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Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA) Afghanistan: Drought & Flash Floods
Emergency Appeal n° MDRAF005 Glide n° FF-2019-000018-AFG DR-2018-000052-AFG Date of issue: 10 May 2019 Expected timeframe: 12 months Emergency Appeal launch: 17 March 2019 Expected end date: 31 March 2020
Category allocated to the of the disaster or crisis: Orange DREF allocated: CHF 750,000 (First allocation: CHF 400,000. Second allocation: CHF 350,000) Emergency Appeal Budget: CHF 8 million, coverage 41 per cent1 Total number of people affected: Over 10 million people Number of people to be assisted: 674,686 people (approx. 96,384 families) Host National Society presence (n° of volunteers, staff, branches): Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) has around 2,027 staff and 30,000 volunteers, 34 provincial branches and 7 regional offices all over the country. National Headquarters and 13 provincial branches are involved in this operation. Red Cross Red Crescent Movement partners actively involved in the operation: ARCS is working with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and Partner National Societies (PNS) with presence in Afghanistan (Canadian Red Cross, Norwegian Red Cross, Danish Red Cross, Qatar Red Crescent Society and Turkish Red Crescent Society). The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is the lead agency in Afghanistan. Other partner organizations actively involved in the operation: (i) Government ministries and agencies: Afghan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), Provincial Disaster Management Committees (PDMCs), Department for Rural Rehabilitation and Development etc. (ii) UN agencies: OCHA, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP), World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, UNHCR, UNOPS, UNV, UN-HABITAT, UNFPA, UNEP, UNESCO, ILO, IOM, UNMAS, UN. (iii) International NGOs: Action Against Hunger, Afghan Aid, Community World Service Asia, Danish Committee for Aid to Afghan Refugees, Dutch Relief Alliance, Danish Refugee Council - Danish Demining Group, Handicap International, Human Resource Development Agency, International Medical Corps, International Rescue Committee, Norwegian Refugee Council, Organization for Humanitarian and Development, Organization of Human Welfare, Première Urgence-Aide Médicale Internationale, Relief International, Save the Children International, Solidarités International, Shanti Volunteer Association, Welthungerhilfe, Care International, ACTED International, OXFAM, HELVETAS and Mercy Corps etc.
Partners who have, so far, contributed to the IFRC Emergency Appeal are: British Red Cross, European Commission – DG ECHO, Finnish Red Cross, Hong Kong branch of Red Cross Society of China, Japanese Red Cross Society, Norwegian Red Cross, the Canadian Red Cross Society and the Netherland Red Cross (from Netherlands Government)
A. Situation analysis
Description of the disaster
Afghanistan’s climate can be characterized by hot and dry summers and cold winters. Most of the annual precipitation takes place in the northern region in the form of snow. Afghanistan is highly prone to intense and recurring natural hazards such as flooding, earthquakes, snow avalanches, landslides and droughts due to its geographical location and years of environmental degradation. Climate change is also posing a threat to the country’s people and ecosystems.
1 https://www.ifrc.org/docs/appeals/Active/MDRAF005.pdf P a g e | 2
Climate change predictions such as changing temperature and precipitation pattern might lead to extreme weather event such as drought and flash floods. Changing weather is also affecting the productivity of agriculture, of which most Afghans depend on for their livelihoods, causing food security problem.
Drought Most areas in Afghanistan have experienced between four to six consecutive seasons of far below average rainfall over the last three years. This has resulted in significant reductions in snow depths, river flows, water level in dams, water tables, and soil moistures. In July 2018, the Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) reported that 22 out of 34 provinces of Afghanistan, its cumulative rain and snowfall during October 2017 to May 2018 was 30 to 60 per cent below average. These conditions have already negatively and irreversibly impacted the agricultural season in Afghanistan. In addition, due to four decades of war and lack of planned development and adequate management of natural resources, deforestation enhances the impact of dry spells and drought. Repeated cycles of drought currently verging on pre-famine conditions in many areas have increased vulnerabilities, resulted in the loss of crops, livelihoods and livestock, and weakened purchasing power. According to FEWS, the total food insecure population is expected to increase as high as between 6 and 7 million due to a combination of droughts effects, conflict, and weak labour opportunities and remittances from outside the country. The worst affected provinces include Badghis, Daykundi and Badakhshan which will continue under IPC Phase 4 as Emergency until mid of 2019. Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET): January 2019
Afghanistan IPC acute food insecurity analysis projection from August 2018 until February 2019. (Source: Integrated Food Security Phase Classification)
According to Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, as of September 2018, 9.8 million people (43.6 per cent of the rural population) were estimated to be in Food Crisis and Emergency (IPC Phase 3 and Phase 4). An estimated 2.6 million are classified in IPC Phase 4 nationwide; these people require urgent action to reduce their food deficits and to protect their livelihoods. The current Phase 3 and 4 estimates correspond to a 17.4 per cent increase (from 26.2 to 43.6 per cent) compared to the previous analysis for the same time period last year (2017). FEWS NET P a g e | 3
January 2019 projections suggested that from November 2018 to February 2019, the total population in IPC Phase 3 and IPC Phase 4 increased to 10.6 million (47.1 per cent of the rural population).
The results of the IPC analysis show that Afghanistan is experiencing a major food and livelihood crisis. This crisis has been primarily caused by the severe drought, which limits food production and depletes farmers and livestock keepers of assets and livelihoods; however, the years of civil conflict and instability as well as the severely degraded condition of much of the land have compounded the impacts of the drought, leading to the food security crisis situation we are witnessing today.
The impact of drought has heavily influenced population movement within Afghanistan. According to OCHA, there is an estimated 287,000 people displaced due to drought, primarily from the north-western and western. The sudden influx of over a quarter million people into the outskirts of Herat City and Qala-e-Naw provincial capitals in just a few months has led to the emergence of 19 vast and sprawling informal settlements. 2 Displaced families living in temporary and poorly insulated shelters are facing the risk of harsh winters but also the risk of flash floods, especially those residing on dry- river beds.
The humanitarian response during the first half of the year has been hampered by underfunding and insecurity. Following revisions to the 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan, a total of almost 3.5 million food insecure people in 20 provinces of Afghanistan were identified as having acute humanitarian food needs, health and WASH issues and their livelihoods.
Floods While the drought situation has not yet alleviated, some of the drought affected provinces were hit by flash floods which occurred in March 2019, making them even more vulnerable.
