SERVICES: National Platforms
Syria
Context: Current efforts are underway to develop a collective community engagement approach for the Syria response as a whole. The overall approach will have three sections that reflect three different operational areas: the North West, the North East and the rest of the country (which is programmed from Damascus). Each of these three sections will be designed and developed at the hub-level.
The Humanitarian Needs Overview 2019, which included specific questions on community perceptions reported: 28 % of communities indicated that the community has access to full information needed to access assistance; 50% of communities reported that a mechanism was in a place to provide feedback; 84% of communities reported having no influence on how or what humanitarian agencies were providing in assistance. Face-to-face communication was the preferred method of communication by the majority of communities in Syria, followed by WhatsApp.
Efforts in 2019 will include establishing PSEA Networks, training and awareness raising amongst humanitarian workers, and the roll-out of interagency community-based complaints mechanisms, which will allow beneficiaries to safely and confidentially report SEA concerns using a wide variety of channels.
Government links: N/A
Leads/Chairs/Co-Chairs: Communication and Community Engagement Initiative, currently hosted in-country by WFP. Consultant contact is Jon Bugge: jonbugge@yahoo.co.uk
National and international actors involved: Due to the complexities in Syria, a comprehensive platform model is not yet fully-functioning across the hubs, and depending on the design process may reflect a collective service model instead.
Donors: The work is currently being funded by the CCEI pending further funding.
Opportunities and challenges: Direct access by international organisations to affected communities is limited. The concept of community engagement and accountability is not consistently understood or valued by partners and there are wide-ranging approaches. National authorities remain sensitive to the language of engaging the community and accountability, so it is often better framed around good programming or risk management. Discussions about platforms and formal working groups have, or are likely to face resistance. Some pilot projects however can provide some tangible examples of how the collective approach could work within Syria, for example the recent IOM and Ground Truth Solutions perception survey in NW Syria or the WFP hotline managed from Damascus. Direct service delivery organisations, mostly local organisations, are engaging communities and have developed tools and approaches to overcome constraints. Finding ways to collectivises these will be key. The ongoing work around PSEA can provide some concrete examples for collective efforts and also help develop the collaboration between PSEA and the wider community engagement approach.
