Afghanistan WASH Cluster CAHPO Needs Assessment Summary Report

Home , Kunar Province, Nuristan Province

CAHPO Needs Assessment Summary Report

Assessment Title: WASH Needs Assessment in Communities and Institution (Schools) Start Date of Assessment: 2 January 2021 End Date of Assessment: 8 January 2021 Organization Name: CAHPO Other Organizations Involved in Assessment: CAHPO, SHPOUL, ZOA and SUO in consultation with line department

Assessment Location: The assessment conducted in the mentioned villages.

Province: District: Village: Kunar Bar Kunar (REACCH data 100% water Zarbat, Laghmano Kalai, insecure and WASH is one of the 3 priority) Shangar, Jaji Malayano Kalai, Zor Asmar (Siwor) Chapa Dara (REACCH data 100% water Senzo, Qalachai, Qala, Bastala insecure and WASH is one of the 3 priority) and Gusalak Sar e Pul Sar e Pul Center (CAHPO data over 50% use Arab khana, Charbagh, Khair unsafe water) Abad, Latay, Mirza bai, Nadir Abad, Naw Abad, Qezel qum, Rahim Abad, Sangtoda, Sarcheshma, Tughani Sozma Qala (REACCH data 59% water Faiz Abad, Hazara Qeshlaq, Quzi insecure and WASH is one of the 3 priority) Khwal, Kamp muhajreen, Sozmaqala Uzbekya Nuristan Parun (CAHPO data over 50% use unsafe Dewa, Madina, Mandi, Paskhi, water) Sasom Wama (CAHPO data over 50% use unsafe Asar Abad, Atilik, Isalam Abad, water) Saripul, Wama e Qadeem

Affected and Targeted Population Summary :( Affected population represents entire areas of assessment while targeted are for immediate response)

Type and Number of Affected Population (as identified in HNO/HRP):

Type of People No of People No of Families Conflict IDPs 26243 3749 Undocumented Returnees from 1008 144 Iran Undocumented Returnees from 1645 235 Pakistan Documented Returnees from Iran Documented Returnees from 1148 164 Pakistan Refugees People Without Access to Basic 28793 4113 Services and Host Communities

Afghanistan WASH Cluster

Total 58837 8405 The above table represent people in the assessed villages, there are many other villages with similar vulnerable population. Also an estimated 70% of the host population included are in need.

Type and Number of Targeted Population (as identified in HNO/HRP): 60% from the assessed need to be targeted and assist

Type of People No of People No of Families Conflict IDPs 15743 266 Undocumented Returnees from 609 87 Iran Undocumented Returnees from 987 141 Pakistan Documented Returnees from Iran Documented Returnees from 686 98 Pakistan Refugees People Without Access to Basic 17276 2468 Services and Host Communities Total 35301 5043

Targeted population by key activities:

Activities: No of People in No of People in No of People in need No of People need of Water need of Sanitation of Hygiene Supplies in need of Supply (Kits and Hygiene Replenishments) Promotion No of People: 35301 35301 35301 35301

This assessment conducted in some of the big villages in the targeted districts. There are many IDPs of the last years mainly from conflict and other vulnerabilities, which people forced to leave their home. The project intervention will extend to other villages as well which in the start of the intervention, it is necessary to collect information of the other villages as well.

Situation of the areas (conflict /natural disaster):

According to the WASH Cluster priority locations, Sar e Pul, Kunar and Nuristan are either Cat. 4 or higher This report describe and looks into observation and conclusions of a WASH need assessment conducted by CAHPO staff members in three provinces which have planned to be the main program areas of CAHPO this year. The villages and districts of the provinces as mention above in the table selected based on the WASH Cluster priority areas for 2021. The assessment was conducted to observe the living condition of IDPs and their priority needs related to WASH in displaced area. As well as in host communities where the IDPs are settled. Returnees were observed which found less number in the mentioned areas. The assessment gathered and assessed the quantitative and qualitative data from 204 sampled HHs across the 37 villages in 6 districts in three mentioned provinces in January 2021.

