Ghiras Al-Nahda focuses in its activities on full respect to people rights in accordance to international human rights law and refugees’ law. In war, what affected people need the most is protection from violence, exploitation and abuse, and protecting their dignity and rights.
Ghiras priorities include protecting vulnerable people through providing different psychosocial and financial support programs, such as establishing and supporting psychosocial support centers for children and women in addition to sponsoring orphan children and displaced families.
Ghiras Al-Nahda continuously strives to ensure an updated understanding of the type of groups at risk and the current threats, taking into consideration the following:
– The sensitivity and vulnerabilities of targeted groups
– The inclusion of all groups
– People safety
– Potential protection risks under each project
Bearing in mind the fundamentals of protection, and applying protection’ principles to all organization’s projects under all sectors to achieve the maximum positive effects , safety and dignity, beneficial access, accountability, participation and empowerment.
In situations of violence, the majority of interventions are taken by people at risk themselves, usually with the help of their relatives, friends and communities. A common behavior is fleeing from the place of danger if people manage to do so, or avoid the risk by refraining from going to schools or markets, and in some cases the action taken by some people at risk and their families may cause more harm, such as early marriages to mitigate the financial burden and child labor. In these cases, alternatives must be provided to achieve relative security for these people. In these cases, Ghiras Al-Nahda provide support to improve living conditions (food, shelter, safety equipment for shelters, financial support either monthly or one-time) to affected families who lost their family supporter/ head of family either during the conflict or they were detained or injured, in order to help them meet their basic needs without the need to send their children to work or marry early, or resort to any other methods that cause harm to some vulnerable groups in order to meet the financial needs.
Ghiras Al-Nahda Protection activities include the provision of psychosocial support, child-friendly spaces provision of organized and unorganized support activities such as parties, trips, clothes distribution during Eid, Food distribution at schools under siege, psychosocial support based on specialized curriculum such Palestinian red crescent curriculum and (Ana Ataamal and Alzameel Alsaghir) curriculums, in addition to early childhood development activities like summer clubs and kindergartens and drawing and figures activities.
1. Ghiras established 16 child friendly spaces to provide children with safe environment that allows them to regularly participate in games and build social relationships between each other and express themselves while learning in order to repair and rebuild their emotional state which was largely affected by war and crisis.
2.Ghiras Al-Nahda organized psychosocial support activities in 14 schools in Idleb governorate with 10,385 students.
3.Capacity building for 70 teachers, facilitators and protection officers on the following topics:
4.Ghiras Al-Nahda supported early childhood development in affected areas for 3 years till 2017 through funding child care center prior to school and providing children with their needs through the center.
5.Ghiras Al-Nahda in Gaziantep- Turkey, organized an event for 50 children with the aim of achieving psychological and social well-being, living a normal life, strengthening social relationships, the art of conversation, dialogue, expression of opinion, hope, and optimism by the purposeful story and expressive drawing, and activities that help the children to release the energy inside them and achieve a balance between the body’s physical, emotional and mental functions.
Ghiras Al-Nahda Protection programs seek to prevent Gender-Based Violence which is based on social differences between men and women by promoting women’s rights through vocational training and inclusion in the society and labor market, in addition to providing safe alternatives for livelihood and prevent all types of exploitation by stakeholders. Ghiras Al-Nahda also seeks to prevent Gender-Based Violence through raising awareness sessions.
Achievements
1- 16 days campaign for preventing violence against women and girls ( Oct 25 to Nov 10) in the international day for human rights, to stress that violence against women and girls is a violation of human rights. The campaign was conducted with 40 boys and girls in several schools in Idleb city and 35 girls in Gaziantep to promote respect , dignity and safety for women and girls everywhere including home, work, school, streets, etc .. and raise awareness on domestic violence against women and establish solidarity among community members to fight gender-based violence and harmful practices that affect women and girls and encourage positive support.
2- Financial and moral support for affected women and mothers through small projects that will help them achieve self-sufficiency and depend less on others
Orphaned Children are our responsibility, and it’s our duty to take care of them if we can, as prophet Muhamad peace be upon him say: “I and Orphan Sponsor are like these in paradise, pointing to his index and middle fingers while separating them a little” Rawah Al-Bukhari
Ghiras Al-Nahda provided cash assistance to children who lost the father or both parents who are under fifteen years on a monthly basis, through the “Orphan Sponsorship” program, which aims to support children who lost the family supporter morally and financially, by providing monthly financial support where the sponsor can manage and follow-up the process through a comprehensive system, in addition to monitoring the children’s condition and health status, and providing them with food, medicine, and shelter they need if possible.
Sponsorship conditions: ” children who lost the father or both parents, children whose parent is detained or disappeared”.
Sponsorship is terminated when: ” Orphan is older than 15 years, an orphan can not be reached, an orphan is dead, female orphan are married”
Children, in particular, are at higher risk of being exposed to explosive due to their constant movement from and to school while playing at roads as they lack awareness of the danger and threat these explosives holds. In addition, some concepts related to war remnants may decrease the school attendance rate and encourage parents not to continue their children’s education. Taking all these risks into consideration, Ghiras Al-Nahda worked hard to conduct raising awareness campaigns and distributed flyers to increase children, parents and teachers’ awareness on measures to be taken when finding any suspicious objects or explosives.
Achievement
Distributing brochures and awareness flyers on danger of war remnants and mines.
Children and teenagers out of school are more exposed to violence and rape, and more vulnerable toward recruitment, labor, and other life-threatening activities. While children who are attending school and getting formal or non-formal education during the conflict and displacement get access to life-saving knowledge and information and surviving skills through valuable promotion, human rights, conflict resolution, and awareness-raising. That is why Ghiras Al-Nahda implemented 4 back to school campaigns for children who have dropped out of education through posters, publications and a motivational drawing competition for children with prizes.
Ghiras Al-Nahda seek to provide equipment needed to improve and make educational process safe and child friendly.
Achievements
– Provision of First aid kits and fire extinguishers for 14 schools in Idleb city.
– Conducting trainings on evacuation plans and fire hazard in partnership with civil defense.
The most common copying mechanism for violence cases is to run away if possible or quite going to schools and markets, some people may even resort to negative coping mechanism like early marriages and child labor. Ghiras Al-Nahda Protection department intervene in these cases through provision of monthly or one-time financial support for affected families in addition to relief aid for some cases such as support for patients who need hard operations or specific treatment.
Ghiras Al-Nahda has a referral service map for Idleb governorate which is updated on a regular basis and used to provide referrals for those who need services that are not provided by Ghiras. Protection field team coordinate with health centers and other NGOs on the ground and provide referrals for health cases through referral form and then following up on these cases to make sure they received the intended service and their case is closed. In addition, Ghiras provide information for all beneficiaries regarding available services in their areas.