Healing Hands for Syria

1. Executive Summary

The Integrated Community-Based Health and Psychosocial Support Project was implemented to address critical gaps in access to health and psychosocial services among vulnerable populations affected by the protracted crisis in Syria. Years of conflict, displacement, and economic hardship have significantly reduced access to healthcare and psychosocial support, particularly for internally displaced persons (IDPs), women, children, older persons, and other vulnerable groups.

Through an integrated, community-based approach, the project provided essential health and psychosocial support services while generating practical learning to strengthen future interventions. The project successfully improved access to community-based services, increased awareness of health and wellbeing issues, enhanced referral pathways, and strengthened community engagement in addressing health and psychosocial needs.

2. Project Background

Communities across Syria continue to face substantial challenges in accessing quality health and psychosocial support services. The prolonged humanitarian crisis has negatively affected physical health, mental wellbeing, and social cohesion, particularly among vulnerable groups.

In response, EPA implemented this project to improve access to integrated health and psychosocial support services through community-level interventions that combine direct service delivery, outreach, awareness-raising, referrals, and evidence generation.

3. Project Objective

Overall Objective

To improve access to essential health and psychosocial support services for vulnerable populations through integrated community-based interventions and evidence-based learning.

Specific Objectives

• Improve access to basic health services for vulnerable individuals.
• Enhance community-based psychosocial support and wellbeing.
• Strengthen awareness of health and psychosocial issues.
• Improve referral pathways for vulnerable cases.
• Generate lessons learned to support more effective future programming.

4. Activities Implemented

Health Service Delivery

• Community-based health consultations.
• Health screening and referral services.
• Health awareness and prevention activities.
• Outreach visits to vulnerable households.

Psychosocial Support Services

• Individual psychosocial support sessions.
• Group psychosocial support activities.
• Community wellbeing activities.
• Referral of vulnerable cases requiring specialized assistance.

Community Engagement

• Community consultation meetings.
• Awareness sessions on health and wellbeing.
• Feedback collection and beneficiary engagement activities.

Learning and Evidence Generation

• Needs assessments.
• Monitoring and evaluation activities.
• Documentation of lessons learned and best practices.
• Stakeholder coordination meetings.

5. Key Achievements

The project achieved the following results:

Access to Health Services

• Improved access to community-based health services for vulnerable individuals.
• Increased identification and referral of individuals requiring specialized healthcare services.

Psychosocial Wellbeing

• Increased availability of psychosocial support services.
• Improved community awareness of mental wellbeing and psychosocial support mechanisms.
• Enhanced coping capacities among vulnerable groups.

Community Participation

• Strengthened community engagement in health and wellbeing activities.
• Improved communication between service providers and beneficiaries.

Learning and Adaptation

• Documented key lessons learned and operational recommendations.
• Generated evidence to inform future community-based health programming.

6. Results and Impact

The project contributed to improving access to essential services for vulnerable populations who face significant barriers to healthcare and psychosocial support.

Community members benefited from services delivered closer to their areas of residence, reducing obstacles related to distance, transportation costs, and limited-service availability. The integration of health and psychosocial support allowed project teams to address multiple needs simultaneously, supporting a more holistic response to community challenges.

The project also strengthened local understanding of health and wellbeing issues while enhancing referral mechanisms for individuals requiring additional support.

7. Beneficiary Feedback

Beneficiary feedback was collected through community consultations, monitoring visits, and satisfaction exercises.

Key findings included:

• Beneficiaries appreciated the accessibility of services at the community level.
• Participants reported increased awareness of health and wellbeing practices.
• Vulnerable individuals valued the opportunity to access support in a safe and familiar environment.
• Communities expressed interest in the continuation and expansion of integrated health and psychosocial services.

Illustrative Feedback

“The activities helped us better understand how to care for our families and where to seek support when needed.”

“Access to community-based support has been very important, especially for vulnerable families.”

8. Challenges Encountered

Several challenges affected implementation:

• High levels of need compared to available resources.
• Continued displacement and population movement.
• Limited availability of specialized health and mental health services.
• Economic hardship affecting vulnerable households.
• Operational constraints related to the broader humanitarian context.

Despite these challenges, project activities were successfully implemented through adaptive management and strong community engagement.

9. Lessons Learned

The project generated several important lessons:

• Community-based approaches remain highly effective in reaching vulnerable populations.
• Integrating health and psychosocial support services improves overall service effectiveness.
• Continuous engagement with communities strengthens project relevance and acceptance.
• Functional referral mechanisms are essential for addressing complex cases.
• Regular monitoring and beneficiary feedback improve service quality and responsiveness.

10. Sustainability and Future Programming

EPA will continue building on the results of this project by:

• Expanding integrated health and psychosocial support interventions.
• Strengthening referral and coordination mechanisms.
• Promoting community participation and ownership.
• Enhancing local capacities to support sustainable service delivery.
• Applying lessons learned to improve future program design and implementation.

The project experience demonstrates the importance of sustained community-based support models in addressing ongoing health and psychosocial needs in Syria.

11. Conclusion

The Integrated Community-Based Health and Psychosocial Support Project successfully improved access to essential services for vulnerable populations affected by the prolonged crisis in Syria. By combining health support, psychosocial services, community engagement, and evidence generation, the project contributed to improved wellbeing, strengthened resilience, and enhanced the capacity of communities to respond to ongoing challenges.

EPA remains committed to supporting vulnerable populations through integrated, inclusive, and sustainable interventions that promote health, dignity, protection, and resilience.