Afghanistan WASH Cluster

Conflict and lack of basic services are the main issues. There are conflict in the targeted provinces. Afghanistan is now the scene of the deadliest region on earth. Fighting continues to rage, exposing civilians, particularly women and children, to daily deadly risks, prompting mass displacement and choking the country’s unstable economy. Years of shocks have left an acutely vulnerable population with few economic resources, an eroded capacity to cope with the unfolding crisis and little hope of recovery if the current conditions persist. As a result of the new scope of analysis and the cumulative impact of conflict and disaster in HNO and HRP 2021, almost over half of the country’s population (18.4 million people out of a population of almost 40,4 million) is now estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2021. The majority of those in need are children (52 per cent). 1

The ongoing conflict is affecting every province in the country with shock-affected households 3-4 facing multiple humanitarian needs simultaneously, undermining their capacity to cope and recover. In the REACH Assessment, ooverlapping sectoral needs were highest among shock-affected households in Kunar in the east and Sar e Pul in the north. Nuristan is shock affecting mentioned in the WASH Cluster Strategy. Three of the provinces have been heavily affected by conflict and displacement, overloading existing basic services and stretching the capacity of aid agencies for a comprehensive response.

KAHPO conducted this assessment, which its focus was the areas where the IDPs were settled and they expanded the host villages or they integrated in host community in Sar e Pul, Kunar and Nuristan province. Considering the geographical situation, mostly these village include new settlements where the IDPs are settled and the HHs are in need WASH services. The existing host HHs also affected by two ways (resources reduced and resources shared by the other new comers). However, some other organizations provided water facilities in some of these locations, which the existed number water points cannot provide enough drinking water for the communities, which as IDPs settlement increased their needs in these areas. According to the organization assessment which also showed in the REACH assessment report, there are IDP population in mentioned three provinces due to conflict in their origin places.

Education sector also affected by the conflicts and COVID-19, which most of the children could not go to school. According to our meeting and assessment in the education department, many children especially girls were not attending school because of lack of WASH facilities in the schools. The information collected from 27 schools in all the three provinces where 11816 children are studying, which 1758 are from the IDP and returnee families. Girls do not proper and separate sanitation infrastructures and culturally it is difficult for girls to go for OD and they have not permitted by their families to go to school.

Due to increased number HHs with the IDPs in settlement locations and in the host communities where the IDPs are settled, the HHs are facing shortage of safe drinking water even lack of safe drinking in some new settlements. Therefore, people are using unsafe drinking water from dug wells, streams or from the river. As a result a lot of diarrhea cases happened especially among children, which become burden for the poor families to provide treatment.

1 https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/afghanistan/document/afghanistan-humanitarianresponse-plan-2018-2021-2021-revision 3

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Needs/gaps (briefly describe needs and gaps of the targeted population):

Afghanistan WASH Cluster

Safe Drinking Water Availability and Access of the population The WASH assessment data concluded and results of the analysis showed that on average, 20 % of the HHs have access to safe water for domestic use. On province level, 28% of the HHs in Sar e Pul province have access to safe water source, 13% HHs in Kunar province have access to safer water sources and 9% of the HHs in Nuristan province have access to safe water sources. Main sources of the safe water include protected hand pump, public tap and protected spring. The highest percentage of the population depending on unsafe water which forms 82% of the population. The main source of water for these population are unprotected dug well and surface water (e.g. river, stream and pond water). Table 1: Access to safe water for domestic use Safe Unsafe Provinces Total HHs access to safe water exist water water Sar e Pul Sar e Pul 23 62 85 28%

Kunar 11 42 53 Average 50% Kunar Nuristan 7 59 66 13% Nuristan 9% Average 41 163 204 Sar e Pul Kunar Nuristan Average

Figure 2, illustrates the detail of drinking water sources in the assessed villages of the provinces. According to the graph provinces are different and average 35% of the population get water from unprotected dug wells. Especially in Nuristan and Kunar province, majority of the HHs take water from unprotected dug wells. Similarly, 49% of the HHs use surface water from river, stream or ponds. Majority of HHs in Sar e Pul use unprotected source of water for their domestic use is 76%. Furthermore 14% of the HHs get water from hand pump and protected springs for their domestic use. On one hand majority of the population don’t have access to safe water, on the other hand 73% of the HHs complaint that the water sources do not provide sufficient and stable water due to different reasons. Such as rivers and streams do not have regular water flow, dug wells dry due to less depth and hand pumps are less compare to existed population.

