Consultancy: Resilience Analysis, Syria

**About HelpAge**

HelpAge International, either through direct implementation or its global network of 200 members in 98 countries, is committed to supporting older people to live safe, dignified, and healthy lives. By fostering partnerships and collaborations, HelpAge ensures the inclusion of older people in all aspects of society and strives for a just and equitable world for individuals of all ages.

**Background**

Syria Context: More than a decade of conflict, combined with economic collapse, climate shocks and large-scale displacement, has severely weakened essential services and undermined social cohesion across Syria. While recent political developments have created opportunities for recovery and return, communities continue to face significant challenges, including damaged infrastructure, overstretched public services, unresolved grievances, and increasing competition over scarce resources. Fragile return dynamics, continued insecurity and recurrent violence affecting minority communities further highlight the volatility of the context.

Water, sanitation and health systems remain under significant strain. Damaged WASH infrastructure, water scarcity, drought and extreme heat are reducing access to safe water and increasing health risks, while many health facilities remain partially operational or at risk of closure. At the same time, widespread poverty, inflation and declining livelihood opportunities have eroded household coping capacities and increased vulnerabilities, particularly among older people, women and persons with disabilities. These groups continue to face significant barriers to accessing services, participating in decision-making processes and benefiting from recovery efforts.

In response, HelpAge International and its partners are developing a BMZ-funded Transitional Development Assistance (TDA) project that seeks to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable populations and local systems through an integrated Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus approach.

The proposed intervention aims to:

- Strengthen inclusive and sustainable WASH, health and protection services.
- Support food security through climate-resilient agriculture and livelihood interventions.
- Promote social cohesion, community-led peacebuilding and inclusive participation.

The project seeks to strengthen resilience capacities at individual, household, community and institutional levels, with particular attention to older people, women, persons with disabilities, internally displaced persons, returnees and other vulnerable groups.

The consultant will be provided with relevant project design documents and available secondary data, including:

- Concept note and draft project design documents.
- Existing sectoral assessments.
- Gender analysis (coordination while development is in progress)
- Peace and Conflict Analysis (coordination while development is in progress)

The strategy of BMZ/TDA is also online available here: Transitional development assistance | BMZ.

Also supporting documents for this consultancy service is available the same site: Strengthening resilience. Creating new prospects (bmz.de) and on the methodology of resilience analysis including scoping questions: Product sheet on resilience analyses (bmz.de)

**Purpose:**

The purpose of the Resilience Analysis is to inform and shape the design of the proposed BMZ-funded project in a risk- and crisis-informed manner that builds on the strengths, capacities and potential of older people and other vulnerable people and local structures. The completed resilience analysis should provide a clear rationale for how project interventions will contribute to sustainable recovery and resilience.The findings will be used to:

- Refine project priorities and intervention strategies.
- Strengthen the project's Theory of Change and results framework.
- Inform targeting, sustainability and stakeholders engagement approaches.
- Identify resilience capacities to be strengthened at different levels.
- Develop context-specific recommendations (and indicators where relevant).
- Ensure alignment with BMZ's resilience approach and HDP Nexus objectives.

**Objectives**

The objective of the Resilience Analysis is to obtain a comprehensive understanding of:

- Existing risks, crises and vulnerabilities affecting the target areas.
- The affected and responsible actors, institutions, organisations, networks and structures, inclu