Rehabilitation of damaged private houses in two of the most conflict-affected communities in Dar’a Governorate. Since the release of formerly ISIL held areas of Dar’a Governorate in South West Syria, hundreds of displaced families returned to their home villages. However, these areas have not yet been reached by any humanitarian assistance in terms of shelter. Thus, the returnees are facing a serious and critical situation as they return to houses which were damaged, destroyed, or looted during the conflict. This situation has led many of them to improvise shelter solutions themselves inside their damaged houses, or to share houses with relatives in overcrowded conditions. 

Those vulnerable people are in acute need of a shelter assistance that can provide them with shelter, safety and dignity. 

SIF, in coordination with local authorities and SARC, conducted a Rapid Needs Assessment in September 2018 that covered two villages called Abdin and Ash-shajara. The assessment shows that 15000 people are living in Abdin and Ash-shajara and that a part of this population has recently returned back. According to the observations of the SIF team and accompanying municipal staff, it was concluded that 70% of this population is in need of shelter support. 

Therefore, SIF plans, through the project proposed here, to provide rehabilitation of partially damaged houses and assist the most vulnerable people to settle down after years of displacement, suffering and deprivation. 

This shelter response will target a total of  266 families, which is equal to 1330 individuals in two target communities/villages: 

Community Name	 No. of Partially Damaged House 	No of PoCs
Ash-shajara 	170 	850
Abdin	96 	480


As per SIF attached NA report, the majority of people living in the two targeted locations are in need of urgent shelter support as the majority of their houses are severely damaged. However, SIF has considered  under this project to target those whom their houses are damaged but structurally safe and their urgent shelter needs can be met using the budget limit agreed by the sector for this type of intervention. As for the selection of beneficiaries, SIF has designed a specific tool that aims to select beneficiaries as per certain eligibility selection criteria that is based on the Shelter Protection Standards and MoLA guidelines for this type of intervention. SIF has used “Multi Criteria Decision Making” (MCDM) technique in designing this tool to give greater comprehensiveness and precision in the selection process to reach those who are in most need for this type of assistance.”  
 

 This intervention will directly benefit 345  men, 360 women, 307 boys and 318 girls. It will ensure that the needs of those women, girls, men and boys are considered during the selection and design of the project activities.  Moreover, protection concerns, including the specific vulnerabilities of persons at risk (like child headed family), persons with disabilities, the elderly, and chronically ill people, will be considered in the beneficiary selection criteria and in accordance with the sector’s and MoLA’s guidelines and standards for beneficiary selection. 

The rehabilitation scope and activities will fulfill the minimum sector guidelines for this type of intervention and include necessary physical rehabilitation and installation of shelter materials to repair the damaged houses to make them livable and safe, and to help the target families to settle back in their homes. 

Finally, SIF has been present in Dar’a governorate since 2015 and has actively participated in responding to the impact of the crisis on the lives of the people in order to alleviate suffering of people affected by the war. Moreover, SIF is currently operating in several regions in Daraa where it has quality resources and established effective working modalities with multiple stakeholders and local authorities, which can be extended to support this intervention.