Supporting the resilience of Vulnerable and Underserved Population through the provision of integrated WASH and Protection (GBV) Services in Aleppo, Idleb and Rural Damascus in Syria (Priority 2) The proposed multisectoral project aims to strengthen the resilience of 26,759 individuals (7,760 W, 6,957 M, 5,352 G, 6,690 B) living in hard-to-reach and underserved communities, ranked 4 or 5 on severity scale, in Rural Damascus (Hajr Aswad subdistrict), Aleppo (Al Bab sub district), Idlib (Tamanaah subdistrict) in GoS area. The envisioned objectives will be achieved through the delivery of WASH and Protection interventions in line with SHF priority 2 and WASH and Protection sector strategic objectives, aiming to improve access to basic WASH services and supplies, ensure social and mental wellbeing, enable positive coping strategies, and build resilience in preventing and response to GBV. NCA will target the most vulnerable population and underserved communities, with special focus on women and girls’ survivors or at risk of GBV, adolescent girls and mothers and persons with disabilities (PWD), in coordination with WASH cluster, GBV sub-sector, inter-agency collaborations, I/NGOs, service providers, duty bearers and communities. NCA will manage the overall programme, directly implement all WASH activities, cash transfers, procurements, whilst community outreach and GBV case management services will be provided in partnership with NCA long term faith-based national partner EPDC.
The specific objective of WASH intervention is a) to increase and sustain access to safe and undisrupted water supply, contributing to better public health and wellbeing b) establish and sustain more hygienic, inclusive, and safe learning environment for students and teachers and c) enable the most vulnerable groups to improve their personal hygiene, including menstrual hygiene management (MHM), mitigate exposure to GBV risks and resorting to negative coping mechanisms. To achieve this, NCA will rehabilitate three public water systems in the targeted subdistricts, including installation of solar power systems in one location, and three schools by mainstreaming Do no Harm, gender, protection, and disability. Hygiene promotion (HP) activities will take place using culturally appropriate, gender sensitive and inclusive methodologies. GBV risk mitigation and protection will be mainstreamed across all activities, by ensuring complementarity with GBV component of the project.
GBV intervention seeks to empower women and girls including GBV survivors and those at risk of GBV by providing coordinated, survivor-centered lifesaving, multi-sectoral GBV services through two static woman and girls safe spaces (WGSS) Tamanaah (Idleb) and Eastern Kwaires (Aleppo) and three mobile units  in Hajr Aswad, Tamannah and Al Bab to reach the surrounding areas including hard to reach communities. NCA will support women and girls by implementing survivor centered and age sensitive GBV response and prevention services, including PSS, case management integrating Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA), outreach and awareness raisings with key family decision makers and community members to prevent GBV. The project will aim to strengthen resilience and boost wellbeing of women and girls by addressing special needs of the most vulnerable and underserved groups including adolescent girls, mothers, and PwDs through implementation of inclusive, focused, and tailor-made GBV response and staff capacity building. NCA will ensure integrated WASH and GBV service delivery by targeting the same geographical areas and target groups. Coordinated life-saving activities such as water intervention targeting the whole communities, will provide potential entry points to engage with community elders, families, teachers to raise awareness on available GBV services in WGSS and through mobile units. Water supply, school WASH facilities, and hygiene promotion will facilitate discussions on prevention and response to GBV and access GBV services. WASH team will be trained on basic concepts of GBV for safe referrals, integration of GBV risk mitigation elements into work plan, monitoring tools and reporting