Source of Drinking Water 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Protected source Surface water Hand pump Unprotected dug Total well

Sar e Pul Kunar Nuristan Average

Afghanistan WASH Cluster

55% of people reported that they have issues with the water they obtain from wells, river and ponds in terms of color and taste. This was concluded when filtering the data and analyzing those depending mainly on unprotected wells, stream, river and ponds as a main source for drinking water. The taste and appearance are the main two issues with these sources. According to collected data, 30% of the responded reported that the taste of water is salty, 16% said the taste of dug wells are bitter and not potable and 41% of the respondents mentioned that the taste of water is fresh but it is muddy. Table 4: Quality of water Quality of water Fresh and Fresh but Provinces salty Bitter Total transparent muddy Sar e Pul 16 32 15 22 85 Kunar 20 23 5 5 53 Nuristan 23 29 8 6 66 Total 59 84 28 33 204

Quality of Water

Total

Bitter

salty

Fresh but muddy

Fresh and transparent

0 50 100 150 200 250

Total Nuristan Kunar Sar e Pul

HHs spend a lot of time to bring water. Women and children are the responsible HHs members for fetching water. Only 15%of HHs spend 15 or less than 15 minutes to bring water, while 27% of HHs spend more than 1 hour to bring water, 33% spend between 30 minutes and 1 hour to bring water and 25% of the HHs spend 15 to 30 minutes to bring water. How far away is the water source(minute)? District 15 to 30 30minutes to 1 More than With in the 15 Grand Total minutes hour one hour minutes Sar e Pul 18 30 17 20 85 Kunar 12 23 15 3 53 Nuristan 22 14 23 7 66 Total 52 67 55 30 204 Percentage 25% 33% 27% 15% 100%

Afghanistan WASH Cluster

Access to Sanitation Looking on collected data on provincial level, 26% of the HHs have access to latrine in Sar e Pul province, 21% of HHs have access to latrine in Kunar province and 17% of the HHs have access to family pit latrine in Nuristan province. On average, a total 200 (22% ) of the assessed HHs have access to functional family pit latrine, while 54% of the HHs do not have access to proper latrine. A total 54% of the people are practicing open defecation while 24% are using an ordinary latrine or cat hole latrine which is not covered properly. When properly built and maintained, pit latrines can decrease the spread of disease by reducing the amount of human feces in the environment from open defecation. This decreases the transfer of pathogens between feces and food by flies. Furthermore, 70% of the latrines have severely damaged or partially damaged status thus they do not provide sufficient privacy.

Type of Sanitation Facilities (Latrine) Row Labels Family pit latrine Open defecation Ordinary latrine Grand Total with slab Sar e Pul 22 40 23 85 Kunar 11 33 9 53 Nuristan 11 38 17 66 Total 44 111 49 204 Percentage 22% 54% 24% 100%

Type of latrine the HHs uses

Grand Total

Ordinary latrine

Open defecation

Family pit latrine with slab

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Sar e Pul Kunar Nuristan Total

In addition, most of the respondents didn’t have knowledge about negative impact of open defecation. They don’t have clear information about transfer of pathogens between feces and food by flies. As a result of individual interview it was found that 54% of the respondents practiced open defecation last time when they went for defecation. Moreover, none of the respondents received any training regarding hygiene and sanitation therefore they don’t have knowledge about key hand washing times. According to collected data, Only 17% of the respondents wash their hands three to four times. These times are, before eating meal, after eating meal, after defecation and after handling the wastages/animals, while 67% of the respondents wash their hands two times (before eating meal and after defecation) and 23% of the respondents Wash their hands only one time, before eating meal.

Afghanistan WASH Cluster

Water Borne Diseases As a result of HH survey, it was found that an average 18% of 204 sampled size interviewed population suffered diarrhea in the last one month and a total of 10 people died due to diarrhea in the last three months. It shows that low quality of drinking water and low quality sanitation facilities caused diarrhea among the assessed population. Kunar province forms big number of this case which is 21% people, respectively Sar e Pul is the second province with 17% people and Nuristan is the third province with 16% people.

Province No. of people suffered diarrhea No. of diarrhea mortality in in the HH in the last one month the HH in the last three months Sar e Pul 407 1 Kunar 339 4 Nuristan 428 5 Total 1174 10

Water borne diseases 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 Sar e Pul Kunar Nuristan Total

No. of people suffered diarrhea in the HH in the last one month No. of diarrhea mortality in the HH in the last three months

WASH in Schools As a result of HH survey in the 27, it was found that there are many schools do not have WASH facilities in the target districts. The schools either do not have enough sanitation or lack of sanitation. OD have observed in all schools and OD is somehow part of the normal use for most of the students. This is why many of the girls’ children hesitated to get admission in school. The main sources of drinking water are shallow wells, and/or surface water on the channel which are not safe. Few schools have hand pump but due number of student it could not provide sufficient water and broken. Hygiene situation directly related to clean water and proper sanitation system which is very poor in all the schools. Children were also lack of knowledge and seem none hygienic of their appearance. This hygienic problem can create many risk outbreaks in the schools as well as in the community.

