Supporting winter needs and promoting participatory management amongst camp-based IDPs in Idleb ACTED will support the winter needs of 4,700 displaced families (and estimated 28,200 individuals) inhabiting the Khurbt Al Joz, Az-Zawf and Obein camp clusters (Bidama sub-district, Idleb) through the provision of kerosene heaters and fuel, as well as enhance the resilience and protection of camp-based internally displaced persons (IDPs) through the installation of solar lights, the establishment of volunteer fire networks, and the establishment of a participatory management structure. Furthermore, ACTED will provide the provision of operational support and capacity-building to an existing volunteer-run IDP monitoring committee in Qah camp cluster (Dana sub-district, Idleb). These activities have been designed to address the life-saving needs of the camps' residents while at the same time incorporating protection-enhancing measures and supporting local management structures in an attempt to support longer-term resilience amongst IDP communities. 

The core part of ACTED's winterization support in these camps will be accomplished through the distribution of kerosene stoves and 3 months worth of fuel (40 liters per month per household) to 4,700 families, as well as the establishment of a volunteer fire safety network in each camp and the promotion of camp- and tent-specific fire safety practices amongst all beneficiaries. The winterization needs were identified through an ACTED Monitoring amp Evaluation (MampE) conducted assessment in the week of September 5th (2016) as well as feedback from beneficiaries gathered through multiple focus group discussions (FGDs), endline reports, and post-distribution monitoring (PDM) surveys for ACTED's prior Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) assistance to the camps, which have all stressed the urgent need for stoves and fuel for heating in the winter. The quantity of fuel will be sufficient to run each stove for 4-5 hours each day straight through the coldest months of the Syrian winter, from the start of December to the end of February (approximate times agreed on with the S/NFI and CCCM clusters). 

The protection- and participatory management-building activities have also been based on ACTED needs assessments and past experience. FGDs carried out by ACTED's Area Coordinator in the last week of August found the lack of lighting in public latrines to be a major protection concern amongst female and elderly residents, a worry similarly echoed throughout various endline and PDM surveys conducted by ACTED's MampE department under different projects. The operational support and capacity building to a volunteer-run IDP monitoring committee (known locally as “Makhtab Ihsaa” and part of Qah’s locally-elected IDP Management Committee) is also a direct continuation of a recently concluded ACTED-HPF project (Tur-1926), and by supporting the activities of such a more accountable and democratically legitimate local governance structure  – for example by providing further training on the conducting of needs and demographic assessments and MampE activities – ACTED hopes to contribute to a more sustainable, accountable and service-oriented governance structure for the area's IDP population.  Finally, ACTED will seek to build upon this work by supporting the development of a similar volunteer-run IDP monitoring committee in the Khurbt Al Joz, Obein and Az-Zawf clusters, which currently lack any sort of participatory management structures.