Since its establishment in 2018, Relief Experts (UDER) focused on providing health, education, livelihood and community support services, in partnership with UN agencies, local and international NGOs.
Projects and Experiences
Health System Strengthening Program
This project is a unique approach which provides over 60 health facilities in northwest Syria with systematic support as a step for restoring the capacity of the health system in Syria. It combines a range of activities including:
1. financial and material support to address gaps as follows:
– Staff: the network covers part of the staff required to provide health services and improve quality in the participating facilities.
– Equipment and supplies: UDER procure the equipment centrally and distribute them to health facilities according to the needs.
– Rehabilitation: some rehabilitation and maintenance activities are conducted to improve the infrastructure and service provision conditions at the health facilities.
2. Training:
The project conducted training to the health facilities staff in phases 7 and 8 of the project, as follows: Phase 7: 710 staff were trained on NCD, RH, CH, DHIS2, Pharma, and grievance and complaint mechanisms. Phase 8 and 9: 1,870 staff were trained on NCD, RH, CH, DHIS2, Pharma, AMR, health facility management, and grievance and complaint mechanisms. Phase 10: the plan is to train over 800 staff.
3. Medical supervision:
A field technical team conducts daily visits to the network health facilities to assess their commitment to the standard protocols in different technical areas (NCD, RH, IPC, pharma, etc.) In each visit, a score is assigned to the health facility according to the standard guidelines. Also, the technical team conducts on-job training to build the capacity of the staff in areas that need improvement.
Enhanced reproductive healthcare in northwest Syria
The project started in January 2022. It aims at providing integrated SRH and GVB services through supporting a health compound in Zarzur community and expanding the services for early detection of breast and cervical cancers in NWS. The project includes two components:
1. Supporting normal delivery and reproductive health services in Zarzur health center This project operates a mobile clinic and supports RH (reproductive health) clinics in Zarzuor compound. Through these clinics, different types of RH consultations are provided including ANC (ante-natal care), PNC (post-natal care), FP (family planning), and other gynecological conditions. The average monthly number of SRH consultations is 1,180. Also, Zarzur center provides clean and safe vaginal deliveries by skilled midwives 24/7. More than 50 deliveries are assisted every month
2. Early detection of breast and cervical cancers: This service is conducted through the mobile clinic team and 20 CHWs (community health workers). These CHWs and mobile team conduct visits to different communities surrounding Zarzour center to identify women with high-risk for developing breast and cervical cancers. Identified women are transported to the diagnosis center for further assessment, then referred to the appropriate level of care.
Outbreak and COVID-19 Response in northwest Syria
UDER is the leading NGO in this sector in northwest Syria with activities covering 28 sub-districts, and a coordination team supporting 57 organizations and local entities to mainstream RCCE activities. With a close cooperation with WHO and the northwest Syria COVID-19 taskforce, UDER:
delivered 510,927 COVID-19 specific household sessions with families hosting over 2.5 million individuals;
distributed 480,809 soap bars donated by UNICEF to families holding 623,693 individuals across northwest Syria;
manufactured and distributed 1,082,218 reusable fabric facemasks to 213,956 families and educated them on its proper usage under a plan to cover 40% of the population in NWS with 1.8 fabric facemasks;
established a 24/7 call center covering all of NWS in cooperation with local health directorates to provide critical information to people who suspect having COVID-19 symptoms, including what to do and where to seek services;
identified and engaged with 1,185 social media groups hosting 740,457 members;
provided 56,600 one-month internet subscriptions to families to support the utilization of digital RCCE messages, and achieved over 2.2 million views of WHO, UNICEF and other COVID-19 public messages;
established a community feedback mechanism which conducted 20,770 interviews with community members to gauge the level of their knowledge and attitude towards COVID-19;
engaged with 521 community leaders to support and promote RCCE activities;
ran a contest for community members to develop videos to encourage others to use facemasks and received over 100 videos including winner videos which were used in awareness-raising activities;
hosted 4 public events with health workers in Syria to explain the COVID-19 response plan, correct misinformation, and collect feedback from field workers to better inform strategic decisions.
