Providing specialized protection services to vulnerable returnees and IDPs in Duhok and Ninawa governorates, Iraq Dorcas and Harikar propose an integrated humanitarian intervention to address the critical protection needs of 7,260 IDPs and returnees in Ninawa and Duhok governorates. By applying community-based approaches to address, prevent, and respond to protection risks to their physical safety and wellbeing, this project will specifically address urgent humanitarian needs by providing essential and specialized protection services to IDP and returnee households facing acute protection needs as a direct result of the ISIL crisis. Dorcas and Harikar will deliver the intended services by setting up three static Protection Community Centers (PCCs) in Al-Baaj and Al-Hatra in Ninawa, as well as the Sumail district in Duhok. The interventions are based on the latest assessments and protection monitoring to ensure that the most vulnerable populations will be assisted. Vulnerable people affected by the displacement between 2014 and 2017 will be prioritized, especially those living in critical shelters or who lost their civil documentation or cannot access essential services or livelihood opportunities. Protection Community centers (PCCs) will provide case management services, PSS, legal counseling, legal assistance for family law issues and HLP, and cash for protection. In addition, the consortium will provide essential information to communities about services available within their communities and support their access through referral mechanisms to multi-sectoral interventions at PCC or by mobile units. The project was designed based on in-depth needs assessments conducted in Hatra, Baaj, and Sumel by Dorcas and Harikar before the project design and the MCNA IX April 2022 report. The full report of the assessment was not written. Otherwise, all the information needed was explained in the proposal. At a later stage of the project, Dorcas will share the report. Dorcas will conduct protection assessment for identifying protection risks and providing this information back into programming to strengthen the response. Harikar staff will also have a comprehensive training opportunity provided by Dorcas to develop their technical and operational expertise. The community leaders, volunteers, as well as local authorities will receive training in the areas of general protection as well as international humanitarian law.
Dorcas will conduct protection monitoring, service referrals, and Legal assistance and counseling activities, while Harikar will provide cash for protection, GP case management, and psychosocial support. Static protection community centers will set up in Baaj, Hatra in Ninawa governorate in addition to Sumel in Duhok governorate. Dorcas will identify the PIN, then refer to Harikar, and Harikar will assess the needs and response through cash assistance to mitigate protection risks. Dorcas’s theory of change focuses on localization as a way of working approach. Working from the same community centers can enhance mixed teams and improve capacity building through an on-job approach. Dorcas and Harikar project will work together in the targeted location (Harikar NGO will provide PSS support, Case management, and cash for protection while Dorcas will provide Legal assistance and counseling on civil documentation and HLP, protection Monitoring at household level and Community-Level, Service Referrals and capacity-building for consortium partner, community leader, and Gov staff).