Mission Report: An NGO Perspective on the Response to the Syria Crisis

 In the context of the expanding refugee crisis in neighboring countries and the IASC declaration of the humanitarian crisis in Syria as an L3, InterAction and the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) traveled to the region in March 2013. The purpose of the trip was to review humanitarian practice and policy issues, including the interlinkages between the refugee response overseen by the UNHCR regional refugee coordinator and the humanitarian response within Syria led by the regional humanitarian coordinator. Key components of this review included an examination of NGO coordination structures and the implementation of the accompanying measures related to the L3 declaration. Specifically to the latter, the mission attempted to get a sense of whether the NGO community was being engaged appropriately within the implementation of the transformative agenda.

Members of the mission traveled to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan from March 19-29, 2013. The team visited Antakya, Reyhanli and Gaziantep in southern Turkey; Beirut and the Bekaa valley in Lebanon; and Amman, Mafreq and Za’atari camp in Jordan.

Within this report, ICVA and InterAction provide observations, key findings and recommendations.