Due to El Nino Phenomenon, declared in early February this year, which bring above-normal snowfall/ rainfall3 to Afghanistan and also warmer temperatures across the country, that means there is more snow than usual the average precipitation was also reflected in the seasonal forecast for March-May 2019 (refer to the picture on the right). With poor soil absorption and limited vegetation in many mountainous areas due to the drought, the current rainfall in recent weeks and projections indicate the likelihood of increased and worsening spring floods to come. In the past years and current conditions (in terms of precipitation) reflect those of years when there has been spring flooding. The analysis of rainfall for the current year indicates more than average rainfall, high temperatures and snow thickness. This can lead to natural hazards, such as floods, landslides and the blockage of traffic-intensive areas. There is also an increased likelihood of snowstorms in certain areas compared to previous years.
Source: International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI)
The problem of flash flooding is accentuated by the narrow valleys, often causing flood waters to pass through villages destroying many houses. Waters also cover farm land and irrigation facilities, damaging or destroying intakes and structures. Communities in Afghanistan are highly prone to flash flooding and lack support services which makes more vulnerable to these communities.
2 OCHA – Humanitarian Overview 2019 3 Civil Aviation Authority Afghanistan Metrological Department 2019 P a g e | 4
From the available information and data, it shows that the number of 212 villages in 111 districts with a total of 111,121 people are heavily exposed to the threat of a possible flood event. In addition, 111 hectares of gardens, 121 hectares of vineyards, 1,186 hectares of agricultural land and 2,883 hectares of heavily threat by risk of flooding. In first week of March, heavy rains and snow struck many provinces. According to the OCHA and government report through its Command and Control Centre for Flood Emergency, thirteen provinces have been affected by heavy rains and flooding. A further seven have been affected by snowfall and avalanches. Flash floods triggered by the heavy rain have reportedly killed 74 people, including a number of children and women when their homes collapsed or the vehicles they were traveling in were swept away.
The flood damaged infrastructure including equipment and amenities which led to the disruption of the routine functioning of these facilities in the affected areas. Several of the public buildings which were damaged during the disaster are also inaccessible due to damage to roads and bridges.
ARCS conducted a rapid need assessment on 1 March, it is indicated that there are mass destructions of house and shelters, loss of lives, public facilities, mosques and displacements of people from their homes and IDPs camps due to the floods. With the onset of rains, its anticipated that more rains shall fall in the coming months with little resources on ground to respond the needs of people in different provinces. The resilience of people in most of the provinces is already weak because of earlier protracted drought. There are significant emergency shelter needs including due to continuous movement of people from the rural villages to safe places looking for humanitarian assistance and better basic services.
As the response to the earlier flooding was taking shape, on 25 March a fresh round of heavy rainfall again triggered flooding in seven provinces namely Herat, Jowzjan, Badghis, Sar-e-Pul, Faryab, Balkh and Kabul. This has exacerbated humanitarian needs. Kabul, Balk, Faryab and Sar-e-Pul are newly-affected. Based on the rapid need assessment conducted by ARCS on 11 April 2019, indicated that nearly 60,000 people have been affected, and they urgently need food items, shelter and safe drinking water. In view of the humanitarian needs, these affected provinces are now included for this operation and ARCS will be providing assistance to these areas.
ANDMA shared updates on interagency assessment teams, comprised of ANDMA, IOM, IRC, DACAAR and WFP were deployed on 19 March. Initial reports suggest that approximately 3,668 households have been affected by the flash floods. However, the detail assessments are ongoing in affected areas. Flood waters and mud flows have reportedly closed some roads, cutting off affected villages hampering the ability of assessment teams to reach all areas. Initial reports from assessment teams have noted that many houses in affected areas have been completely washed away by the flash floods, others have been partially damaged. This new flooding adds to the impact of the overall drought and flood emergency. According to OCHA report4, more than 163,000 people have now been affected by floods, and more than 42,000 people have been displaced.
A meeting was held at ANDMA office on 20 March and humanitarian organisations including UN agencies shared their response activities for flood affected people. The representative from ANDMA presented the overall affected population could be more than 350,000 whereas, the teams are in the field carrying out the detail assessments supported by OCHA. The most affected provinces are Farah, Helmand, Kandahar, Zabul, Herat, Nangarhar and Badghis resulting in flash floods that damaged infrastructure and agricultural land in several districts.
Summary of the current response
Overview of Host National Society ARCS has a long-term record in providing life-saving assistance to people in need in Afghanistan. ARCS presence and local networks across the country are exceptionally well established, which enables ARCS to also reach vulnerable populations who are not served by other humanitarian actors, for instance in highly remote areas. ARCS have vast expertise with different types of programming through multilateral projects supported by IFRC, as well as through bilateral programs with Red Cross Red Crescent Movement partners and with ICRC. This includes youth development, disaster risk management, Community-based Health and First Aid, restoring family links, community resilience (including WASH and Livelihoods, etc.), dissemination of IHL, humanitarian values & Red Cross/Red Crescent principles, and rehabilitation for physically disabled people for IDPs.
ARCS volunteers play a critical role at all stages of ARCS’s programmes. This includes assessment, identification and registration of target communities and internally displaced population. In addition, volunteers service to carry out hygiene promotion and community mobilisation. Since long, ARCS is dealing with disaster response, health services, volunteerism, community-based disaster risk reduction, organizational development and dissemination of humanitarian values. The ARCS Disaster Management, having a nation-wide coverage through 34 provincial branches and a national network of volunteers, is capable for the implementation large-scale and long-term preparedness and response
4 OCHA Afghanistan Flash Floods Update No.8 (As of 2 April 2019) P a g e | 5 programs. Through all the years of conflict, it has consistently provided assistance to multitude of vulnerable Afghans in all over the country. The branches in targeted areas have teams of trained volunteers in disaster preparedness and response as National Disaster Response Team (NDRT), Community Based Health & First Aid (CBHFA), health and hygiene promotion etc. and being involved in operation activities through the provincial branches.
The health service department is one of the vital sections of the ARCS, which delivers health services to the disaster affected population to improve health quality around the country. The basic health services are; Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH), providing basic medicine to vulnerable people in areas where people cannot access to the basic health services. Health education is one of the areas where ARCS providing epidemic control services, environmental health services (individual and group health training), strengthen mental health and social services by advising including referral services. In addition, health in emergency and mobile and fix clinics are also functional, 21 Mobile Health Teams (MHTs) in its structure that provides medical services in emergency cases targeting the disasters affected areas.
ARCS drought response Since Afghanistan government has declared a drought situation in mid 2018, the emergency operations center (EOC) at headquarter level has been activated to coordinate with relevant stakeholders and update on the situation on a regular basis.
ARCS has reached more than 14,000 people (approximately 2,000 households) through provision of family tents, food parcels and dignity kits5 to displaced people in Herat and Badghis provinces. One mobile heath team was also deployed to provide medical treatment in Herat province.
