Syrian Refugees and Other Vulnerable Populations Appeal
Humanitarian Action for Children
UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children appeal helps support the agency’s work as it provides conflict- and disaster-affected children with access to water, sanitation, nutrition, education, health and protection services. Return to main appeal page.
Syrian refugees snapshot
Appeal highlights
- As the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic enters its thirteenth year, 6.8 million refugees in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Türkiye remain in need of support. Refugees in the region rely heavily on humanitarian assistance provided by the international community, and host countries have ongoing challenges in absorbing them into their communities and national systems.
- UNICEF’s humanitarian response will continue to operate in two interconnected streams: providing urgent relief while addressing longer-term needs. A strong emphasis will be on cash transfers; the inclusion of out-of-school children in education systems ; access to safe WASH services; quality health care and nutrition services, including immunizations to prevent disease; strengthening service delivery for those affected by harmful practices and sexual and gender-based violence; and pathways to develop livelihood skills.
- UNICEF is appealing for $860.5 million to respond to the urgent and ongoing needs of Syrian refugee children and other vulnerable populations. This includes $252.8 million for education, $169.8 million for social protection and cash transfers, $145.4 million for WASH, and $112.4 million for health and nutrition.
Key planned targets
399,000 children screened for wasting
422,700 children/caregivers accessing community-based mental health and psychosocial support
1.7 million children accessing formal or non-formal education, including early learning
3.3 million people accessing a sufficient quantity and quality of water
Funding requirements for 2024
Country needs and strategy
Humanitarian needs
Refugees from the Syrian Arab Republic account for almost one in five refugees globally and Syrian children born in 2011, when the conflict began, are entering their teenage years. Large-scale voluntary return to their country in safety and dignity remains unlikely. Host countries – Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Türkiye – have experienced ongoing challenges in absorbing displaced persons into their communities and national systems, and refugees have limited access to work opportunities and rely heavily on food and cash assistance provided by the international community. Local economic challenges coupled with global trends have resulted in skyrocketing prices for commodities, goods and services, to the point of economic collapse. There is also mounting stress in Türkiye on the 1.8 million refugees affected by the 2023 earthquakes there, and in Egypt, where more than 300,000 Sudanese refugees have fled. Anti-refugee rhetoric has surged in Lebanon and Türkiye as these countries face economic crises. Throughout the region, social policy interventions vary and require further strengthening to improve socioeconomic resilience and to address the increasing disparities, especially among the most vulnerable children, women and people with disabilities. Reductions in international funding are likely to further decrease families’ access to services, putting additional children at risk.
Financial and systemic barriers prevent many refugee and vulnerable host community children from accessing quality, inclusive formal and non-formal education, and many of those who do have access are falling below grade expectations. The immediate need for learning and psychosocial support in a safe environment is underscored by the numbers of children who are out of school or who have suffered from gender-based violence or grave violations.
Climate change is driving deteriorating levels of groundwater and river water, causing water scarcity and reliance on UNICEF-supported water and sanitation services. Meeting the demand for improvements in waste management, sanitation and access to safe water would greatly reduce acute watery diarrhoea and other water- or vector-borne diseases that are a persistent risk in the region. Newly arrived Sudanese refugees in Egypt’s border areas are particularly vulnerable and require hygiene kits, dignity kits and baby kits.
The increasing costs of health care are a major barrier to access. While refugees are included in some national health care systems, they, too, face challenges in accessing secondary and tertiary health services. Disrupted electricity and limited WASH services impact the quality of health care available. Unimmunized children are at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases, highlighting the need to improve access to health services, public awareness and community engagement to increase uptake and combat vaccine misinformation.
Mounting child protection concerns in each host country have deepened vulnerabilities, and an increasing number of children and youth are bearing the effects of negative coping mechanisms including child labour, child marriage and school dropout. Gender-based violence risk mitigation, prevention and response programmes require adaptation to improve operations, and people with disabilities are in need of more inclusive services.
UNICEF’s strategy
In line with its mandate, UNICEF’s humanitarian response has two simultaneous approaches to supporting Syrian refugees and other vulnerable populations: providing urgent relief while addressing longer-term needs. UNICEF’s interventions aim to save lives, alleviate suffering and protect the rights of affected populations, wherever there are humanitarian needs. Aligning with the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action, the Regional Refugee & Resilience Plan and country response plans, UNICEF supports durable solutions, enhances local and national capacities to address urgent needs and advocates for the integration of refugees and migrants into national systems.
UNICEF is global cluster lead agency for the WASH and Nutrition Clusters and the Child Protection Area of Responsibility, and co-lead for the Education Cluster. International frameworks and contextual realities guide UNICEF to mainstream gender equality into humanitarian action with the aim of developing and promoting girls’ and women’s leadership and agency. Ensuring age-, ability- and gender-appropriate services for children, youth and their families is essential for every area of UNICEF’s response.
Providing cash transfers and social protection is a critical strategy UNICEF employs to ensure refugees and vulnerable households can obtain essential commodities. In education, key interventions support the right to learn, including integrating refugee children into the national education system, supporting vulnerable children to access formal and non-formal learning in safe environments and strengthening leadership capacity to manage education services. Sustainable energy solutions reduce operating costs and keep school doors open. Multiple flexible pathways, including income-generation and social entrepreneurship skill-building, support the successful transition of adolescents and youth from learning to earning.
UNICEF partners and coordinates with national and local water management systems to deliver WASH services to refugee camps and informal settlements. Emergency hygiene kits are made available and communities highly exposed to climate-related risks are supported through climate-resilient WASH services and sustainable practices. This includes uninterrupted access to basic health services, including life-saving immunizations, antenatal and postnatal care and treatment for severe wasting. UNICEF aims to engage multiple platforms and resilient systems to deliver essential nutrition interventions to prevent malnutrition and improve feeding practices.
UNICEF works to improve well-being by strengthening child protection service delivery, case management and psychosocial support for those affected by harmful practices and sexual and gender-based violence in emergencies. Building safe and accessible feedback channels bolsters risk mitigation, paves the way for responsive mechanisms and protects children and adolescents from child labour, child marriage and other forms of sexual exploitation and abuse. Principles related to social and behaviour change and risk communication and community engagement guide the development of transformative interventions and tools that promote social cohesion and participation across sectors. Needs assessments and rapid gender analysis support strong emergency preparedness systems at the national and local levels.
Programme targets
Find out more about UNICEF's work
Highlights
Humanitarian Action is at the core of UNICEF’s mandate to realize the rights of every child. This edition of Humanitarian Action for Children – UNICEF’s annual humanitarian fundraising appeal – describes the ongoing crises affecting Syrian refugees and other affected populations in Türkiye, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt; the strategies that we are using to respond to these situations; and the donor support that is essential in this response.