Laila Tomeh, a United Nations migration official, delivered a deflating message on Jan. 12 of this year to a gathering of Syrian relief workers: A critical U.N. data collection program they had relied on for years to determine who needed lifesaving assistance and where they lived had been suspended. They were now driving blind.
The nearly $4 million-a-year operation, known as the Humanitarian Needs Assessment Programme, or HNAP, had run out of funding, she told the meeting of the Humanitarian Liaison Group, according to accounts by two relief officials familiar with the exchange and written notes from the meeting. The matter, she assured, would be sorted out and restarted as soon as the donors wrote the checks. “Calm down until a solution is found,” she counseled the group, according to the notes.
But the data program — which tracked key demographic and socioeconomic indicators in 8,000 communities across Syria — never resumed, and the U.N. agency that managed it has since washed its hands of it, leaving other U.N. agencies and private relief groups to improvise.
About the authors
Colum Lynch
Colum Lynch is an award-winning reporter and Senior Global Reporter for Devex. He covers the intersection of development, diplomacy, and humanitarian relief at the United Nations and beyond. Prior to Devex, Colum reported on foreign policy and national security for Foreign Policy Magazine and the Washington Post. Colum was awarded the 2011 National Magazine Award for digital reporting for his blog Turtle Bay. He has also won an award for groundbreaking reporting on the U.N.’s failure to protect civilians in Darfur.
William Worley@willrworley
Will Worley is the Climate Correspondent for Devex, covering the intersection of development and climate change. He previously worked as UK Correspondent, reporting on the FCDO and British aid policy during a time of seismic reforms. Will’s extensive reporting on the UK aid cuts saw him shortlisted for ‘Specialist Journalist of the Year’ in 2021 by the British Journalism Awards. He can be reached at william.worley@devex.com.
