What Oxfam is doing

Updated March 2013

Nearly two years after the uprising of 2011, armed conflict rages on in Syria, and the numbers of those severely affected are boggling. Four million people inside Syria are in need of humanitarian assistance, and more than one million have fled the country, taking refuge in neighboring Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. Thousands are still flowing across the borders each day. The suffering of families who have fled their homes has been intensified by harsh weather conditions: in January, the region recorded some of its most extreme winter weather conditions in two decades, with heavy rain and snowstorms sending temperatures plummeting below zero.

Oxfam and our partners are responding to the emergency in Jordan and Lebanon—the countries where the greatest number of refugees have settled.

In Lebanon, where we aim to reach 32,000 people, we are assisting both Palestinians and Syrians who have fled Syria. Working with local partners, we have distributed blankets, hygiene kits, fuel,  stoves, warm clothes, plastic sheeting, and more.  We are also undertaking cash and voucher interventions, aimed at helping refugees access safe housing and other necessities according to their needs.

In Jordan, we are installing sanitation facilities including toilets, showers, and laundry areas to serve more than 14,400 people in Zaatari camp, and we will participate in construction of a new water system that will provide clean drinking water to the more than 90,000 people who now reside in the camp. We are also set to launch assessments to see how we can best support refugees who are living in nearby host communities.

Oxfam aims to assist a total of 120,000 people in Jordan and Lebanon.