Less than 20 out of 100 licensed organizations operate in Raqqa
Raqqah – North-Press Agency
Ahmad al-Hasan
Some humanitarian organizations and associations in collaboration with the Relief Office of Raqqa Civil Council are working to provide services in all fields of relief, agriculture, and health in a step to help the people of Raqqa, provide job opportunities and support small projects.
Ahmad al-Ahmad, the head of the Relief Office of Social Affairs and Labor Committee in Raqqa Civil Council told North-Press: “The number of licensed international organizations in Raqqa is about 110, but most of them aren’t actually effective, except for less than 20 organizations.”
These organizations distribute food baskets on a monthly basis in Raqqa and its countryside and provide a mall card (a financial voucher given to the people to buy food), agricultural services of all sorts to farmers, also, support random camps and sheltering centers.
Over the past three years, these organizations and associations have targeted more than 140,000 families in the city of Raqqa and its countryside. Their work isn’t only limited to the residents of Raqqa and its countryside, but also includes about 4,000 displaced families which are distributed in 28 random camps in Raqqa countryside, they provide food baskets and mall cards, as well as campaigns of vaccination and other services, according to Ahmed al-Ahmed.
Al-Ahmad pointed out that there are about 54,322 displaced families in the city and about 83,622 others in the countryside, saying: “We are working to guide the organizations to target those families as necessary and according to the schedules submitted by the local councils.”
Abdel Moeen al-Hussein, the head of the Relief Department in the People’s Assembly in Mazraat Tishreen in northwestern Raqqa countryside, explained that they are working with the communes of the villages (a group of locals from the same area that runs their affairs) of the Tishreen Council “to establish a regular program for the distribution of the aid provided by the organizations as needed.” He pointed out that they are targeting the areas which are most in need of humanitarian assistance in coordination with people’s assemblies and communes.
In a related context, Abdulsalam Hamsork the head of the Social Affairs and Labor Committee in Raqqa said: “We are guiding organizations to provide sustainable employment opportunities for young people.”
During the fighting between ISIS militants and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), in June and October 2017, Raqqa and its countryside were almost destroyed where the area witnessed a great wave of displacement.
The World Humanitarian Day is celebrated annually on 19 August, to recognize humanitarian personnel and those who have lost their lives while working for humanitarian causes.
This day aims to increase support for the affected people by crises around the world.
Moreover, it marks the day on which the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Iraq, and 21 of his colleagues were killed due to a bombing in the UN Headquarters in Baghdad.
Five years later, the United Nations General Assembly set 19 August as World Humanitarian Day.
Every year, the humanitarian community organizes global campaigns to commemorate World Humanitarian Day and advocate for the safety and security of the humanitarian workers and the survival and well-being of those affected by crises.