In Syria, the earthquake caused widespread destruction in infrastructure and civilian buildings in Aleppo, Hama, Idleb, and Lattakia governorates. The impact of this earthquake is enormous. Many buildings in the region who have already suffered damage from the ongoing civil war are now destroyed.

When time passes by, we get more insight on the impact and fear that the biggest disaster is yet to come. After assessments we see:

Dorcas has been active in Syria for many years. This allowed our staff on the ground to take immediate action. Dorcas is providing support on FSL, non-food items and protection via:

Earthquakes and severe aftershocks are causing great devastation in Syria and Turkey. Dorcas has been active in Syria for many years and is directly experiencing the consequences of this disaster itself. The office in Aleppo was heavily damaged. But country office staff took immediate action, offering support to victims based on what is needed. Blankets, warm clothes and food are currently being distributed.

Najla Chahda (Dorcas’ Country Director in Syria): ‘Our office in Aleppo is damaged and we cannot work there at the moment. It is unsafe. Luckily, we can operate from one of our partners office and continue to provide support to those in need. Our community centre, where many of our programmes are given, is unharmed. For us, it is not a question of taking action. It is in our hearts to support people and that is what we are doing now. We have to do this.’

Due to the Beirut blast, Dorcas has experience in quickly responding to a disaster of this magnitude. The situation and needs of the people who have been affected are continuously assessed. Slowly the situation is becoming clearer, but it remains to be seen whether there will be new earthquakes and how severe they will be. We see older people are unable to leave their homes and when they do, they have nowhere to go. People are afraid to stay indoors, but the current weather conditions make this challenging. Besides distributing clothes, blankets and food, Dorcas also provides first aid to the victims through a mobile clinic. Furthermore, Dorcas is looking into providing cash-money assistance and psychosocial care.

Donate for our assistance in Syria

Dorcas is proud to announce that we have undergone verification against the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) by the independent auditing body HQAI. The process gives confidence to affected populations, donors, the public and other stakeholders that we are continuously improving the quality and accountability of our services. Quality and accountability are at the heart of our activities and this three-year process will help us assess and ensure the quality of our work, reduce the risk of mistakes and continuously improve our services – for the benefit of our organisation and, not least, the people we work for.

HQAI auditors measured whether Dorcas makes continuous progress in applying our CHS Commitments. The audit included a thorough process of document checks, reviews of practices as well as interviews with staff, affected communities and other local stakeholders.

The audit was an excellent opportunity for us to get insight in our strengths and weaknesses regarding CHS, and how we can further improve. The independent verification gives assurance that Dorcas is continuously improving its programming and operations. Based on the audit, Dorcas is able to further improve its commitment to quality and accountability for the benefit of those in need.

About Core Humanitarian Standard:
The Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS) is a globally recognised voluntary standard that sets out Nine Commitments that organisations and individuals involved in humanitarian response can use to improve the quality and effectiveness of the assistance they provide.

The CHS places communities and people affected by crisis at the centre of humanitarian action. As a core standard, the CHS describes the essential elements of principled, accountable and high-quality humanitarian aid. It is a voluntary and measurable standard. The CHS is the result of a global consultation process. It draws together key elements of existing humanitarian standards and commitments.

The nine commitments of CHS
Visit the Dorcas-page on HQAI

After 6 months of full-scale conflict in Ukraine, millions of Ukrainians remain in immediate need of support. Across the country, the Dutch Relief Alliance (DRA) has worked together with local partners as part of its Joint Response to provide food and non-food items, multi-purpose cash assistance, and mental healthcare and psychosocial support to vulnerable households affected by the conflict.

In March, the situation across the country was opaque. There was a huge humanitarian need, but it was unclear where this need was concentrated and where help would be most effective. DRA partners hit the ground running, supporting people where they could. After a few weeks, the partners mapped where they could most effectively help out, scaling up relief efforts.  Regrettably, violence continues in parts of the country. Elsewhere, communities have settled into a sort of status quo. The basic needs remain:  millions of displaced people need all kinds of help, and the country needs a shift towards reconstruction.

Multi-purpose cash to meet urgent needs

Save the Children works together with Avalyst as part of the Ukraine Joint Response. Across the country, in areas including Dutska, Luhanska, Dnipropetrovska and Vinnytsia, Save the Children and Avalyst provide multi-purpose cash and non-food item kits. In the past 6 months, they were able to meet the immediate needs of more than 500 households.

Avalyst took on the responsibility of registering households, creating an inventory of their needs. After registration, Save the Children took care of cash disbursement, enabling families to determine their own spending on their immediate needs.

Next to non-restricted cash, Avalyst also distributed non-food items, handing Ukrainians in need things like basic hygiene materials, textile, and household goods. In this way, Avalyst and Save the Children help refugees and households to re-establish a semblance of their home routines.

By working together and communicating clearly with local communities, Save the Children and Avalyst have been able to adjust their aid provision to what these communities need. These strong links resulted in more efficient distribution and helped to avoid wasted goods.

