Humanitarian services for Syria's protracted crisis

Objective

To support Syrian civil society by enhancing and scaling the capacities of civil society leaders, while also promoting social cohesion. To empower first responders working in crisis response and recovery to more effectively participate in Syria’s humanitarian coordination mechanisms.

Services:

- A Syrian-adapted Crisis Leadership Program (CLP) – Seed cohort, delivered in a hybrid format in Arabic.

- A Syrian-adapted Crisis Leadership Program (CLP) – Grow cohort, delivered fully online in English.

- Mentorship training for humanitarian leaders.

- A small-scale investigation into resource flows, and the dynamics of trust and power among local humanitarian organisations in Syria, examining how these are connected to broader humanitarian networks

Contact:

Sara Sinada, Manager, Operations and Programs, sara.sinada@deakin.edu.au

Objective

To strengthen the foundations of collective accountability in Syria. The initiative aims to create mechanisms for collaboration among organisations to advance collective accountability.

Services:

- Evidence and analysis on how Core Humanitarian Sstandards (CHS) Commitments are being met collectively, and identification of priority areas to strengthen collective accountability.

- Collective assessment result in better knowledge about how people and communities’ expectations are being met through current practices of organisations.

- Practical resources and experience sharing on the collaboratively identified priority areas for improvement.

- Seed grants to support small group initiatives that reinforce the foundations of collective accountability.

Contact:

Bonaventure Gbetoho Sokpo, Policy and Outreach Senior Advisor, bsokpoh@chsalliance.org

Objective

To strengthen inclusive humanitarian coordination in Syria by enabling meaningful participation of local, returning, and diaspora NGOs in the nationally led coordination model. The project aims to foster trust, dialogue, and cohesion among Syrian civil society actors and produce evidence-based recommendations that support more accountable and representative coordination practices

Services:

- Facilitation of structured dialogue forums (in-person & virtual) connecting diaspora NGOs, national NGOs and coordination platforms to enhance inclusive participation in humanitarian decision-making processes in Syria.

- Development of a bilingual (Arabic–English) research report mapping barriers, good practices, and lived experiences of Syrian organisations, informing more accountable and inclusive coordination approaches. In addition to a bilingual (Arabic–English) policy brief with actionable recommendations produced by Syrian NGOs and diaspora actors, inform coordination practices and advocacy within coordination spaces, and national humanitarian platforms.

- Peer-to-peer thematic workshop and preparatory sessions enabling cross-learning between Syrian diaspora, local and national actors on partnership building, capacity strengthening, and principled humanitarian coordination.

- Dissemination of findings through Syrian NGOs Forum platforms and targeted webinars to support wider uptake of recommendations among humanitarian coordination bodies and civil society networks.

Contact:

Adrien Bory, Head of DEMAC, adrien.bory@drc.ngo

Objective

To establish an OpenStreetMap (OSM) Syria by collaborating with local community leaders to provide technical OSM training, create communication forums, and develop essential documentation. To conduct a spatial data landscape analysis and launch crowdsourced mapping campaigns, with a primary focus on Aleppo and Damascus governorates.

Services:

- Spatial data inventory and recommendations report in collaboration with other information management actors to identify geospatial data needs and suggest reliable sources.

- Updated open spatial datasets: Provide crowdsourced updates of buildings, roads, heritage sites, and other critical infrastructure.

- Replicable crowdsourcing framework: Develop a lessons-learned approach for using OSM and crowdsourcing to update base spatial data in conflict affected areas, following OSM conventions and documentation.

- Data sharing and responsible use: Promote open mapping in recovery contexts, raise awareness of crowdsourcing tools, and support ethical sharing of spatial data, including damage assessments, through workshops, communication materials, and networking with recovery actors and OSM Syria.

Contact:

Jessie Pechmann, Humanitarian GIS & Data Protection Lead, jessie.pechmann@hotosm.org

Objective

To strengthen the Syrian humanitarian data ecosystem by consolidating coordination among local actors, developing integrated data packages, and enhancing information management capacities. To support NGOs and HCT partners in achieving more effective coordination, planning, and advocacy through improved data analysis, visualization, and evidence-based decision-making.

Services:

- Deliver webinars and establish a light-touch community of practice to strengthen data literacy and promote responsible data management among national and local humanitarian actors.

- Provide tailored IM support services and analytical products to NGO Forum and HCT partners through a helpdesk model and short-term expert deployments. Activities will include data aggregation and reporting, contextual/situational analysis, and production of regular information management products (snapshots, dashboards, reports, maps etc.)

- Tailored training and technical mentoring sessions to NGO Forum, HCT partners and coordination platforms to strengthen IM, analysis, coordination and assessment capacities. Training will be adapted to different audiences (NGO IM officers, program focal points, coordination staff) and delivered in Arabic and English,

- A set of ethical and practical IM guidelines will be developed collaboratively with Syrian CSOs and HCT partners. These will be introduced through targeted workshops and integrated into organizational SOPs.

- Establish a local integration and feedback mechanism to embed CSO data within national humanitarian data systems. This will include developing protocols for data submission, validation and updates, along with standardized templates to support consistency. A feedback loop will promote two-way communication b etween national data coordinators and local CSOs, strengthening collaboration and data quality.

Contacts:

- iMMAP Inc: Guido Pizzini, Business Development, Impact and Partnerships Director, gpizzini@immap.org

- MapAction: Alice Almond, Head of Capacity Strengthening and Emergency Response, aalmond@mapaction.org

- CartONG: Berhudan Mustafa, Project Manager, b_mustafa@cartong.org