Utilizing funds advanced from the Disaster Response Relief Fund (DREF) on 2 November 2018, ARCS has provided food assistance to 14,000 drought affected people (approximately 2,000 families) in Herat and Badghis provinces. However, the support was only able to cater an immediate need of a small portion of the affected population.
A detailed need assessment was also conducted under DREF operation from December 2018 to January 2019. The findings indicated that the priority needs of the affected population, who are staying in rural areas and IDP camps, are food, water, health care and livelihood. During the assessment, it found that almost 60 to 70 per cent of the water points, respectively, are now dry. Poor hygiene practices, including consumption of unsafe water, low latrine coverage and poor health seeking behaviour have been cited as some of the underlying factors for the high levels of malnutrition in the country. In addition, most of the affected communities in province of the country have very low latrine coverage. The water treatment is equally low, at less than 10 per cent and hand washing practices are also poor.
The ARCS has also distributed 5,000 food package and household items in north region; Samangan, Faryab, Jowzjan and Balkh among the families displaced by conflict and in the drought affected population with the support of ICRC. This includes emergency food distribution, 'food for work' projects, and support for agriculture and livestock programmes.
ARCS flood response ARCS remains vigilant and has been monitoring the situation since the start of flooding. The National Society has been in coordination with Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), Command and Control Centre for Flood Emergency and participating in cluster meetings in provinces and at national level. National Statistics and Information Department.
ARCS national headquarters requested to its provincial branches to submit primary information reports regarding flooding situation in their respective provinces. ARCS provincial branches mobilized its branch trained staff and volunteers to conduct the rapid assessment in flood affected provinces with the support of national headquarters technical capacity.
ARCS conducted rapid assessments in all the flood affected provinces from 1 March to 10 April. All the assessment reports revealed that nearly 100 people are killed, and many houses are damaged, flood waters destroyed thousands of houses, public infrastructure and agriculture land.
ARCS has been supporting 250 families with household package in Pesht Qala District, Aka pada, Khair Abaad, Koh jahr, Orbala, Paien, Anjiran and Dozdan, 2,000 most vulnerable households in Zabul, Farah, Helmand, Nangarhar and Kandahar provinces, with food package. These 2,000 food packages were replenished through drought operation under DREF. Turkish Red Crescent has also distributed 1,000 food packages and household items in Herat and Farah provinces respectively. And for the floods in Herat and Balkh, ARCS also provided food items to nearly 12,000 people.
5 Dignity kit comprises of 1 blanket, 1 tooth brush, 1 tooth paste, 2 pieces of soap, 1 scarf for women, 3 pieces ladies underwear, and 30 pieces of sanitary pad P a g e | 6
Overview of Red Cross Red Crescent Movement in country The IFRC is having regular coordination and communication with the ARCS. The ARCS disaster management teams and volunteers are in field for rapid need assessment and based on the completion of assessment ARCS will organise the meeting with in country Movement partners, IFRC and ICRC regarding the flood situation and ARCS response planning. The IFRC Afghanistan country office is supporting ARCS in disseminating updates to the Asia Pacific regional office.
The IFRC’s Country Office is supporting to Afghan Red Crescent Society in implementing health programmes including Community Based Health and First Aid (CBHFA) in North, Northeast, Central North, Central South and West. Similarly, WASH activities are also carrying out in 5 provinces; Parwan, Nangarhar, Balkh, Samangan and Baghlan. The Health in Emergencies, MHTs in 11 provinces including Youth Health and Routine immunisation in Paktika, Kunduz, Kandahar, Kunhar, Nooristan, Nangarhar and Laghman. The Norwegian Red Cross has in-country presence supporting the ARCS with health interventions, WASH and CBHFA activities in the provinces. The Danish Red Cross extend their support to the ARCS in psychosocial support together with the ICRC (PSS), volunteers management and youth mobilization activities in Afghanistan.
The ICRC, in its role of lead agency, is present in Afghanistan since 1986 and engages in dialogue with all parties to the conflict having a direct or indirect influence on the humanitarian situation in the country. The key operating areas in responding to the Afghanistan protracted conflict include promote and respect of IHL, health services, in particular for the wounded and sick, ensures physical rehabilitation and social reintegration, monitors the treatment of detainees across the country and maintaining contact with their families, as well as their health and water sanitation conditions. They provided support to the civilian population in improving livelihood and water and sanitation, health, Restoring Family Links (RFL) and tracing activities. The ICRC supports the ARCS, as its primary partner in its development and operations with focus on “Safer Access” approach that promotes safer access to persons affected by conflict and other situations of violence, whilst minimising risks for staff and volunteers.
There is a strong need for all Movement partners to prioritize Strengthening of Movement Coordination and Cooperation to provide effective and coherent support to the National Society, for example in terms of having a concerted approach to organizational development and capacity building.
Overview of non-RCRC actors in country The Afghan Government through its Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA) coordinates all interventions by humanitarian agencies with support from UNOCHA. The government of Afghanistan established command and control centre under the supervision of Minister of State for Disaster Management, for coordination and to assist flood-affected communities. In this response government involve civil and military departments from the country and in order to better response to flood affected population in provinces which is organise by the Chief Executive Officer. A meeting has been held under the chairmanship of President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on recent flooding and how to assist the affected population. The participants of this meeting were Chief Executive Officer, the Minister of State for Disaster Management, Ministry of Refugee and Returns and Head of the Central Statistics and they shared the updates of affected population by devastating floods in Afghanistan. These floods have been created damages in seventeen provinces and the possibility of flooding in other provinces is predicted.
Ministry of Public Health leading the health cluster with the support of World Health Organisation (WHO) in Afghanistan. The Government of Afghanistan and WHO are working together to effectively improve the public health situation in the country with special emphasis on; (i) health security and prevention and control of communicable diseases; (ii) non- communicable diseases, mental health, violence and injuries, and nutrition; (iii) promoting health through the life-course; (iv) health systems strengthening; and (v) preparedness, surveillance and response. UNICEF supports the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development’s rural water supply and sanitation programme. Developing the government’s capacity on the construction of local water supply systems is an intrinsic part any long-term solution for the country.6 Partner organizations are also engaged to help supervise the construction of the water supply systems, ensuring their quality and sustainability. The Afghanistan National Guidelines for WASH in Emergency (ANGWE) is developed to strengthen the overall emergency response mechanism by harmonizing the provision of WASH services in disaster situation in Afghanistan. The WASH Cluster coordination mechanism at national and sub-national level by clarifying the roles and responsibilities of each partner, including Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), United Nations agencies (UN), Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development and Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority of the Government of Afghanistan and other stakeholders at national and sub-national levels.
