Shelter for new Arrivals in Reception centers and in Transition (START) Global Communities working in close cooperation with our implementing partner Binaa will build on our existing OCHA funded program [TUR-17/3559/SA2/NFI/ING0/7185] to extend rental support to 795 recently displaced IDP households who are now living in overcrowded reception centers in northwest Syria. The main purpose of this intervention is to ensure that reception centers are not overcrowded but rather have space available for newly displaced persons. GC and Binaa will identify housing opportunities for the IDP HHs and administer the rent payments to the property owners so that they swiftly vacate reception centers. GC and Binaa will coordinate all aspects related to ensuring that HLP issues are properly resolved at the start of the project as well as should any HLP challenges emerge during the course of implementation will work to resolve them. Due to the sensitivities related to cash programing, GC will layer quality control interventions and monitoring activities into the programing, to ensure proper control mechanisms are in place. 

To implement the project, GC will conduct outreach to reception centers as well as IDP representatives in the target locations. We will prioritize those living in overcrowded reception centers, yet once the needs of those people are met, will potentially move to support other recently displaced persons [since January 2018] who are in need of assistance. We will identify the places that can be rented and mediate in the preparation and signing of rental contracts. Once placed in homes, GC and Binaa will visit the beneficiaries on a monthly basis to follow up with them on the living conditions, ensuring that the property owners are complying with the responsibilities set forth in contracts they have signed with the beneficiary and Binaa. This process will be the first step in paying the property owners. We will contract a company in Syria to exchange USD to TL and distribute the payments. Once tenants have been verified, we will signal contractors to pay the property owners directly, being present to collect signatures on receipts. Only once property owners have been paid, will the payment be made available to the contractors. They will be able to collect the transfer at the PTT branch in Syria. 

GC and Binaa will oversee the transfer of rental fees to the property owners directly. We will work concertedly with an eye to not doing harm, understanding that the infusion of cash can have many implications. Concerning the beneficiaries themselves, we will inform them from the very beginning – through open and transparent communication at the onset of the intervention and outreach to the communities – of the temporary nature for the support. This will make programing more accountable and allow potential beneficiaries to take the decisions themselves. We will remind them of this at every household visit we conduct. We are conscious of the impact that cash can have in erasing the good will of persons who might have been open to supporting recent arrivals for free should the opportunity of charging fees not been presented. Through outreach, we will engage with the communities and carry on open discussions on this matter. Making sure that the intervention has an equitable impact, we will make all effort to reach out to underrepresented groups who might face challenges in accessing the opportunity equally [this can include female-headed households, households with people with disabilities].