Period covered by this operation update: January-September 2015
As of October 2015, the number of people in Syria affected by the crisis, in urgent need of humanitarian aid has significantly increased, reaching 13.5 million people.
With the current Operations Update, the timeframe of the IFRC’s Syria Complex Emergency Appeal (MDRSY003) is extended a further year until 31 December 2016 to continue supporting the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) in its response to the growing humanitarian needs in Syria during the crisis. The plan and budget for the Emergency Appeal will be revised in the first quarter of 2016.
At the beginning of 2016, the IFRC will undertake a review of the Emergency Appeal, in order to enhance the support the IFRC provides to SARC’s humanitarian response and adapt better to the protracted crisis in Syria. The outcomes, recommendations and main lessons learned of the review will be the basis of the 2016 revised plan.
In 2016, the IFRC foresees that the revised Emergency Appeal will continue focusing on providing SARC with the most critical food and non-food relief items in response to the most urgent needs. The support to SARC programmatic areas will continue in livelihoods, logistics, communications, among others. In health, the IFRC will keep supporting SARC health facilities and nutrition centres; ensuring pharmaceuticals supply; psychosocial support, mental health and water and sanitation activities, in addition to enhancing the skills of staff and volunteers in health. SARC’s operational and organizational capacity initiatives will be scaled up. Based on the outcomes of the planning process, the relevant activities and initiatives will be included in the 2016 revised Appeal.