Afghanistan: Emergency Response & Recovery

Working closely with the communities, we help to repair or construct water and sanitation infrastructure in such a way that water quality and quantity are preserved: wells, indigenously used karezes (water channels) and kandas (reservoirs for rain and snowmelt water), pipe schemes and latrines. To complement, we conduct hygiene awareness and promote health-seeking habits, distribute essential hygiene items to the communities and to children at supported learning centers. Combined with our food and nutrition-oriented support, we strive to minimize the risk of public health hazards and prevent malnutrition.
In 2022:
- 25,893 people gained access to drinking water thanks to 38 water wells and 2 karez (water canals) rehabilitated • 47,806 people benefitted from hygiene awareness and COVID-19 prevention sessions
- 100 public spaces were provided with cleaning kits
-  5,331 people (5,171 children and 160 teachers at supported learning centers) received hygiene kits
 

To selected vulnerable families whose houses were destroyed during the preceding years of conflict or by the earthquake that stuck part of the country in June 2022, we provide technical and cash assistance enabling them to repair or construct their houses.  Before the winter months, we assist vulnerable households with cash for heating, winter cloth and blankets, and internally displaced families which lack shelter receive cash for rent to overcome the harsh winter weather.

 In 2022:

• 1,300 people received shelter technical and cash assistance
• 11,284 people got cash for winterization assistance
• 1,134 people got cash for rental support

Reducing poverty and ensuring adequate food production will not be possible without overcoming the challenges faced by smallholder farmers. Those range from underdeveloped, hard to access markets lacking affordable inputs and services enabling farmers to gain fair income for their production, across insufficient extension services or poor engagement in value chains to water scarcity. Lack of job opportunities hinders people´s ability to sustain their essential needs.
We provide farmers with quality inputs, services and technologies they need to sustainably increase and diversify their agricultural production. At the same time, PIN promotes the principles of climate-smart agriculture including the integrated watershed management or reduction of soil degradation. Through Cash for Work programme, we provide job opportunities to community members engaged in public works, such as digging irrigation channels or construction of water supply systems. Most vulnerable families are provided short term multipurpose cash assistance to sustain their basic needs without resorting to negative coping mechanisms, such as engaging children at labor instead of schooling or limiting number of meals per day.
In 2022:

• 1,583 individuals participated in Cash-for-Work activities

• 2,922 people were supported with Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA)
• 4,000 farmers received vegetable kits, participated in trainings and were provided follow up support

• 3,208 herders received in-kind livestock packages, gained access to veterinary services and were provided with training and follow up support

 

The project supports the most vulnerable people whose lives have been affected by war, natural disaster or persistent poverty. Assistance is targeted at internally displaced people and the most vulnerable (children, women, the elderly). The project targets 1,600 households (over 11,200 people) and provides financial support to cover acute food needs and immediate repairs to their homes.

The project focuses on providing humanitarian assistance to internally displaced people who have fled their homes since May 2021 as a result of the Taliban's armed advance and their clash with government troops. Some 1,350 households (approximately 9,450 people) will receive financial support for 4 months to cover their acute food needs.

These financial resources allow us to respond immediately to the life-saving needs of the population and to fill the gaps that other humanitarian organisations are currently unable to meet. Since October 2021, the funds have been used to provide financial support to cover the rent needs of internally displaced people, meet acute food needs or support households returning home. At the same time, we plan to allocate part of these resources to so-called winterization activities (providing shelter, providing nutritious food, heating for households, providing winter clothing, etc.) in view of the upcoming winter and the large number of people without sufficient access to basic necessities of life. 

We provide vulnerable families with monthly cash-based assistance in an equivalent of standardized minimum food basket, enabling them to buy items they prefer and need the most. At the same time, local producers and vendors are supported through increased demand and customer purchase power. Families are selected based on their vulnerability, carefully measured considering many aspects.
We aim to reduce undernutrition by implementing multi-sectoral, well-integrated interventions directly addressing the variety of causes of malnutrition: next to the inadequate quality and quantity of the consumed food, those are mainly inappropriate maternal and child care practices and disease-prone environments characterized by poor hygiene and inadequate access to safe water and sanitation. Aside of providing the food aid, we also orient caregivers in correct feeding practices for different groups (babies, children, adults, pregnant and lactating women), nutrition value preserving food preparation technics or essential hygiene habits that contribute to prevention of malnutrition. Equipped with information, people can do informed decisions on for what they spend the cash assistance and prepare nutritious food. To complement, we conduct malnutrition screening, referral and follow up, and strengthen capacity of community health workers. Where possible, we seek synergies and complementarity with our WASH actions, improving access to safe drinking water, sanitation and essential hygiene items.

In 2022:

- 74,290 people received Cash for food assistance
- 31,024 individuals participated in nutrition promotion sessions
- 11,068 reached through home counseling visits in families with malnourished child or pregnant or lactating woman. Out of them, 5,040 received a MUAC tape and training on how to measure malnutrition at home
- 173 acutely malnourished children under 5 years of age and pregnant or lactating women were referred to specialized clinics to receive treatment

This project supports the most vulnerable people affected or displaced by conflict and/or natural disaster by providing needs-based response through the provision of multi-purpose cash (MPC) to support cash-for-rent and transportation and household non-food items (NFIs).
Especially within the cultural context where people living with additional vulnerabilities may be more at risk, PIN identifies female-headed, child-headed, elderly headed households, people living with disabilities, pregnant and lactating mothers and families with infants, ensuring equal access to humanitarian assistance through appropriate modalities of either multi-purpose cash and/or NFIs. In addition, as well as meeting the needs of displaced populations, PIN supports those unable to flee from conflict.
This project is funded by USAID/OFDA and is part of a countrywide humanitarian response to meet the life-saving needs of affected populations and part of PIN’s wider strategy to provide humanitarian assistance. The proposed sectors, see multipurpose cash as central to emergency response in Afghanistan to help shock-affected people to meet their basic needs in a manner that upholds their dignity. Especially in a context like Afghanistan where markets have demonstrated resilience in the face of conflict and disaster, multipurpose cash also allows affected populations more immediate access to life-saving needs including shelter, as a large number of affected populations are likely to rent. The provision of multipurpose cash also contributes to minimising protection concerns, as improved access to safe shelter decreases risks of abuse, assault, or violence, especially for women and girls.

Humanitarian aid involves provision of direct financial assistance to communities hit by humanitarian crisis. In providing such assistance, we attempt to cover the basic needs of the local population, such as food, drinking water, shelter and essential facilities.

The beneficiaries of such assistance usually play an important role in planning and implementing humanitarian measures. Direct feedback through regular contact with individuals, but also with local community development committees ensure that assistance provided goes towards satisfaction of current needs.

Although natural catastrophe and conflicts have a negative effect on all of their victims, the most vulnerable groups – children, pregnant women, the elderly, orphans, single mothers and widows – are at greatest risk after such events, so People in Need provides special assistance to such groups in the form of financial grants to cover their specific needs, or in individual cases we refer them to the relevant institution (mainly in medical situations or in cases requiring protection of children and women). 

In 2012, People in Need joined a consortium of international non-profit organisations, the Emergency Response Mechanism, providing immediate evaluation of situations and aid in emergency situations.