Cluster meetings occur monthly at the national level and are coordinated by the respective cluster lead agencies through Cluster Coordinators. Meetings are attended by cluster partners, members and observers and aim to strategize and coordinate humanitarian activities at the cluster or sector level, as well as to share information on challenges and bottlenecks faced at the operational level. The Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) serves as a strategic, policy level
6 Afghanistan National Guidelines for WASH in Emergency (ANGWE)-2018 P a g e | 7 and decision-making forum that guides principled humanitarian action in Afghanistan. The Afghan Humanitarian Forum (AHF) is composed all heads of International and National humanitarian NGOs and feeds into the HCT. The AHF meets monthly and focuses on the coordination of NGO activities at the national and sub-national levels, advocacy on issues affecting the work of NGOs, representation/communication on the interests of NGOs to other humanitarian stakeholders and the government, and promotion of high ethical and professional standards amongst the NGO community.
ARCS participate in all coordination meetings in clusters, technical working groups Health, WASH, Shelter & NFIs and Cash Working Group etc. including in government led or other humanitarian organisations meetings. Other agencies implementing humanitarian activities related to the drought response includes UN Agencies: WFP, UNDP, UNOCHA, FAO, WHO, UNICEF, IOM and other INGOs implementing water and sanitation activities while Save the Children, OXFAM, ACF, ACTED, Norwegian and Danish Refugee Councils are implementing nutritional support projects through health centres and food assistance through Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA). ARCS and IFRC held meetings with mobile money service providers to develop an overview of the capacity of the mobile operators, as part of analysing the feasibility of providing assistance through cash. The meetings highlighted the widespread use of mobile money platforms by the communities in Afghanistan for food purchases etc. The mobile money platform is widespread with sufficient network coverage in the areas targeted under the operation. The mobile operators indicated that they are able to support the operation through registration of people to be assisted who are not on the mobile money platform and will orient on how the systems work.
Needs analysis, targeting, scenario planning and risk assessment
Needs analysis ARCS conducted an emergency needs assessment in nine7 drought affected provinces in December 2018 and January 2019 within DREF for drought operation. The findings on the emergency needs assessment indicated that the priority needs of the affected population, who are staying in rural areas and IDP camps, are food, water, health care and livelihood. During the assessment, it found that almost 60 to 70 per cent of the water points, respectively, are dry. Poor hygiene practices, including consumption of unsafe water, low latrine coverage and poor health seeking behaviour have been cited as some of the underlying factors for the high levels of malnutrition in the country. In addition, most of the affected communities in province of the country have very low latrine coverage. The water treatment is equally low, at less than 10 per cent and hand washing practices are also poor.
ARCS teams carried out a rapid needs assessment of flood-affected areas on 1-9 March, and 10-14 April respectively which showed mass destructions of house and shelters, loss of lives, public facilities, mosques and displacements of people from their homes and IDPs camps due to the floods. It is anticipated that more rains shall fall in the coming months with little resources on the ground to respond to the needs of people in different provinces. The resilience of people in most of the provinces is already weak because of earlier protracted drought. There is a huge need in emergency shelter on the ground. Besides, there is continuous population movement from the rural villages to safer places with available humanitarian assistance and better basic services. The rapid need assessment for floods and emergency need assessment involves field data collection through trained staff and volunteers in 9 drought affected provinces and now these teams are being engaged for floods assessment. The needs analysis for this response is prepared based on interviews, surveys, focus groups discussion and market updates in the areas affected by the recent floods and protracted drought.
Most of the provinces are already affected by the protracted conflict and recently drought, people are living in poor shelter without enough basic service. Some affected households have been accommodated in schools, and other public buildings. An estimated 3,000 people who have lost all their belongings and are in immediate need of emergency shelter, household items such as blankets, kitchen sets, cooking stoves and water containers.
The main challenges and needs facing the communities of the thirteen provinces are:
Emergency Shelter/Household items: The flood damaged the infrastructure including equipment and amenities which led to the disruption of the routine functioning of these facilities in the affected areas. Several of the public buildings which were damaged during the disaster, have also lost connectivity and are inaccessible due to damages to roads and bridges. The emergency shelter and food needs are critical on the ground, besides, there are continuous population movement from the rural villages to safe places as affected communities are looking for humanitarian assistance and better basic services.
Food security: In most of the area agriculture land is completely washed away by the flash floods and left people with more vulnerability. Households delayed planting in many areas, and in some areas, rain-fed winter wheat was not planted due to soil moisture deficits carried over from the 2018 drought, according to FEWS. The sharp reduction in agricultural production and the depletion of food reserves are increasing the dependence of families on the purchase of food in the market, in a context of the rising prices of local products (20 per cent on the price of food items in local
7 Balkh, Faryab, Jawzjan, Samangan, Sar-e-Pul, Kandahar, Nimroz, Badghis and Herat provinces. P a g e | 8 markets compared to previous years). Normally most people's food sources come from their own agricultural or livestock production (51 per cent) and purchase (40 per cent). The assessment teams already noted the adoption by households of coping strategies such as reducing the number of meals and quantities prepared, leading to an early deterioration of the food situation.
Nutrition: during interviews and focus groups discussion, the affected population highlighted the early deterioration of the nutritional status of children as well as the increase during 2018 of malnutrition related diseases with children, Pregnant and Lactating Women (PLW), such as anaemia, measles and fever, due to lack of adequate food and access to other basic needs.
According to OCHA report, children show visible signs of malnutrition and illness, including skin diseases and eye infections due to dust. According to UNICEF, 41 per cent of children is malnourished. Recent assessment conducted by the Nutrition Cluster indicate that 25 per cent of children aged 0-59 months are acutely malnourished. It is estimated that over 50,000 children under five and about 20,500 pregnant and lactating women (PLWs) are currently displaced in Herat and Badghis as a result of drought. Timely and scaled up emergency nutrition response is required to avoid malnutrition related morbidity and mortality among this at-risk population.
Livelihoods: A report8 published by FAO on food security and agriculture indicates that food production has been limited, particularly wheat which is 28 per cent below the five-year average, with a deficit of 2.5 million tonnes. According to the Emergency Food Security Assessment conducted in December 2018 reveals that an estimated 92 per cent of famers have reported no seed availability for the next planting season, which begins in mid October 2018 to April 2019. Further, 48 per cent of pastoralists reported reduced livestock productive. Referring to the FEWS outlook, many drought- affected households were selling their livestock in unusual high quantities due to the need for cash and due to inability to properly care for the animals such as fodder availability.
