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Syria

One of the leading humanitarian actors in Northwest Syria, GOAL has supported conflict-affected people here since 2012. In 2022, 950 staff managed a programme expenditure of €101.6M - reaching more than 900,000 people every month.

Whilst GOAL's main operations are in Idleb Governate, work expanded to Aleppo Governorate (A’zaz District) in late 2018. Programmes include Emergency Response, Resilient Health, Food & Nutrition Security.
Operations are supported by senior management in Jordan, Turkey and Dublin.

What we do in Syria

Emergency Response
Resilient Health
Food & Nutrition Security
Inclusion

Emergency response in Northern Syria following the earthquake

On Mon 6th Feb 2023, a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Southern Türkiye and northern Syria as 18 million people slept. 55,000 people, including 32 GOAL staff, lost their lives that night. The earthquake completely destroyed 1,700 buildings and partially destroyed 8,600 buildings in Idleb and Aleppo where GOAL works. And up to 55K families who were already displaced because of the on-going conflict in Syria, were displaced again.

This extensive damage to buildings meant thousands , including small children and the elderly, were immediately without shelter and exposed to harsh weather conditions.

Priority needs included shelter, medical supplies, water, sanitation, food, cash, and psychosocial support. GOALs Teams on the ground were quick to respond to carry out scoping missions, coordinate with local government and humanitarian structures, engage with local partners and deliver lifesaving assistance.

Rehabilitating essential WASH infrastructures

Prior to the earthquake GOAL’s Resilient Health programming in Syria focused on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) activities. GOAL supported the rehabilitation, operation and maintenance of water networks in Idleb Govenornate in order to help deliver safe, potable water for conflict-affected displaced and host communities. The 64 water stations that GOAL supported, provided sustainable access to clean, piped drinking water for more than 800,000 people.

Immediately after the earthquake, GOAL Teams were rehabilitating water services in areas where water systems have been damaged and delivering water trucking to ensure essential access to water services.

Bakery support following the earthquake

Prior to the earthquake, GOAL was one of the largest operators of food security programming in Northwest Syria. Our activities in this sector focused on supporting conflict-affected communities in Idleb and Aleppo Governorates via modalities of assistance that respond to the needs and capabilities on the ground as effectively as possible.

Our programming also addressed persistent food insecurity, providing 50 per cent of the flour and yeast inputs of more than 20 local bakeries in Idleb Governorate to help supply bread at almost half the market price for around 300,000 people.     

After the earthquake, GOAL Teams in Northwest Syria restarted all their existing bakery programmes, delivering flour and yeast to contracted bakeries and bakeries to produce subsided bread and address food shortages and started working on bakery rehabilitation for those with operations damaged by the earthquake. 

Safeguarding and Protection

Our achievements

  • GOAL has grown to become one of the largest providers of humanitarian assistance in Northern Syria
  • Reached more than 200 communities in Idleb and Northern Aleppo with monthly cash-based food security assistance by August 2021
  • Added cash transfer component to food security programme from 2020 in order to help beneficiaries meet additional needs and cover emergent expenses, reaching more than 50,000 families with monthly Multi-purpose Cash Assistance between June 2020 and August 2021
  • Supported four Water Units in Idleb Province to help regularly deliver clean running water to a catchment population of 1M+ people serving more than 100 communities
  • Increased number of bakeries supported by GOAL, to 29, enabling catchment population of 500K+ people access bread at subsidized prices every day
  • Reached more than 450 families with shelter support by Aug 2021
  • Implemented infrastructure support programmes in seven informal settlements in Idleb housing over 7k displaced persons to help mitigate against impacts of flooding

Our story in numbers

2012

GOAL Syria begins

€101.6M

Programme expenditure in 2022

957

Staff across Northern Syria

2.1M

People reached in 2022