Shafak × CARE · Needs Assessment · September 2026
Needs Assessment
Returnee and resident households in five villages of Tal Refaat and Nubl sub-districts, Azaz district, Aleppo, weeks before winter.
Contents
- 01Key findings03
- 02Method and coverage04
- 03Priority needs05
- 04Shelter and winter items06
- 05Water, sanitation and hygiene07
- 06Food security08
- 07Protection and services09
- 08Community profile10
- 09Recommendations11
Why this assessment
Shafak, with CARE, assessed the needs of families who have returned to villages north of Aleppo city, and of the residents living alongside them, to shape a winter response. The tool covered shelter, non-food items, water and sanitation, food and protection.
How to read the figures
Percentages are of respondents who were asked each question; the base (n) sits under every chart. Many questions allowed several answers, so bars need not add to 100%. With 64 interviews, results describe these five villages and are not statistically representative of the district.
Key findings
Returned families north of Aleppo face winter with damaged homes, no income and almost no assistance. Markets are within reach; money is not.
of households put cash in their top three needs
live in a partly destroyed home
buy food on credit
received no non-food items in 3 months
- Cash is the first need everywhere: 94% of households rank it in their top three.Livelihoods follow (67%), then food (51%). All 15 key informants also put cash first for returnee, resident and displaced families alike.
- Almost no one has received help: 97% got no non-food items in three months, 95% no food last month.92% of households received no shelter support and 69% report no water or hygiene assistance. Every respondent said aid can reach the area without obstruction.
- Returnees live in broken homes: 73% of dwellings are partly destroyed.Nearly four in ten live in damaged or unfinished buildings. Families want cash (98%), repairs (60%) and electricity or lighting (54%).
- Winter means power and heat: solar panels (56%), heating fuel (45%), blankets and mattresses (42%).The barrier is price, not supply: 95% say items are too expensive and 69% have no income; only 11% cite missing goods or markets.
- Families eat on credit: 94% buy food on debt and 58% cut the number of meals.Female-headed households are hit hardest: 44% go whole days without eating, against 6% of male-headed households.
- Safety is good; services are missing. No household reported safety concerns, but 71% of toilets are unusable for people with disabilities or older people.Assistive devices and chronic-illness care are the main unmet services; 53% know of no service for women and girls, and 69% see girls as most at risk.
02Method and coverage
Six Shafak enumerators interviewed 64 people on 20 and 22 September 2026 using CARE's needs-assessment tool on KoboToolbox.
| Village | Sub-district | Returnee household | Resident household | Key informant | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deir Jamal | Tal Refaat | 9 | 1 | 3 | 13 |
| Kafr Naseh | Tal Refaat | 5 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
| Misqan | Tal Refaat | 6 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| Hardatnin | Nubl | 10 | 0 | 3 | 13 |
| Tal Jabin | Tal Refaat | 10 | 0 | 3 | 13 |
| Total | 40 | 9 | 15 | 64 |
Village positions from OpenStreetMap. Circle size shows interviews.
Who answered what
Household heads (49) answered about their own family: shelter, water, hygiene, food and safety. Key informants (15: local council members, relief committees and municipality staff, three per village) answered about the community: population movements, vulnerable groups and infrastructure needs. Questions on non-food items, food access and services were asked of everyone.
Limits
The sample is purposive, not random. A third of household heads are women (16 of 49). The food consumption and reduced coping modules were completed by only 9 households and are reported as indicative. Key-informant population figures are estimates.
03Priority needs
Cash leads in every village and every group. Returnee households add water and shelter to the list; resident households, most of whom own their homes, add livelihoods and food.
Household top-three needs
n = 49
Returnees vs residents
| Returnee household n=40 | Resident household n=9 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cash | 92% | 100% |
| Livelihoods | 60% | 100% |
| Food | 48% | 67% |
| Water & sanitation | 42% | 11% |
| Shelter | 30% | 0% |
| Safety & protection | 10% | 0% |
n = 49
Household needs by village
| Deir Jamal n=10 | Kafr Naseh n=10 | Misqan n=9 | Hardatnin n=10 | Tal Jabin n=10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | 90% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 80% |
| Livelihoods | 80% | 90% | 89% | 50% | 30% |
| Food | 50% | 80% | 67% | 20% | 40% |
| Water & sanitation | 30% | 0% | 11% | 80% | 60% |
| Shelter | 50% | 0% | 11% | 30% | 30% |
| Safety & protection | 0% | 0% | 0% | 10% | 30% |
n = 49
Key informants placed cash first for all three population groups (15 of 15 each). For the small number of displaced families, they added non-food items (8 of 15); for returnees, shelter (8 of 15).
04Shelter and winter items
Families have come home to damaged houses. 73% live in partly destroyed dwellings, 23% have no private space for women, and 3 households have no protection from the weather at all.
