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COVID-19 impact on refugees in South East Turkey: Needs Assessment Report (May 2020)

Attachments

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The present assessment report is based on 4 weeks of data collection (from 5 April – 1 May 2020). The results of this study complete and expand on a first analysis conducted after the first week of data collection. The assessment seeks to explore the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the Syrian refugee population in south-east Turkey, in order to identify humanitarian needs and emerging vulnerabilities. Furthermore, the present assessment seeks to gather data on refugees’ level of understanding of, and adherence to, the measures adopted by the government to contain the spread of the virus, including knowledge of COVID-19 services available and access to these.

Methodology

The aim of the present needs assessment is to provide an initial snapshot of the protection risks, vulnerabilities and emerging needs of refugee households in the south-east after the government of Turkey declared the COVID-19 emergency on 11 March 2020. The needs assessment, comprising 117 questions, examined refugee households’ socio-economic status and the existence of pre-existing health conditions. The assessment also sought to understand the extent to which refugee households were aware and understood government imposed COVID-19 containment measures and level of adherence to these among households. Finally, the assessment also aimed at assessing the impact of government-imposed restrictions on community and household dynamics and on the psychosocial well-being of affected families. Findings from this report will inform DRC programmatic adjustments to better support refugees during the COVID-19 emergency in Turkey, and will feed into the humanitarian sector’s understanding of those needs and its response. Data collection started on 5 April 2020 and was completed by 1 May 2020. During the first week (from 5-10 April), DRC field teams conducted 290 household surveys including 116 in Sanliurfa, 97 in Hatay, 41 in Kilis and 36 in Kahramanmaras. A first analysis of findings from this first week of data collection was produced. This assessment represents an update and follow up on the preliminary observations contained in the first analysis. Between 11 April and 1 May an additional 488 surveys were collected.

Over the course of the entire 4 weeks, a total of 774 surveys were collected, of which 242 in Hatay, 341 in Sanliurfa, 71 in Kahramanmaras, 120 in Kilis.

By surveying household units rather than individuals, DRC aims at obtaining a small but representative age, gender, diversity sample (based on household composition).