.

Priority activities:

  • Strengthen coordination and IM to ensure effective coordination and monitoring of WASH needs and response.
  • Provide lifesaving immediate access to WASH services and goods and hygiene promotion to new displaced people in sites and communities, with priority in north-east Syria.
  • Maintain critical WASH services, access to goods and hygiene promotion in existing IDP sites, especially in northern Syria.
  • Where the intention of returns from IDPs sites are clear, especially in north-west Syria, suspend long/mid-term sustainable solutions to focus on life-saving interventions.
  • Ensure continuity of WASH services at community level by providing essential emergency repairs and operational support to WASH systems, including power supply and use of unconventional water sources.
  • Strengthen WASH governance systems and build capacity of WASH entities.
  • Provide water treatment products for water disinfection at system level.
  • Water quality monitoring.
  • Ensure capacity to respond to AWD, leishmaniosis and other diseases emphasizing risk communication and community engagement aspects.
  • Provide WASH in nutrition (WiN) kits and hygiene promotion sessions to PLW and children admitted with SAM or MAM.
  • Support healthcare and nutrition facilities with gender-friendly and disability-adapted WASH facilities and services.
  • Support schools, learning spaces, and/or child friendly spaces (CFSs) with gender-friendly and disability-adapted WASH facilities.

Response strategy:

Coordination will continue to be ensured through the WoS mechanism, including developing guidance, with flexibility to adapt to the evolving situation. Harmonization and quality of monitoring and reporting among different areas will be scaled up.

WASH will continue to enhance multisectoral integration and collaboration, including working with CCCM and SNFI sectors to provide access to WASH services in IDPs sites, with ERL for the repair of WASH systems, and with health to support WASH and infection, prevention and control in healthcare facilities and scaling up outbreak preparedness and response. WASH will also provide WiN assistance to children and PLW affected by SAM and MAM and their caregivers with the nutrition sector, and support WASH facilities and services in schools and CFSs with the education and child protection sectors. WASH will collaborate with the health, protection and education sectors to provide women and girls with menstrual hygiene management (MHM) services and support mechanisms to meet their MHM needs with safety, privacy, and dignity, with the GBV sector to mitigate GBV risks linked with WASH facilities, and with the mine action AoR to ensure safe delivery of activities and to report any EO contamination.

The response will be delivered through a combination of available response modalities (in-kind, service delivery, market-based programming (MBP)/CVA, etc.) depending on the context, vulnerabilities, preferences of affected people and operational feasibility. Use of MBP and CVA is encouraged. Investing in robust IM will help to better inform humanitarian programming and choose the right response modality.

Working with local and central authorities to support water governance systems will be central to the response. Advocacy will focus on protecting and keeping WASH systems running and disassociating water resources from political objectives.

Community consultation and engagement will be prioritized, to ensure the involvement of women, men, boys and girls and PWD throughout the project cycle. WASH will ensure gender, environmental, age and disability inclusion and protection responsive programming, with enhancements in disaggregated monitoring and reporting.