2014 Syrian Arab Republic Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan (SHARP)

SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE RESPONSE PLAN 2014
areas exposing those more likely to be reliant on agricultural livelihoods to disruption. This is leading to increased
movement of people to major urban centres which strains the delivery of social services.
Increased population displacement has contributed to high and rising poverty as a result of disrupted livelihoods,
the loss of productive assets and damaged infrastructure. Farm and livestock-dependent livelihoods have been
particularly affected: at least 50 percent of jobs in the poultry sector and 70 percent in the cotton industry were lost
by June 2013 28 . Preliminary results from the Joint Rapid Food Needs Assessment (JRFNA) suggest that some 8
percent of surveyed families have lost their primary breadwinner, with about 11 percent now headed by women.
Job losses and lower incomes have significantly reduced household purchasing power. Private consumption is
believed to have contracted by almost 50 percent during the second quarter of 2013, relative to the same period
last year. High and rising inflation has also been a key cause. The CFSAM found that by June 2013, the real price
of wheat flour had almost doubled since 2011. A similar trend was observed for non-food items, including for
diesel, in which a 200 percent increase was experienced in January 2013 29 . The high cost of electricity and fuel
has left poor families unable to meet their energy needs, a critical concern for the winter season. Since then, food
prices have increased further indicative of the extent to which markets have been disrupted. In July 2013, the Syria
Needs Assessment Project reported that food-price inflation was as high as 100 percent in some areas 30 . WFP
market price monitoring data suggests that the prices of basic imported commodities such as oil, rice and lentils
increased by 30 – 60 percent between June and August 2013 alone, while prices of subsidized foods, such as
sugar, was also found to have increased substantially. The implication for poor households is a majority of
available income is spent on food, as confirmed by WFP programme monitoring and preliminary JRFNA findings.
Both the quantity and quality of foods consumed by the most vulnerable have reduced. More than 90 percent of
respondents interviewed by the JRFNA reported that Syrians have changed their eating habits since last year.
Many households reported a decrease in food intake (to an average of only two meals per day) and opting for
cheaper and less nutritious foods. A majority of WFP beneficiaries interviewed consume carbohydrates almost
exclusively and have limited consumption of fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy products due to high costs. Women
and children with particular nutritional needs are expected to be the worst affected. In many areas it has been
observed that infants and young children are not receiving adequate nutritious foods needed for optimal growth and
development, with most families reportedly limiting the amount of complementary foods provided at this critical
stage to only one meal per day. An increasing number of children demonstrating symptoms of malnutrition have
been admitted to health centres.
The erosion of coping mechanisms and shrinking resilience has been observed by WFP programme monitoring.
Symptoms include selling assets, withdrawing children from school and requesting assistance from friends and
relatives. Furthermore, there is evidence that the number of coping strategies adopted has reduced over time,
suggesting that families are exhausting their resources and have increasingly few options to meet their needs.
Food security among Palestine refugees has also continued to decline throughout 2013. UNRWA estimates that at
least 50 percent of the Palestine refugee population in Syria has been displaced, depriving this already vulnerable
group of their livelihoods, assets and shelters. The vast majority of displaced families have been forced to seek
private shelter in safer areas of Syria, significantly reducing the funds available for food and resulting in significant
overcrowding. Social safety nets, savings and other assets have been either lost or exhausted, constraining the
funds available for food purchases. Tens of thousands of Palestine refugees also remain in crisis-affected areas
and lack access to regular food supplies as a result. Palestine refugees have limited social networks, higher
underlying rates of poverty and fewer coping mechanisms to deal with the situation. UNRWA now estimates that at
least 440,000 Palestine refugees across Syria require on-going emergency food assistance. Multiple
displacements combined with high existing levels of poverty have left Palestine refugees also in need of priority
assistance.
Supplemented by information from the CFSAM, preliminary results from the JRFNA and other sources, the most
vulnerable groups with greatest need of assistance include: the internally displaced; the unemployed and the poor
in urban centres; casual labourers; host communities; and small-scale farmers and herders. It is further expected
that those typically most vulnerable to the effects of crisis and the displaced will have suffered disproportionately in
Syria. These include: children (particularly those below the age of five years), women, the elderly, people with
disabilities and the chronically sick.
28 Special Report: Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) to the Syrian Arab Republic, WFP and FAO, at the request of the
Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform (MAAR): July 2013
29 Special Report: Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) to the Syrian Arab Republic, WFP and FAO: July 2013
30 Regional Analysis Syria: Part 1 – Syria, Syria Needs Assessment Project: July 2013
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