Mass Communication Assessment of Syrian Refugees in Camps

It is crucial that all populations affected by the Syrian crisis, including those currently staying in the KRI are adequately informed about the services available to them and/or know how to contact aid providers in order to seek assistance, give feedback or make complaints about the quality of services. The REACH Initiative was mobilised by UNHCR to facilitate an assessment in the above three governorates of mass communication means used by Syrian refugees in camps and camp-like settings across the KRI. Overall, this assessment supports the efforts of aid actors operational in Iraq in implementing the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Commitments on Accountability to Affected Populations2 (CAAP), which broadly aim at creating a system-wide culture of accountability in humanitarian contexts.

This assessment focused on the level of awareness amongst Syrian refugees in camps and camp-like settings on a range on communication topics, including information needs, languages, types of communications, as well as which media are used by the refugee populations to receive information and which mass communication channels they would like to see used more frequently. This assessment provides valuable data on which media could be used to more effectively target Syrian refugees living in camps and settlements in the KRI.

This assessment complements an initial assessment carried out by REACH in March 2014 of mass communication systems used in Domiz camp.