Protection of Civilians and Humanitarian Actors in Syria through Reducing Explosive Ordnance  Risks through Non-technical Survey in Rural Damascus Governorate  Aleppo as part of EQ response. The overall aim of the UNMAS Syria Response Programme (SRP) is to minimize the threat of explosive ordnance for communities most at risk through effective sector coordination and the implementation of humanitarian mine action activities in line with the 2022-2023 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP). Eleven years into the Syria crisis, contamination from explosive ordnance continue to represent a serious protection risk, with 1 in 2 Syrian estimated to be living in areas contaminated by explosives. However, to date no comprehensive humanitarian mine action survey has taken place, thus limiting the quality of information available for humanitarian partners to support safer programing and aid delivery. Survey is essential to identify the country-wide scale and scope of explosive contamination, and identify the appropriate measures to mitigate the threat posed by explosive ordnance.In accordance with the Syria Humanitarian Fund (SHF) 2022 Standard Allocation’ priorities and specifically, as per the second objective to enhance the delivery of humanitarian aid by promoting early recovery and resilience, under this project UNMAS  aims to reduce the impact of explosive ordnance through implementing Non-Technical Survey (NTS) in government-controlled areas in several priority locations in Rural Damascus, to gather information on the scale and scope of the contamination. 
Since 2019 , thanks to OCHA SHF funding, UNMAS deployed two explosive ordnance assessment teams  to Rural Damascus and Damascus governorates, who conducted explosive ordnance assessments through Non-Technical Survey (NTS) and Technical Survey (TS) in Damascus amp Rural Damascus). This project concluded in June 2022. To build up on efforts done, and ensure continuity in the collection of information,  UNMAS plans to extend the survey activities by hiring teams through qualified implementing partners (IPs) to conduct the NTS activity, further ensuring that gender composition is  taken into account when selecting team members. During the project duration ,UNMAS staff will oversee, train and monitor the IP and its NTS teams, and collect and analyze the data through UNMAS’ information management system for mine action (IMSMA). Mobile teams will conduct desk assessments, analysis of historical records, a wide range of other information congregation and analysis functions, and physical visits to the communities to collect information from the community members. The teams’ work will help UNMAS to  define the presence or absence of EO to ensure appropriate planning for safe delivery of humanitarian aid and eventually for  future clearance operations where needed. As part of the non-technical survey process, the teams will liaise with communities, informing them of explosive risks in the area (where found) and providing basic explosive ordnance risk education awareness messages, to ensure that local populations are fully aware of the existing explosive threats, and thus reducing the risk of exposure, especially for future clearance operations. While conducting assessment at community level, the teams will also gather information on explosive ordnance accidents, victims, survivors and main needs in terms of assistance, to facilitate referral and future interventions. By assessing the absence/presence of explosive ordnance contamination, UNMAS intervention will indeed contribute to the safe delivery of aid  and reduce the  impact on the civilian population and the humanitarian sector.The NTS activity planned under this project will be implemented in Rural Damascus Governorate. Locations have been selected based on HNO severity scale, available information on explosive accidents, and reports from humanitarian actors. UNMAS has agreed with the Government of Syria to a list of high priority locations, which includes the selected locations under this project.