Regional Overview
The Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP) was launched in December 2014 to respond to both the growing demand for protection and humanitarian assistance for refugees from Syria and also the growing need to build the resilience of individuals, communities and institutions in host communities to cope with the Syria crisis. In its first year, the 3RP has proven to be an invaluable platform for coordination, implementation, advocacy, fundraising and reporting on the response.
The 3RP represents a paradigm shift from previous regional response plans, by (a) integrating humanitarian and resilience interventions in a single response platform, (b) strengthening national ownership and ensuring alignment to national and local development planning frameworks, (c) refocusing investment in local delivery systems, particularly municipalities, and (d) introducing multi-year programming to enhance financial predictability. This Annual Report demonstrates that integrating humanitarian and development capacities and resources remains an imperative in the search for effective responses to protracted crises. This approach was also reconfirmed by leaders from around the world at the London Conference in February 2016 and at the Resilience Development Forum at the Dead Sea, Jordan, in November 2015.
The Report outlines the progress and achievements, as well as the challenges, of more than 200 partners across the eight response sectors of Protection, Food Security, Education, Health and Nutrition, Basic Needs, Shelter, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), and Livelihoods and Social Cohesion. It gives a regional overview of each sector as well as details of the response in each of the five refugee hosting countries included in the 3RP - Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.
Strong national leadership of response planning and implementation through the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP), Jordan Response Plan (JRP) and 3RP country chapters in Turkey, Iraq and Egypt remains the primary key strategic direction of the 3RP. Throughout 2015, the 3RP coordination mechanism and structure was successful in fostering a joint approach between the governments and the international community in responding to the Syria crisis. The No Lost Generation has been an important initiative promoting regionally coherent programming for children, youth and adolescents.
With each year passing, the region continues to see growth in the numbers of Syrians, with the majority seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. By the end of 2015, the number of registered Syrian refugees in the 3RP countries had reached almost 4.6 million.
Nonetheless, with the intensified fighting across Syria during 2015, refugees continued to lose hope for a political solution to bring an end to the crisis. Europe witnessed an influx of more than half a million Syrian refugees arriving by sea during 2015, and the trends in early 2016 appear to suggest this will continue.
The Syria crisis can no longer be characterized and contained as a regional crisis. Among the main reasons for movements of Syrians from the region, including Syria, to Europe are the limited livelihood and education opportunities in Syria, as well as the challenges they face living in the region. Reductions in humanitarian assistance in 2015 due to funding shortfalls have also had an impact and was immediately felt by the refugee and host communities alike.
While there were generous pledges made for the 2016 plan at the London Conference this year, full funding of the 3RP and the early disbursement of those funds remains essential if further reductions in assistance are to be avoided.