Type of shelter
n = 48
Condition of shelter
n = 48 · multiple answers
Urgent shelter support needed
n = 48
Urgent non-food items
n = 64
Barriers to non-food items
n = 64
Where winter needs differ. Heating fuel dominates in Deir Jamal (77%) and Hardatnin (62%); solar panels in Kafr Naseh (92%); blankets and mattresses in Hardatnin and Tal Jabin (62% and 54%). Only 4 households received any shelter support in the past three months.
05Water, sanitation and hygiene
Water reaches homes by pipe or by truck in roughly equal measure; 57% of households buy water. In Hardatnin every household interviewed buys it. Toilets exist in 86% of homes but are rarely adapted or separated.
buy drinking water
toilets unusable for people with disabilities or older people
no separate toilets for men and women
received no WASH assistance in 3 months
Main source of drinking water
n = 49 · multiple answers
Most-needed hygiene support
n = 64
Water infrastructure
n = 15
Sanitation
n = 15
Waste management
n = 15
Bottom row: key informants' view of community needs (n = 15).
06Food security
Food is in the shops, but households cannot pay for it. 89% name high prices and 74% a lack of money; only 6% say food is unavailable. Debt fills the gap.
How families obtain food
n = 62
Coping when food is short
n = 62
Going whole days without food, by head of household
household heads only
Urgent food support needed
n = 62
Food consumption score (indicative)
Only 9 households completed the consumption module. Of these, 4 had a poor score, 3 borderline and 2 acceptable; the average reduced coping index was 13.6. The pattern matches the wider coping data but should be confirmed with a full sample.
Women respondents (n=22) describe the same pattern more sharply: 91% rely on credit and 32% go whole days without eating.
07Protection and services
Every household and key informant said the area is safe and reported no specific threat to women and girls. The gap is services: specialised care is simply not available nearby.
Services women need but cannot reach
n = 64
Services men need but cannot reach
n = 64
Services available to women and girls
n = 58
Services available to children
n = 56
Group most exposed to protection risks
n = 49
Asked why services could not be reached, respondents almost always answered that no centre exists in the area. Referral pathways for assistive devices and chronic-illness care, and a first service point for women and girls, would close the most frequently cited gaps.
08Community profile
Key informants estimate about 1,862 returnee families across the five villages, against 51 displaced families, and no new displacement in the past six months. All returns happened more than six months ago.
Families by village (key-informant estimates)
| Village | Returnee families | IDP families | Older persons | Chronic illness | Lactating | Pregnant | Single parent | Disability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deir Jamal | 800 | 15 | 600 | 200 | 155 | 100 | 250 | 40 |
| Kafr Naseh | 125 | 5 | 600 | 150 | 150 | 45 | 5 | 25 |
| Misqan | 325 | 10 | 80 | 29 | 50 | 35 | 1 | 30 |
| Hardatnin | 135 | 10 | 60 | 100 | 45 | 30 | 25 | 25 |
| Tal Jabin | 477 | 11 | 210 | 400 | 80 | 65 | 68 | 47 |
| Total | 1862 | 51 | 1550 | 879 | 480 | 275 | 349 | 167 |
Counts of families or persons as estimated by three key informants per village; the three gave identical figures.
Why displaced families stay
n = 15
Where most families live
n = 15
Area shelter condition
n = 15
09Recommendations
The evidence points to one response with a few targeted add-ons: cash first, delivered before the cold, with repairs, energy and services where cash cannot reach.
- Make unrestricted multipurpose cash the core of the winter response. It is the first need of 94% of households; markets are functioning and within reach (see the market assessment). Size the transfer to cover heating fuel, bedding and debt repayment.
- Prioritise female-headed households and families in damaged, unfinished or unprotected shelters. 44% of female-headed households go whole days without food; 73% of homes are partly destroyed.
- Add light shelter repair and weatherproofing (sealing kits, doors and windows) alongside cash; 60% of households ask for rehabilitation and 54% for electricity or lighting.
- Treat energy as a winter need. Solar panels are requested by 56% overall and by 92% in Kafr Naseh; include solar lighting or a household energy top-up where cash alone cannot buy it.
- Repair water networks and pumps (named by 11 and 7 of 15 key informants) and relieve trucking costs in Hardatnin, where every household buys water. Retrofit toilets for people with disabilities and older people.
- Distribute dignity and baby hygiene kits, or add their value to cash: 58% ask for women's dignity kits and 45% for baby kits.
- Open referral pathways for assistive devices and chronic-illness care, and a first safe service point for women and girls, who are seen as most at risk.
- Close the data gaps before targeting: complete the food consumption and coping modules for every household, and monitor debt levels after transfers.
Data collected by Shafak with CARE, 20–22 September 2026. Interactive dashboard and Arabic version available on the portal.