Afghanistan WASH Cluster

Though the schools are in leave at the moment, the team interview with the school administration and few students as well. Some of the student told us in their response, they use the latrine. Due observation for the team there are very poor latrine in some schools, which are exposed to rain and sun light. Privacy was another problem which girls cannot use them. Hand washing facilities are not available in all the 27 schools assessed. Asking question from the students where they wash hand was surprising for them. Only some of them said they wash their hand when leaving home for school and the other way round. Soap have never uses in these schools, which is observed, because of the lack of washing facility, soap was not available either.

Education department invited some students. Interview has been done with female and male and asked this question In the school. Where do you go for toilet? Type of Response Frequency Percentage (%) Open defecation 80 61%

Latrine 52 39% Total 132 100

Objective/Goal:

The objective of the Survey WASH need assessment aimed to gather appropriate data so as to enable the assessment team to measure the statistic findings and observations with regards to current life condition of IDP families, their access to safe drinking water, to improved sanitation facilities, and their WASH related basic needs in assessed locations of three provinces, Sar e Pul , Kunar rand Nuristan province.

The methodology adopted in undertaking this assessment, combined quantitative and qualitative methods. The approach was adopted for purposes of having comprehensive data relating to the WASH needs, conditions of HHs in 3 provinces which include Sar e Pul , Kunar and Nuristan province. While the greater part of data collection was quantitative using a structured questionnaire, the qualitative aspect focused on direct observations of living conditions with regard to presence of vulnerability and needs.

Afghanistan WASH Cluster

Expected results:

Access to Safe water domestic use It was concluded from the obtained data and results of the analysis that on average, 16 % of 204 sampled HHs have access to safe water for domestic use in three provinces. On provincial level, it is listed as follow: Sar e Pul : Total 24% of 85 HHs have access to safe water sources. The main sources of safe water are protected hand pump and tap. While, 76% of the HHs don’t have access to safe water sources and they are relying on the water of unprotected dug wells, river, stream and ponds Kunar: In total, 15% of 53 HHs have access to safer water sources which are hand pump and protected spring. While, 85% of the HHs don’t have access to safe water sources and they are using the water of unprotected dug wells, river, stream and ponds Nuristan: All in all, 8% of 66 HHs have access to safe water sources. Main sources of the safe water include protected hand pump and protected spring. Actually, those of the villages selected for the assessment who lack clean water.

Access to Sanitation Facilities Looking on collected data from three province, an average of 46% (22% assessed HHs have access to functional family pit latrine, while 24% of the HHs do not have access to proper/ordinary latrine). A total 54% of the assessed HHs are practicing open defecation while 24% are using an ordinary latrine or cat hole latrine which is not covered properly. When properly built and maintained, pit latrines can decrease the spread of disease by reducing the amount of human feces in the environment from open defecation. This decreases the transfer of pathogens between feces and food by flies. Furthermore, 70% of the latrines have severely damaged or partially damaged status thus they do not provide sufficient privacy. Sar e Pul : Total 26% of 85 HHs have access to family latrine. But 23 of the 85 HHs are using ordinary latrines and 47% of the HHs are practicing open defecation. Kunar: In total 21% of 53 HHs have access to family pit latrine, but 9 of the 53 HHs are using ordinary latrine and 62% of the HHs are practicing open defecation. Nuristan: Total 17% of 66 HHs have access to family pit latrine, while 17 of the 66HHs are using ordinary latrine and 58% of the HHs are practicing open defecation

Water Borne Diseases The result of analyzed data shows that 17% of sampled population suffered diarrhea in the last one month and a total of 10 people died due to diarrhea in the last three months. It shows that low quality of drinking water and low quality sanitation facilities caused diarrhea among the assessed population. Sar e Pul : Total 17% of 3637HHs members suffered diarrhea in the last one month and 1 person died due to diarrhea in the last three months. Kunar: In total 21% of 3412 HHs members suffered diarrhea in the last one month and 4 person died due to diarrhea in the last three months. Nuristan: Total 16% of 2740 HHs members suffered diarrhea in the last one month and 1 person died due to diarrhea in the last three months.

Conclusion and Recommendation: Because of multiple factors such as the ongoing conflict, COVID-19 impact, weak governance, lack of basic services, it has required to quickly response to the affected people. Beside other needs, WASH humanitarian intervention to support the development

Afghanistan WASH Cluster collaboration is strongly recommended in the assessed provinces. Due to conflict, poverty and COVID- 19 life is affected heavily and vulnerability has increased almost everywhere.