Türkiye Appeal
Humanitarian Action for Children
UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children appeal helps support the agency’s work as it provides conflict- and disaster-affected children with access to water, sanitation, nutrition, education, health and protection services. Return to main appeal page.
Türkiye snapshot
Appeal highlights
- On 6 February 2023, two major earthquakes with magnitudes 7.7 and 7.6 struck southeastern Türkiye, impacting 15.6 million people, including 1.8 million refugees, in 11 provinces. As of November 2023, 7.9 million people, including 3.2 million children, remained in need of humanitarian assistance.
- Protracted displacement, overstretched social services and difficult socioeconomic conditions triggered by higher inflation have compounded the vulnerability of affected children and families, posing risks to children's welfare. And, as of August 2023, there were still an estimated 181,264 households living in temporary sites in the four most affected provinces.
- In support of the Government’s strategy, UNICEF will focus its response on key remaining humanitarian needs by providing access to adequate sanitation and hygiene, mental health and psychosocial support, gender-based violence mitigation and response, continued education and humanitarian cash transfers, to assure children's well-being and sustain the livelihoods of their families.
- UNICEF requires $116 million to address the humanitarian needs of 3 million people, including 1.7 million children, suffering from the consequences of the earthquakes.
Key planned targets
1.3 million children and caregivers accessing mental health and psychosocial support
1.5 million children accessing formal or non-formal education, including early learning
1.8 million people accessing a sufficient quantity and quality of water
164,000 households reached with cash transfers through an existing national system with UNICEF implementation
Funding requirements for 2024
Country needs and strategy
Humanitarian needs
Two major, devastating earthquakes of 7.7 and 7.6 magnitude struck southeastern Türkiye in February 2023, impacting the lives of 15.6 million people, including 1.8 million refugees, in 11 affected provinces. In August 2023, 7.9 million people, including 3.2 million children, remained in need of humanitarian assistance.
The earthquakes destroyed 518,000 individual housing units, forcing more than 2 million people to seek shelter in formal or informal settlements. Seven months into the response, 181,264 households were reportedly still living in temporary sites in the four most affected provinces (Adıyaman, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş and Malatya). Adequate shelter remains the priority concern. Limited access to water and sanitation facilities, and especially hygiene items for women and girls, is a major issue in the overcrowded settlements.
The affected communities continue to face multiple challenges, including socioeconomic difficulties. The disaster destroyed assets and interrupted opportunities to generate income; this has forced the displaced population, in particular, to rely on informal employment to sustain themselves. Multifaceted challenges have translated into such harmful coping mechanisms as reduction in food intake (for children reduced by 3 per cent more than for adults), reduced expenditures on health, and girls and boys being exposed to child labour, forced child marriages and begging.
While many unaccompanied and separated children have been successfully reunited with their parents or extended families, or are in government care services, close follow-up remains necessary to prevent separation and/or adoption of negative coping mechanisms. The psychological impact of the earthquakes on children and families remains evident. There is also heightened risk of violence, abuse and exploitation. Surveys of the most affected population have revealed increased conflict among household members, domestic violence, sexual violence against women and girls, tensions in the community, peer bullying and substance abuse. Mental health and psychosocial support, identification of protection risks and individual case management and gender-based violence prevention and response are key concerns for children and families.
The earthquakes disrupted access to education for nearly 4 million children, including more than 350,000 refugee and migrant children. Long-term effects may include learning loss, school dropout and a negative impact on children’s psychosocial well-being. As of August 2023, a significant number of children in earthquake-affected areas had still not returned to school. Many people cited financial constraints as the reason, along with transportation and school building security .
UNICEF’s strategy
Under the leadership of the Government of Türkiye, UNICEF will continue to work with partners to complement national efforts to address the remaining humanitarian needs of children and families in formal and informal settlements and residential areas in earthquake-affected provinces. UNICEF will provide critical humanitarian assistance through service delivery, technical assistance and supplies in the areas of health and nutrition, water sanitation and hygiene (WASH), child protection, education and social protection, including cash support. The response will focus on needs identified in the inter-agency need assessment and Humanitarian Transition Overview. UNICEF will reinforce and leverage existing national and local systems and partnerships with municipalities to ensure inclusive and age- and genderappropriate services for children, adolescents and their families, aligned with the Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action.
Health and nutrition support will focus on ensuring access to routine immunization by delivering vaccines to the Ministry of Health. UNICEF will also support infant and young child feeding counselling and capacity building of partners to identify developmental delays and disabilities and initiate subsequent referrals.
UNICEF will work with municipal and civil society partners to expand WASH interventions, including access to water through trucking, provision of water storage tanks and emergency repair/treatment of water systems; improvement of latrines and showers; and distribution of hygiene supplies in formal and informal sites.
Child protection interventions will complement national services through static and mobile hubs; case management; identification and referral of unaccompanied, separated and at-risk/vulnerable children; mental health and psychosocial support; and gender-based violence prevention and response programmes for children and families. Protection from sexual exploitation and abuse will be a priority.
UNICEF will support continuity of formal/non-formal learning, including early learning, through identification of out-of-school children and referrals. Interventions will include allocation of school grants for minor repairs, capacity building for education personnel, academic support/catch-up activities and provision of learning materials. UNICEF will also promote skills building, social cohesion and engagement activities in age-appropriate safe spaces.
Leveraging existing cash transfer modalities in partnership with the Government and civil society, UNICEF will continue implementing a humanitarian cash transfer programme for the most vulnerable families with children. This will be complemented by information on child protection and social services. In addition, UNICEF will partner with the Turkish Employment Agency to increase the child- and gender-sensitivity of existing cash-for-work programmes.
Cross-sectoral interventions, e.g., social and behaviour change and accountability to affected populations, will continue to engage communities to increase awareness and knowledge of access to and use of services. UNICEF will invest in feedback and complaints mechanisms to understand the needs, concerns and challenges of those affected. Such non-food items as winter clothes for children, blankets and heaters will be provided.
Programme targets
Highlights
Humanitarian Action is at the core of UNICEF’s mandate to realize the rights of every child. This edition of Humanitarian Action for Children – UNICEF’s annual humanitarian fundraising appeal – describes the crisis affecting children in Türkiye; the strategies that we are using to respond to these situations; and the donor support that is essential in this response.