Primary Healthcare Program
UDER manages 4 PHC centers in Sarmada, Termanin, Darkosh, and Daret Ezza in northern Syria. Every month, these facilities provide more than 17,000 consultations to beneficiaries, including children, women and men. The services cover gynecology, pediatrics, internal medicine, dermatology and other medical specialties. The project serves a population of 120,000.
UDER rehabilitated 5 health facilities to restore their capacity and reactivated 2 nonfunctional health facilities. This is part of UDER’s efforts to restore the capacity of the health system in northwest Syria. With support from WHO, UDER is part of the Primary Health Care Network in Idleb, which aims at enhancing the health systems, coordination mechanisms and improving quality of provided health services in northwest Syria. Through this project, UDER is improving health referrals in Dana sub-district.
Health Education Project -Turkey
The project aims at providing preventive health services through community-based health education and awareness raising for the refugee and host population in Istanbul and Gaziantep. The project responses to one of the 3 pillars of Turkey’s Ministry of Health strategy for NGO-managed refugee health services in Turkey.
Support to Integrating Syrian Children in Turkish Schools – Turkey
To effectively integrate Syrian children enrolled in Turkish public schools, UDER is currently providing a supplementary education program to selected Syrian children at elementary stage. The sessions aim at providing support to Syrian children to overcome language difficulties and keep up with their Turkish peers. The children are selected from vulnerable refugee communities in Gaziantep, and transportation is provided to these children to avoid creating a burden on their families and to ensure that remotely situated families can benefit from this program.
Livelihood program -Turkey and Syria
UDER was the first organization in northwest Syria to support manufacturers and service providers to launch a large-scale production of fabric facemasks. Over 180 workers received training, supervision, and short-term employment to produce 1.5 million masks. Additionally, UDER is currently supporting 60 women-headed houses through home-gardening and small-scale livestock and agricultural projects to restore their resilience and enhance their ability to sustain income and reduce dependency on aid programs through these projects. UDER’s support include the provision of production material, training and long-term supervision.
Protection program
This program includes the provision of case management for vulnerable families through 100 outreach teams across northwest Syria, the provision of center-based child protection services through three child-friendly centers in Idleb, and the improvement of protection monitoring through UDER’s outreach activities. The activities mainly target vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities and women-headed houses. Child protection and parent support activities were adjusted to support COVID-19 precautions during the 2nd half of 2020.
Community Health and Community Empowerment Program
UDER is employing a network of 750 community workers in 28 sub-districts who provide health education and risk communication about common diseases including COVID-19 across all of northwest Syria. The project aims at raising the community awareness about best practices and common health conditions and to establish a referral pathway for cases-in-need to specialized services including health care. The network expanded its operations in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 threat in northwest Syria and reached over 2.5 million individuals with different risk communication and community engagement activities.
Health Training and Employment Program
UDER delivers a series of extensive health training programs to members from the Syrian community. The trainees who have enrolled in these programs were employed by 31 local and international organizations in northwest Syria so far. The training programs includes multiple courses including COVID-19 community-based prevention, community management of non-communicable diseases, and the standard curriculum developed with support from WHO which covers 6 main community health and nutrition units. UDER retains the database of applicants to include a new batch in each training program. The programs start from 21 days to 4 months in length and end up in short- and long-term employment contracts. Up to December 2020 UDER trained and supported the employment of 2,146 community members.
Health and Social Research
To ensure that programmatic and advocacy activities are based on, UDER regularly conducts researches and public surveys to better inform decisions and ensure a two-way communication with communities in northwest Syria. In 2020, UDER completed 6 nation-wide studies to assess community health programs, the knowledge and application of COIVD-19 measures at households and in public places, the perceptions and real practices towards COVID-19 preventive measures, the utilization of COVID-19 treatment centers, the practices of COVID-19 patients including medical professionals, and the prediction of COVID-19 progress in northwest Syria. The results of these surveys are published through UDER website and shared with stakeholders to provide time-sensitive and analyzed information.
Medical and Health Product (MHP) Containers to Syria
UDER established a partnership with Medical Teams International to support a Medical and Health Products (MHP) project to support over 20 health facilities in northern Syria with medical and surgical supplies. The project included sending large medical shipments (USD 700,000 each) from the United States to Syria to be distributed to health facilities targeting more than 20,000 beneficiaries per shipment.