The prioritization of needs by households (food purchase on the market) has increased the debt and early sale of productive assets, also reducing the possibility of investing in agricultural inputs and livestock for the 2018 crop year (June to December).
The assessment teams concluded that the floods and drought jeopardize household food, nutrition and economic security, calling into question their ability to meet their basic needs in the coming months and invest in their livelihoods to recover from the last failed agricultural season. Thus, the priority needs of affected households lie in the coverage of immediate food needs, and livelihood restoration intervention.
Health and Care According to data from the rapid need assessment of floods, and emergency need assessment for drought in December 2018 and January 2019 led by ARCS, the common diseases in the areas affected by the recent floods and protracted drought are; diarrhoea, typhoid, malnutrition (severe and acute), pneumonia, acute respiratory infections and anaemia.
There is limited access to health services due to distances to health facilities as most communities must walk between 5 km to 15 km to the nearest health facility. According to the Afghanistan Health Survey (AHS) and UNICEF report (Penta3 – 61 per cent (AHS) and Measles – 62 per cent (UNICIEF), most members of the community reported that they are unable to visit health facilities for vaccination due to the high costs of transportation.
Department of Public Health has also noted that they are facing a shortage of medicine in their response and has requested support from the international community.
Population movement as a result of food insecurity will result in increased demand of health services. In the coming months, IDP will move to government allocated land in Herat. More sustainable health services will be provided to those living on the sites. According to Health Cluster Bulletin in December 2018, 4.6 million people in need of health assistance. Mental health has been identified as a priority. The risk of communicable diseases is very high in displacement camps, as well as areas of origin for those affected by floods and drought. Cases of acute watery diarrhoea are affecting more than 40 percent of households in displaced sites. Measles and the Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever are more prevalent than previously reported. Existing health services are unable to cope with the increase demand in the areas of origin and are now out of essential medicines and supplies. 42 percent of households report a total lack of antenatal care in drought affected districts. This analysis was obtained from data recorded between July to December 2018.9 After the floods in 2019, update prioritizes life-saving assistance, protection and the prevention of further deterioration of food security conditions, as well as livelihoods activities and mental health and psychosocial support services.
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)
8 Early Warning Early Action report on food security and agriculture by FAO, published in 12 April, 2019 9Afghanistan Health Cluster: Health Cluster Bulletin December 2018 P a g e | 9
In WASH, infrastructures such as water points, communal latrines, household latrines have been destroyed and filled with water leaving affected HHs to practice open defaecation. Mobile health team cannot access some of the districts due to heavy flooding. Since the transport pathways are stopped from the villages to the main town, people cannot access their livelihood sources. The team visited many provinces, where there are huge needs of not only shelter and household items but other basic health and WASH services due to the floods in March 2019.
During the last year assessments done for drought affected communities by humanitarian actors and ARCS teams, it is estimated that only 40 per cent of the population has access to improved or protected water sources. Scaling up WASH interventions is necessary to ensure access to clean water, access to basic sanitation and improved hygiene in the target population. Communities need basic life sustaining access to WASH services (in community and schools) and support to harness community-based organisations to take actions aimed to improving hygiene practices, soil and water management for improved livelihoods and adaptation.
As open water sources dry up, the pressure on permanent sources, such as boreholes increases, leading to longer waiting times and the risk of breakdown. There is a decrease in water availability and quality in the livelihood zones due to poor or no-recharge of water bodies. More than 70 per cent of the pans10 and seasonal rivers are reported to be dry. Water levels in the rivers and small streams had already reduced significantly by the end of December 2018. So far, no repair of wells and boreholes/handpumps has been undertaken by the ARCS in any province. The ongoing conflict and the security situation have caused displacement of people in many parts of the country.
The ARCS assessment concluded that in target areas of drought affected communities in nine provinces, almost 60 to 70 per cent of the water points, respectively, are now dry. Thus, livestock are experiencing significant water and pasture stress and animal body conditions are generally poor, with drought related deaths of animal being reported in some provinces. Milk production dropped to very low levels and it is currently up to 70 - 80 per cent below average in target areas. Poor hygiene practices, including consumption of unsafe water, low latrine coverage and poor health seeking behaviour have been cited as some of the underlying factors for the high levels of malnutrition in the counties. In the recent past in 2017 and in the year 2018, cholera outbreaks affected several provinces in the country. According to the assessment report, most of the affected communities in province of the country have very low latrine coverage. The water treatment is equally low, at less than 10 per cent and hand washing practices are also poor.
There is need to support communities to take charge of basic hygiene management in their areas and the Ministry of Public Health has requested an increase in interventions in social mobilization and community education on water treatment and storage, and on effective handwashing and sanitation practices. Schools are also key area where WASH services need to be provided, to both retain current students and to enable children to attend school in a safe and dignified environment and to reduce the risk of transmission.
Humanitarian agency assessments throughout Afghanistan, including those of ARCS, consistently demonstrate that the priority needs requested by the affected population (whether in rural areas or in IDPs settlements) are shelter, food, water and health care in response to the acute humanitarian needs brought about by years of protracted drought and current floods in Afghanistan. In addition, there is a need to ensure that rural livelihoods are supported in the recovery and longer-term phases.
Targeting The ARCS response will focus on emergency shelter, food distribution and cash transfers to meet basic needs, health and WASH interventions in thirteen provinces. In total, up to 674,686 affected people in 13 provinces, affected by the recent floods and protracted drought, are targeted.
Given the high mobility of pastoralist communities, as well as the overall adverse impact of the affected population, the selection criteria are flexibly based on needs. The selection of people to be assisted will be based on their level of vulnerability, including: households that have lost their source of livelihoods (loss of crops and animals etc.), the chronically ill, elderly, female-headed households, lactating mothers and under-five children (malnourished), pregnant women, and/or people with disabilities, availability and access to potable water by households in the affected areas.
Further, the selection process will be participatory. This includes conducting community meetings to set up selection committees that will assist to define vulnerability and identify the people to receive assistance.
The ARCS is working closely with the government, stakeholders and other agencies to ensure that there will be no duplication of intervention activities. The Government early warning and response analysis indicates the need for close monitoring of the evolving nutrition situation and further strengthening of the emergency food and nutrition responses required for target thirteen provinces affected by floods and drought.
