OCHA - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Published purpose

December 2014 - The humanitarian situation in Syria continues to deteriorate as a result of the civil war and intensified violence in the country. The United Nations estimates that 12.2 million people inside Syria, including 5.6 million children, are in need of humanitarian assistance, and that 7.6 million of these are internally displaced. Combined with the 3.3 million refugees registered in neighbouring countries, this is the largest number of people displaced from conflict in the world. Women and children are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of the conflict and host countries are increasingly overstretched by the influx of people fleeing the conflict. With DFATD’s support, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is managing the Humanitarian Pooled Fund in Turkey to expand the delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to conflict-affected people living in hard-to-reach areas of Syria, using cross-border routes from Turkey. Project activities include: (1) providing emergency assistance, including protection services, safe drinking water, shelter, core relief items, food and basic healthcare; (2) addressing early recovery needs; and (3) providing critical logistics and coordination services to increase humanitarian partners’ operational capacity, outreach and access to conflict affected areas.