Quality and integrated protection services provision in Dar'a, Raqqa, Idleb and Aleppo Governorates The project aims at responding to the substantial gap in protection assistance identified throughout COOPI past and ongoing interventions and assessments in Dar'a, Idleb, Aleppo and Raqqa Governorates. Activities proposed focus on 1- individual assistance and 2-engagement of crisis-affected population in strengthening community-based protection, ensuring long-term impact and sustainability.
Proposed sub-districts (Izra and Nawa in Dar’a, Abu-Duhur in Idlib, Madan and Sabka in Raqqa) and Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood and Zerbeh in Aleppo were identified taking into consideration COOPI access to the areas and detected needs, to strengthen ongoing programs and to initiate a protection response in areas unserved and with high severity needs. In particular:
- in Abu Duhur (Idleb), Sheikh Maqsoud and Zerbeh (Aleppo), COOPI will give continuity to and strengthen the protection activities launched in October 2020 and funded by SHF, by providing case management, therapy services, GBV prevention and mitigation services including dignity kits distribution, medical in-kind assistance (MIKA), community-led initiatives and awareness sessions on CP, PSS, MA.
- in Izra and Nawa (Dar’a), activities are designed to scale up the ongoing multisector FSL/Protection project and focus on the establishment of community-based structures as CP and Women Committees, provision of Risk Education (RE) and distribution of MIKA and dignity kits. People in need of case management and therapy services will be internally referred to COOPI staff already deployed in the area.
- in Madan and Sabka (Ar-Raqqa), access is granted and COOPI has distributed 1004 hygiene kits in June 2021. Based on the assessment, with this project COOPI will launch a pilot protection intervention and strengthen the trust relation with the communities. COOPI will give priority to prevention activities, by supporting community involvement in establishing committees, carrying out community-led initiatives and holding peer-to-peer awareness on protection risks, including RE awareness. Considering that no other INGO intervenes in rural Raqqa, distribution of MIKA and dignity kits will represent an entry point to access the communities. COOPI will use this opportunity to carry out in-depth assessment and collect data on vulnerable people in need of specialized services, such as case management. The proposal targets a total of 21,700 beneficiaries to be reached in 7 sub-districts through outreach intervention and in coordination with SARC, that will support the activities implementation making available its volunteers, identified in the local communities. 
Through this project, COOPI will innovate its set of protection activities, by including victim assistance services to be conducted in all locations, and by introducing RE awareness among community committees’ tasks. At the moment, COOPI is in contact with UNMAS to receive ToT and workshop for its international staff to enhance the quality of its RE services. 
Beneficiaries are identified among IDPs, Host community and returnees and assisted based on vulnerability criteria indicated by the Global Protection Cluster with an emphasis on women-headed households, survivor of sexual violence, sexual exploitation or domestic violence, victim of gender-based discrimination for access to basic services, children at risk, including UASC and especially those at risk of violence, abuse or exploitation, exploded ordnance victims, people affected by chronic medical condition, people with disabilities and elderly. COOPI will follow guiding rules for beneficiary selection and targeting such as the independent selection and verification of beneficiaries through organization and project specific
needs-based selection criteria, prioritization of the most vulnerable and facilitation of access to assistance for all, taking into consideration pre-existing social, cultural dynamics and developing a MampE system to ensure independent and need-based assistance.