10In Afghanistan pan is a small reservoir created by excavating open ground, to collect and store surface runoff from uncultivated grounds, from hillsides and or open rangelands P a g e | 10
Regional details No Region Province Disaster Districts Nangahar Flood Hesarak, Sorkh-Rod, Aftkamena, Batikot, Haychen, Kama, 1 East Khewa, Daray Noor, Chaparhar, Baesot and Moman dara Region Kunhar Flood Sar-Kani, Marwara, Shegal, Sheltan, Watapor, Dangam, Asmar, 2 Narahy, Ghaziabad and Chapa Dara Farha Flood Nawahe Shar, Bakwa, Balabolok, Khak Safed, Anar Dara, Sheb 3 Ko, Posht-Rod and Posht-Ko Flood and Herat city, Zer-ko shendan, Posht ko shendan Zawol, Khush ke 4 West Herat Drought Kuhna, Gulran Region Nimroz Flood & Chakhansour, Kang, Char Burjak, Khashrood, Damarda and 5 Drought Mirza Azim Abkamry, Moqure, Bala Morghab, Jawand, Nawe - Laman and 6 Badghis Flood & Badghis city Drought 7 South Helmand Flood Nawa, Lashkargah, Nada Ali and Nahri Saraj Malgir West Flood and Kandahar city, Dand, Maiwand, Panjwai, Spin Boldak, Zheri, 8 Kandahar Drought Arghandab, Daman, Takhta Pul and Arghestan Flood & Khanaqa, Khwaja Dako,Qush tepa, Faizabad and Shiberghan 9 Jowzjan Drought city 10 Sar-e-Pul Flood & Suzma qala, Ghusfandi, Sayad, and Capital of Sare-e-Pul Drought 11 North Faryab Flood & Shirin Tagaab, Qesar, Pashtoon Kot, Dawlat Abaad, Almar, Region Drought Khuja Sabz Posh 12 Balkh Flood & Chamtall, Dehdadi, Sholgara, Doko and Part of Balkh City Drought North Districts: 17th, 11th, 19th, 9th, 5th, 13th, 18th and Qarabagh, 13 West Kabul Flood Shakar Dara and Surabi Districts of Kabul City Central Region
Provincial targets Province Disaster Sectors Target population Nangarhar Flood DRR, livelihoods, PGI, WASH, shelter 56,734 Farha Flood DRR, livelihoods, PGI, WASH, health, shelter 88,793 Kunhar Flood DRR, livelihoods, PGI, WASH, shelter 57,492 Helmand Flood DRR, livelihoods, PGI, WASH, health, shelter 87,689 Herat Flood & Drought DRR, livelihoods, PGI, WASH, health, shelter 91,798 Kandahar Flood & Drought DRR, livelihoods, PGI, WASH, health, shelter 69,722 Jowzjan Flood & Drought DRR, livelihoods, PGI, WASH 51,789 Nimroz Flood & Drought DRR, livelihoods, PGI, WASH 53,487 Badghis Flood & Drought DRR, livelihoods, PGI, WASH 89,756 Sar-e-Pul Flood & Drought DRR, livelihoods, PGI, WASH, health, shelter 4,200 Faryab Flood & Drought DRR, PGI, WASH, health, shelter 15,386 Balkh Flood & Drought DRR, livelihoods, PGI, WASH, health, shelter 5,600 Kabul Flood DRR, PGI, WASH, health 2,240 Total 674,686
Scenario planning The planned response reflects the current situation and information available at this point of the evolving situation and will be adjusted based on further developments and context changes. Forecasts have provided indication of rain and snowfall in many parts of the country including target areas, which supports the design of the overall operation, particularly the emergency shelter, cash provided for food assistance and food distribution to affected population.
This might however change in the event of a new major hazard being created by the floods and prolonged drought situation. The interventions included in this plan have considered risk issues identified. Implementation of emergency shelter, food and cash interventions will take a time to kick-start for early recovery and expected to be completed by October 2019. Similar to the Acute Watery Diarrhoea /Cholera outbreak seen in early to mid-2019, the more rains are expected in March and April 2019 can likely result in the same crisis if WASH interventions particularly hygiene promotion are not adequately supported. In the event of another AWD/Cholera outbreak, ARCS will utilise its capacity to strengthen this operation for Appeal period.
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Operation Risk Assessment A risk assessment done by the country office in January 2018 noted that security issues restrict field access by international staff at one time or the other, but it is not anticipated that these will hamper the smooth implementation of the operation. Because it is recognized for its neutrality, impartiality and independence, ARCS – as a local agency – with acceptance across Afghanistan has staff and volunteers present in every province across the country, with direct access to communities. The National Society is able to operate and has on-going operations in Afghanistan where they are running the integrated health care programme, WASH, disaster risk reduction; volunteer management and current response and relief activities for floods & drought affected population in different regions that cater for the settled, remote and nomadic communities and people provided with food and non-foods relief items with their available resources. Therefore, the National Society will utilize its capacity and extensive experience in implementing projects in complex emergency, floods and drought affected areas. There are risks associated with implementation of the proposed CVA as this will be the first time that cash is used as a response modality by ARCS.
The main risks and their mitigation strategies are as follows:
Risk Likelihood Impact Mitigation Fraud & corruption Medium High Deliver cash assistance through a financial service provider Train key staff in chapters in fraud prevention Programming suspended Medium High Continue scenario planning and security monitoring. due to security threats Plan activities with risks and opportunities in mind. Market inflation Low Medium Market monitoring Contingency budget to revise transfer value or change to in-kind distributions if required Lack of experience on High Medium RDRT support for at least 3 months to set up the CVA cash-based interventions scheme and monitor implementation (CVA) People move to target Low High Monitoring of the situation and close communication/ areas attracted by cash coordination with local authorities and humanitarian transfers creating tensions actors. Contingency plan to change transfer modality if in host community required
The IFRC has a Security Delegate who will support and work with the Afghanistan Country Office in monitoring the security situation and guidance on how the operation will be implemented. The IFRC staff will seek security clearance from the ICRC through the Security Delegate before undertaking any field missions outside Kabul as per the Movement Coordination Agreement. The IFRC operational team only provides remote technical support to the ARCS branches for intervention in some areas. Further to this, the Security Delegate will orient and update regularly to IFRC staff working directly with the operation on `Safer Access` and `Do no Harm’.
B. Operational strategy11
Overall Operational objective
The overall objective of this Emergency Appeal is to respond to the immediate humanitarian needs of the population affected by the floods and complex drought emergency in Afghanistan through the provision of emergency shelter, health care and nutritional interventions, the promotion of access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene and supporting food security and livelihood through cash transfers until March 2020.
