Joint Response to water crises in  Ar-Raqqa governorate Due to the water crises in the northeast of Syria and the prevailing economic constraints, protracted crisis and effects of climate change farmers continue to face challenges preparing for the new season following a poor harvest. Furthermore, vulnerable farmers lack liquidity, access to credit and a reliable source of income, while prices of agriculture inputs continue to increase. Based on FAO’s monthly monitoring of agriculture input prices from January to September 2021, prices of subsidized inputs such as fuel and fertilizers increased significantly. The worsening economic situation has resulted in most vulnerable people, especially women headed households, having lack of access to economic and livelihood alternatives. Moreover, the already poor food and nutrition situation is expected to worsen, and the adoption of negative coping strategies will increase. In such stressed circumstances, GBV is a constant threat. During the crisis, women have contributed immensely to household income through economically productive activities in agriculture, mainly vegetable production in some of the targeted districts.
Furthermore, the humanitarian situation in Ar-Raqqa Governorates has deteriorated further due to significantly reduced water availability and access, as a result of unprecedented low water levels of the Euphrates River, low and erratic rainfall during the 2020/21 winter season and disruptions to the water system including the water pumping stations. Consequently, a noticeable deterioration in water quality has been observed by communities in NES. At the same time, concerns have been raised over diminishing water quality in the Euphrates River itself, a result of concentration of upstream pollution, including untreated sewage from Ar-Raqqa. This is further increasing the likelihood of waterborne diseases and chronic illnesses via drinking water and the consumption of produce from farms irrigated with river water.
To address the aforementioned immediate needs in food production, worsening food insecurity and loss of livelihoods, FAO, WFP, and UNDP are proposing a 9 months multi-sector emergency intervention response, which will focus on activities elaborated under the Food Security and Agriculture, Early Recovery and Livelihoods, Protection and WASH sectors eligible actions and prioritized interventions, targeting as part of the same geographical geographic priorities. In Ma’adan and Sabkha and Mansoura in Ar-Raqqa Governorates. The multisector emergency intervention response will mainly target returnees and host families, with a focus on women headed households so that they may restart and sustain food production and create income-earning opportunities. Through this proposed joint action, FAO, WFP and UNDP will work jointly to make concrete contribution to the restoration of livelihoods in the targeted areas in response to the water crisis and thus strengthening access to key vital and critical services and promote social cohesion. Each one of the three agencies will take specific responsibility toward this joint response in operational, technical and strategic collaboration among each other. A joint working group will be established to ensure complementarity and closely coordinate between different interventions.
Under this action, WFP will provide protection food rations (PFRs), sequenced with quality vegetable production by FAO (includes legumes and fodder crops) to ensure production of nutrient-rich crops, based on seasonality, combined with training on Good Agriculture. UNDP will focus on sustaining livelihoods and creation of job opportunities, enhancing social cohesion through supporting community level sustainable, inclusive and disaster amp conflict sensitive natural resource management, and improve access to basic needs and safe drinking and rehabilitation of pumping stations with the provision of reliable source of energy, in addition to the rehabilitation of sewage networks.