Caritas Ukraine, Cordaid’s local partner in the Joint Response, has chosen to focus on distributing non-food items and hygiene kits. In areas around Dnipro and Kyiv, as well as in Ivano-Frankivsk, Caritas found that internally displaced people were most urgently in need of physical items that they lacked access to. Through its dioceses across these areas, Caritas provided emergency food packages, drinking water, warm kits and medical supplies.

Displacement, rising prices, growing needs

In Muchacova a town of 75.000 inhabitants where New Beginning works, an additional of 26.000 refugees from other parts of Ukraine have arrived – including many families with vulnerable children. New Beginning has been a partner of Dorcas for years, focusing on marginalised children. With the start of the Ukraine Joint Response in March, Dorcas and New Beginning have strengthened their partnership to meet the basic needs of refugees, providing food parcels and psychosocial support.

Internally displaced people (IDPs) get to know New Beginning when they come for food support or clothing. Through this first connection New Beginning is able to ask them their needs. IDPs are welcomed to join activities that incorporate elements of psychosocial support. Only 2% of IDPs ask for psychosocial support themselves because of feelings of shame and the taboo on mental health struggles. Good experiences with the children’s clubs lead IDPs to encourage their friends to participate, enabling more children to receive psychosocial support.

New Beginning offers a range of social activities, like a 5-day camp for children and a weekly children’s’ club. While the children play and take part in activities as part of the club, the parents – mainly mothers – go upstairs to have their own meeting and build connections with each other.

According to Alexandra, the Director of New Beginning, “if parents are at rest and show peaceful behaviour, children also develop healthy habits and feel less anxious. We focus firstly on the basic needs and on the parents – then by extension the children will recover. New Beginning has the aim to offer a new beginning. We follow our desire to help the people.”

Lasting partnerships

While the Ukraine Joint Response will come to an end in early September after 6 months, the partnerships established by working together will endure. The conflict rages on and needs remain. Reconstruction of communities, both in cities and in rural areas, will be a focus for the next months and years to return a sense of normality to the lives of Ukrainians.

The peer-to-peer approach under the Joint Response, characterised by trust and equal partnership, has already resulted in ideas and proposals for further cooperation after the end of the Joint Response. Working side by side to rapidly scale the response, overcoming together the myriad obstacles along the way, strengthened the abilities of both side of the partnership. Despite the formal end of the Joint Response, exchange of information, knowledge and best-practices between the Dutch and local partners will continue. Where possible, the DRA partners will support Caritas, Avalyst, and New Beginning, alongside other local partners, in their efforts to reconstruct their country.

The Dutch Relief Alliance Acute Joint Response in Ukraine is led by Dorcas in partnership with Cordaid and Save the Children, alongside a number of local humanitarian organisations. The work of the DRA in Ukraine is made possible in partnership with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As a small child, Agnes Kroese already wanted to ‘help people abroad’ and she ended up in South Sudan a few years ago. Since the beginning of this month, she is the new CEO of Dorcas. If you had told me this 10 years ago, I would not have believed you. But I am ready and looking forward to it.

Agnes is very excited to this new step and says: ‘Since my early childhood, I have felt called to dedicate myself to those in need. From close by, I have witnessed what Dorcas’ work means for people who are excluded, live in poverty, or in the midst of conflict and crisis. I have seen the glow return to the eyes of people who find themselves in the most difficult circumstances. I have seen communities flourish. That gives me hope. That motivates me. I would like to use my knowledge and experience to further develop and professionalise Dorcas, so that, together with everyone involved, we can realise a structural impact on even more lives.’  

Agnes looks forward to continuing her career at Dorcas as CEO and also Chairman of the Executive Board. Agnes: ‘From close up, I have experienced what Dorcas’ work means for those in need. The change in individuals and the flourishing of communities motivates me and gives me hope. I want to use my knowledge and experience to further develop and professionalise Dorcas, so that, together with everyone involved, we can realise a structural impact on even more lives.’ 

Agnes studied International Development Studies, and then took a Master’s degree in Emergency Relief. In her role as Country Director South Sudan, she has been actively involved with Dorcas since 2019.

Anatoliy Kurtev, secretary of the city council in Zaporizhzhia, has announced a new information campaign for Zaporizhzhia’s residents about the procedure for emergency situations. Dorcas is one of the partners in this new project.

Dorcas, together with Wodan Security International, proposed an information campaign to prepare the local population for evacuation should the need to evacuate arise. The aim of the campaign is to enable Zaporizhzhia’s residents to act quickly and safely in emergency situations. Particular attention will be paid to vulnerable groups. As part of the campaign, instructions will be prepared that explain each phase of an evacuation, the safe routes to be followed and what needs to be in the emergency suitcase. Dorcas Ukraine will also provide hygiene kits and assist in the setting up of shelters.