As the situation is highly unpredictable, the strategic priority is to ensure that the activities under the appeal which are time critical are prioritised. At the same time, it is essential to work with contingency plans to be prepared for a scenario where the next rainy season is inadequate in March and April 2019, which would lead to a further deterioration of the emergency shelter need, food security situation and an increased chance of further health issues and disease outbreaks such as AWD. The ARCS and IFRC aim to incorporate longer term resilience-oriented approaches in programming to address some of the diverse underlying factors which will extend beyond the current floods and protracted drought causing vulnerability. Community driven sustainable solutions will be used to increase the resilience of crisis affected people to cope with cyclical food insecurity and other weather-related crises such as floods and drought. This could help to prevent or mitigate a crisis situation as with the severe drought after 2012 and rapid onset flash flooding in Afghanistan, where humanitarian interventions arrived late and lacked longer term vision. Access to health services will be provided through mobile health clinics. Safe and clean water will be enabled through rehabilitation of water source
11 The plan should be prepared by the National Society, with support from the Secretariat technical departments and support services. P a g e | 12 points. FSPs in the country have sufficient capacity and experience to deliver cash transfers even in remote areas to ensure the implementation of the CVA component. Mobile Money System in Afghanistan is well established, and the market has sufficient resources and integration to meet and cope with the increased demand for food commodities.
The ARCS due to funding constraints has been unable to operate four mobile health teams in affected areas, and through this Emergency Appeal the National Society will activate these MHTs to support the hard to reach areas where communities are unable to access health services due to long distance to the health facilities. The ARCS will train volunteers in nutrition screening and disseminate key messages on health including surveillance on disease outbreak. These trained volunteers will also conduct house to house campaigns on vaccination and clean water use among others. Given the challenges with access to clean water for household consumption the volunteers will also train communities and disseminate information on good health and hygiene practices.
The proposed activities address the priority needs and areas of interventions identified by the ARCS with the support of IFRC through Rapid & Emergency Need Assessment in as follows:
1. Provide emergency shelter and household items to flood affected households 2. Meet immediate household food needs through direct food distribution and Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) 3. Reduce the risks to the health of affected populations 4. Prevent risk of waterborne and water related diseases in targeted communities 5. Support livelihood restoration 6. Community resilience is enhanced through integrated community-based DRR programming 7. Enhance the disaster response and preparedness capacity of Afghan Red Crescent Society
The proposed response activities in this appeal will also reinforce ARCS disaster response capacity and expertise in areas such as emergency shelter/household items, health care provision, WASH and CVA, and strengthen its country- wide network of volunteers. These objectives will be closely linked to those of the national long-term (development) operational plan for Afghanistan, ensuring a concerted approach to capacity building and allowing for an effective exit strategy when this Emergency Appeal is expected to come to an end on 15 March 2020.
Proposed strategy
The proposed strategy and plan of this Emergency Appeal will seek to reduce the vulnerability of 674,686 (male: 342,066 and female: 332,620), approximately (96,384 families) affected by the current floods and protracted drought, which has been exacerbated by other factors such as insecurity and economic instability. The operation will address their immediate needs relating to emergency shelter/household items, food insecurity, deteriorating health and poor access to safe water and adequate sanitation, whilst contributing to building longer-term resilience in the affected communities.
The operational strategy and plan of this Emergency Appeal is the outcome of continuous follow-up, assessments and data analysis, as well as consultation between the IFRC, ARCS and Movement partners on how to respond to this complex emergency in an integrated manner.
Proposed interventions
Overall, this operation seeks to assist the following within each sector: • Emergency shelter and household items to 3,000 households; • Distribution of food packages among 9,000 households; • Provide cash to 4,500 households for basic needs, and 1,000 households for restoring livelihoods; • Provision of health services to people through the deployment of mobile clinics; • Provision of clean and safe water for consumption through rehabilitation of boreholes/handpumps; • Community resilience is enhanced through integrated community-based DRR programming.
Emergency Shelter and household items The current flooding damaged the infrastructure including roads and public buildings, which led to the disruption of the routine functioning of these facilities in the affected areas. Several of the public buildings which were damaged during the flood disaster, have also lost connectivity and are inaccessible due to damages to roads and bridges.
Standard package contents No• Shelter & household Items Amount per HH package Unit 1• Blanket 7 pcs 2• Kitchen set 1 set P a g e | 13
No• Shelter & household Items Amount per HH package Unit 3• Jerry can 2 pcs 4• Tarpaulin sheet 2 pcs 5• Tent 1 pcs
Together with many public buildings, thousands of houses in the flood affected areas have been completely or partially damaged and leaving people completely homeless. The homeless people have been accommodated in schools, and other public buildings which survived this disaster in and around their villages. The people have lost all their belongings and are in immediate need of emergency shelter, household items such as blankets, kitchen sets, cooking stoves, water containers and water purification tablets to survive.
Cash and Voucher Assistance to support food needs and livelihoods ARCS is a member of the Country Cash Working group for coordination of cash interventions with other humanitarian actors. Last year ARCS conducted a self-assessment of its level of preparedness for CVA and developed a Cash Preparedness workplan which is currently under implementation. As part of this preparedness plan, a four-day CVA training took place in December 2018 as well as different meetings were held with potential financial service providers (FSPs). Even if ARCS has little experience in CVA, Cash transfers in Afghanistan are a well-established response modality for the delivery of humanitarian aid with experienced humanitarian actors, FSPs, good policy environment (as the government is interested in using mobile money for paying its civil servants) and a dynamic Country Cash working group.
Additionally, the mobile money companies operating in Afghanistan provide practical trainings to affected people who have not used the mobile money services before. This includes distributing informative brochures to the literate in the local language.
This operation will be a pilot for ARCS to implement CVA in relief intervention. Under this operation, multipurpose cash grants will be distributed to 4,500 households and 1,500 households for basic needs and restoring livelihoods respectively. The proposed transfer value of CHF 70 per household has been calculated based on the market price of food basket using Afghanistan minimum household of 7 persons. However, the sphere minimum standards for a household is 5. The Food Basket will have:
Standard content of food basket • No • Items Amount per package Unit • 1 • Rice 25 kg 2 • Cooking Oil 10 liter 3 • Beans 7 kg 4 • Green Tea 1 kg 5 • Iodized Salt 2 kg 6 • Sugar 5 kg
The ARCS will engage and contract a mobile money company to support the mobile money transfer services to the targeted people. The ARCS will send out a request for bids to the mobile companies operating mobile money transfer services. The selection of the provider will be guided by the reputation of the companies (based on feedback from other humanitarian agencies that have utilised the services. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be prepared and signed by both parties before the services commence. The IFRC will also collaborate with the preferred service provider to build the capacity of the National Society through a 4-day (CVA) training for staff and volunteers at branch level. This training will further enhance the quality of implementation of cash transfer services during the operation. The ARCS staff will conduct periodic market monitoring to assess the impact of the CVA on commodity prices and availability as well as utilisation of the cash by the targeted households. The mobile money operators will also provide electronic and printed reports for all the transactions that would have been made in a given month. The indicative cost of the mobile money transfers is 2.5 to 3% of the transfer. Apart from the CVA interventions, IFRC country office will procure the 9,000 food packages for floods and drought affected families in thirteen provinces, in which markets are not functioning and not easily accessibility by affected population. These food packages will be distributed in the same provinces among the families where they will not be served through CVA intervention.
