Humanitarian WASH Response for People Impacted by West Mosul Military Operation The project lies within the WASH Cluster strategic objective to meet immediate life-saving water, sanitation and hygiene needs of vulnerable, critically affected girls, boys, men amp women within the ongoing operation of Mosul retaken on west side of Tigris. More specifically this project aims at supporting preparedness for Mosul retake and providing first-line WASH response for new displaced and critically at-risk IDP families in the Ninewa governorate and in line with the IHPF / WASH Cluster priorities.

The project aims to support the first-line response for newly displaced populations by preparedness activities in Al-Salamya camp located in Al-Hamdaniyah district in Ninewa governorate. The total target direct beneficiaries over 5,000 IDP families (approximately, 30000 people including 16,500 children) who will be accommodated in new camps that are being established by the humanitarian community in response to population displacement from west bank of the Mosul city. Operations will include construction of basic water supply and sanitation facilities and provisions for water trucking at cluster minimum standards, all in line with the WASH Response Guidelines against Settlement Typology. 

First-line WASH emergency activities planned in this project include water trucking, construction of water supply and sanitation facilities at cluster standards, hygiene promotion and distribution of NFI kits. This is linked to UNICEF on-going efforts to reinforce WASH services and provision of critical relief items (CRIs) in established settlement sites thanks to other funding resources mainly through OFDA, DFID, ECHO and IHPF. As such this project will allow to complement current UNICEF interventions in supporting preparedness and response for Mosul retake and providing first-line WASH response for at-risk IDP families throughout Mosul corridor area. Operation and maintenance of the WASH facilities in the targeted camp, will be covered through secured co-funding from OFDA.

Because of the urgency of the situation, the construction of WASH facilities in the camps should be completed within a very short timeframe. To reduce the delays in the procurement processes and ensure the readiness of WASH infrastructures in the camp at the same time as the shelter component, UNICEF has engaged in advance into the procurement of key WASH manufactured items which will be installed in the camp. These early procurement transactions have been funded through a loan contracted from other programmes. The start date of this proposal has been adjusted accordingly to secure the loan reimbursement processes.

The project will take into account gender aspects in that particular needs of women and children are incorporated in the hygiene kits which they receive as part of overall response package (which include female dignity items like sanitary pads) and hygiene items like baby diapers. It should also be noted that in an emergency context, women and children are at particular risk of disease, violence and loss of dignity, so the urgent provision of supplies such as bathing and sanitation facilities will enable increased access to safe, gender segregated sanitation facilities.