Cabo Delgado is a province severely affected by a complex humanitarian crisis with military tension, climate-induced problems and high levels of poverty. Recent attacks carried out by armed groups in Cabo Delgado have resulted in even more internally displaced persons (IDPs). The armed groups are continuing their advance south, attacking innocent people on the way. These attacks have forced people to flee, mostly to Chiure but also to other neighbouring districts.

Dorcas Mozambique has been active in Cabo Delgado province since 2021. Here it focuses on the District of Chiure with Food Security and Livelihoods, WASH and Humanitarian Recovery activities. Unfortunately, these activities are not enough to meet the huge needs of the IDPs. In Chiure district, most new arrivals live in emergency and communal shelters. Their major needs are food, transportation, dignity and hygiene kits, and non-food items, including kitchen kits and blankets. Dorcas aims to provide priority humanitarian assistance to IDPs who have just arrived in Chiure. We will target 2000 households with basic food and kitchen kits so they can prepare their own meals. These items will be distributed in the resettlement centres of Chiure Sede, Meculane, Chiure Velho and Katapua where most IDPs from the attacks in Ancuabe are found. Dorcas will focus on households with many children, persons with a disability or chronic illness, pregnant/lactating women and older people.

About Start Network:

Start Network was established in 2010. It aims to transform humanitarian action through innovation, fast funding, early action, and localisation. Over the next three years, Start Network will work across four complementary and mutually reinforcing areas to catalyse system change and drive more effective humanitarian action to assist and protect communities in need.

The flow of refugees from Ukraine to Romania seems to be decreasing, which has consequences for the assistance required. Dorcas Romania will now focus on long-term support for Ukrainian refugees, especially their psychosocial well-being and mental health.

The initial flow of refugees often aimed to travel further to relatives or acquaintances in Western Europe. Now those crossing the border have nowhere else to go and remain in Romania. This new situation requires a different approach to emergency aid.

Activities

The refugees are accommodated in churches and social housing facilities. Dorcas Romania supports these reception locations by supplying basic needs, such as food, blankets and hygiene materials. However, because the refugees are there for a longer period, we also provide activities, toys and creative materials, so they have something to do during their stay. And we ensure that children learn the Romanian language so they can attend school soon.

Psychosocial care

Now the refugees live in an unknown place, usually separated from their families. They have often seen and experienced terrible things and would benefit from psychosocial support to process everything they have been through. This support can be provided to Ukrainian refugees who stay at a location for longer and Dorcas Romania will start individual and group psychosocial care soon. Stress and how to cope with difficult situations are some of the topics that will be discussed.

Winter period

Dorcas is also planning ahead for the upcoming winter period. Although future developments are still very uncertain, many refugees are expected to remain in the country. Therefore Dorcas Romania plans to start a new relief project in which winter clothes and blankets will be distributed.

The Beirut blast on August 4 2020, was one of the largest explosions in history that pulverised the port, and damaged over half of Beirut. The explosion had a significant impact on the country which reverberates to this day. The economic and political situation worsens, and more and more Lebanese become dependent on aid.

Dorcas Lebanon launched a livelihood project in response to the Beirut blast. The project supports micro and small businesses affected by the blast in Bourj Hammoud and Achrafieh. The project focusses especially on male and female technicians and artisans working in local value chains, both experienced and recently graduated. The project aims to strengthen the economic resilience of a selected group of entrepreneurs, giving priority to youth and women led businesses. At least 40 percent of the total number of project participants will be female entrepreneurs.

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises project targets existing businesses that have not been able to recover and stabilise their business after the blast. It will provide participating entrepreneurs with training, tools and business support to strengthen their livelihood and life skills.

The project will support:

Duration project: June 2022 till September 2023

89.3 million forcibly displaced worldwide

(Source: Global Trends Report UNHCR end 2021)

Dorcas is active in 14 countries in Eastern Europe, Eastern Africa and the Middle East. We see the effect of the continuously growing numbers of people forced to flee. In 12 of those 14 countries we see forcibly displaced people. One of the recent examples is Ukraine.

UNHCR states that with millions of Ukrainians displaced and further displacement elsewhere in 2022, the total forced displacement now exceeds 100 million people. This means 1 in every 78 people on earth has been forced to flee – a dramatic milestone.

Lebanon experiences the effects of the ongoing conflict in Syria. Lebanon is hosting the largest number of refugees per capita, with an estimation of 1.5 million Syrian refugees plus some 13,617 refugees of other nationalities.

In South Sudan, 2 million people are internally displaced due to conflict, insecurity and the impact of climate change. The crisis in South Sudan remains the largest refugee crisis in Africa.

In Syria around 6.7 million people are internally displaced, some of whom have been displaced multiple times.

Source UNHCR and ReliefWeb

Dorcas invests in resilient communities in which everyone can make their contribution. When a disaster or a crisis occurs, we provide assistance and we support communities to rebuild themselves. At the same time, we invest in structural remedies for poverty and social exclusion. We do this by encouraging entrepreneurship, self-reliance, and protection of people in vulnerable circumstances.