Ensure immediate and consistent access to food to the most vulnerable and food insecure people in Syria. Nine years into the crisis, the current food security situation in Syria has deteriorated significantly compared to 2019. COVID-19 is exacerbating the already dire humanitarian situation in Syria - particularly for the most vulnerable. The most deprived families are fully reliant on external assistance. Recent assessments by WFP (June 2020) indicate the price of the reference food basket is SYP 84,095, representing an increase of 48% compared to May 2020. The national average food basket is now 23.5 times higher than the pre-crisis level.  The average for June 2020 (SYP 84,095) is now more expensive than the highest-paid official government monthly salary of SYP 80,240 outlining the serious deterioration of purchasing power in Syria over the last 8 months. In October 2019, WFP’s national average reference food basket was SYP 25,424.
Taking into consideration the 2020 1st standard allocation and the needs identified in the field, AAH will focus on improving access to food in order to mitigate and respond to the socio-economic impacts of the on-going crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic on the most food insecure people in Syria.
The project will address the immediate needs of vulnerable and crisis-affected populations by providing    life-saving food parcels (coherent with the FSL cluster indicators) to 2,000 Households.
Immediate provision of food parcels will not only save lives but will help beneficiaries avoid recourse to secondary negative coping mechanisms, exacerbating already existing vulnerabilities and COVID-19 risks. 
This project will be implemented in Aleppo governorate, estimated to have one of the highest levels of needs.  The proposed targeted sub districts  (Hadher, Zarbah, Jebel Saman, Hreitan and Atareb) have been identified with high severity scores and the severity level in these subdistricts as major severity. 
AAH always looks for complementarity between projects therefore, AAH will provide food-assistance/parcels to the same beneficiaries as the AAH ongoing project with another grant (covering two months of food-assistance/parcels) to support the immediate needs of those most-at-risk – defined as individuals who are unable to access and purchase a basic food intake. 
Under this project, the distribution of food parcels (one in November and a second in December) will be undertaken in close coordination and collaboration with SARC, which is responsible for community food parcel distribution. 
 Beneficiaries of the project are approximately 12,000 individuals of returnees. 
The proposed project mainstreams and incorporates protection principles in the activities to promote meaningful access, safety and dignity. AAH is capitalizing on lessons learnt and best practices from other interventions and considers Sphere standards, Food Security Sector best practices, WHO and cluster guidance on responses to COVID 19. 
Despite the challenging environment, AAH has full-access to the targeted areas through SARC and has the capacity to initiate operations according to the work-plan established through direct-implementation. 
Particular attention has been paid to ensure activities implemented by AAH are not a duplication of activities undertaken by other agencies in the area and complement activities from other actors.
AAH attended a coordination meeting with other INGOs based in Damascus, which applies to the OCHA_SHF call for proposals in order to ensure no duplication of proposed locations and activities.