Health and Care ARCS is seeking the operational support for four MHTs in six provinces to ensure adequate coverage of health services in the hard-to-reach areas affected by the floods and drought. Currently, ARCS is operating a total of 34 MHTs, supported by IFRC and PNS; and 45 fixed health clinics in Afghanistan where medicines support is being provided by the ICRC.
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Volunteers will also receive trainings in nutrition screening, referrals and dissemination of key messages on health (nutrition promotion and education), vaccination, hygiene promotion etc. The ARCS assessment in 13 provinces, as well as the Ministry of Public Health in Afghanistan reported an increase in cases of malnutrition and disease outbreaks (Acute Watery Diarrhoea and measles etc.). Through the operation the ARCS will do nutritional screening for children under five, treatment and referrals of complicated cases to address these challenges being faced by the affected communities.
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) One of the biggest challenges that communities in Afghanistan are facing is access to safe and clean water for household and livestock consumption. Most households are purchasing water for consumption at relatively high cost. In this operation, the ARCS will support communities through the rehabilitation of water source points and distribution of water filters to ensure that households have access to safe and clean water and sanitation facilities. Volunteers will also receive trainings in Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation (PHAST methodology) and disseminate the information to households.
Disaster Risk Reduction Afghanistan is highly vulnerable to natural hazards and frequently affected by earthquakes, floods, drought, landslides, and avalanches. Approximately 60 percent of Afghanistan’s population is threatened by natural hazards, and each year recurrent hazards affects the huge number of population. Inclusion of risk sensitive programming early in the response is an entry point to integrate community-based DRR and resilience approaches into the mid-term and longer-term initiatives in a comprehensive manner. It also allows consideration of underlying causes of risks and vulnerability factors of the population. ARCS and IFRC promote DRR and resilience building to mitigate the risks through specific activities and promotion of cross-cutting topics such as gender and diversity, youth engagement, social networks strengthening, women empowerment, livelihood diversity and protection. Additionally, ARCS can incorporate DRR into multiple sectors across the response, where relevant and feasible in their regular programming. In many regions of Afghanistan, lives and livelihoods suffer from periodic weather-related stress, particularly from below-normal rainfall. The disaster risk reduction and early warning awareness activities will enhance the community capacity to address adverse effects of climate change in floods and drought affected areas. This will build resilience and capacity at community level (women and youth groups) to be able to identify, address and report on risks and vulnerabilities for early action and raise awareness and strengthen early warning systems with the aim to support the community.
Protection, Gender and Inclusion The operation will apply an integrated approach and the IFRC Minimum Standard to Protection, Gender and Inclusion P a g e | 15 in Emergency Programming will be mainstreamed in sector specific interventions. An integrated strategy to mainstream PGI, PSS, SGBV and CEA element in the intervention will be implemented through IFRC’s DAPS approach Dignity, Access, Participation and Safety. Related to CEA, feedback and complaint mechanisms will be established as well as an information hub; that provides information on the available services on site. Due to difficult access and overcrowded communities in central districts of some provinces, reaching the most vulnerable and deliver assistance to at risk communities including children, pregnant and lactating women, people with disabilities, the elderly headed households. There is a need for child friendly spaces and women and girls support groups. The operation will ensure the timely procurement of dignity kits and as need arise, coordination with the sectors will be ensured to distribute to women and girls within IFRC/ARCS targeted areas. Sex, age and disability disaggregated data will be collected and analysed to increase the understanding of how many women, men, girls and boys are affected and what their distinct needs, protection concerns, and priorities are.
Internal protection mechanisms are crucial to ensure the safety of staff, volunteers and affected population through the response. Briefings will be held on IFRC/ARCS commitments through the Code of Conduct and Child protection Policy, as well as obligations of volunteers, staff and management to ensure a zero tolerance to sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA). Community based protection approaches will be open to communities and this will be enhanced during the operation to ensure social inclusion and community cohesiveness, as well as to mitigate tensions. Based on the community structures in the villages, a need to focus on women’s participation and decision making in the community is essential; promoting grandmothers as active agents in all activities including longer term social inclusion initiatives. Outreach teams and mobile health teams will be equipped with referral information and will have received training on Protection, Gender and Inclusion to be able to support with house to house visits when difficulties in access may be increased.
• transparency: all stages of planning is done in close collaboration and consultation with the various stakeholders. The mapping of the areas is done in coordination with the administrative authorities, the partners intervening in the country, the local Red Crescent branches concerned by the operation but also in full compliance with the documents (synthesis reports, publications, evaluations & reviews).
• communication: several communication mechanisms will be adopted to promote the involvement of the communities in the implementation of the operation by allowing them a better understanding of ARCS in general and the strategy for this operation, to minimize the errors of inclusions and exclusion in targeting, and to eliminate any form of tension during implementation. Local information sharing mechanisms such as communicating via community-based committees, the traditional authorities, affected and non-affected committees will be adopted, as well as the use of local radios.
• participation: strategy for this operation would be to involve all stakeholders through regular exchanges, meetings, the establishment of community management structures, the organization of committees’ meetings. This will already start before the implementation of the response, to ensure that communities influence the design of the response activities.
• engagement: the commitment of the ARCS is part of the engagement of humanitarian partners, the authorities and the local committees of the ARCS to face any critical situation on a commitment of communities through the implication of village committees. The communities of the areas of operation were already engaged in the identification of programming priorities, through need assessment conducted by ARCS at community level. Through focus groups and interviews, communities in the areas expressed their needs and priorities for intervention, which have been considered for the design of this operation. During targeting and implementation, the village committees afore mentioned will be the main channel for community engagement and communication.
Operational support services
Human resources As part of the implementation of this Appeal, the IFRC and ARCS will mobilize the following resources:
IFRC: • The IFRC Head of Country Office will be ultimately accountable for timely implementation, compliance, financial management and reporting of the operation. • At the onset of the operation, IFRC will provide technical support to ARCS through its staff from Country Office (CO) with Health/WASH/Livelihoods/CVA/Surge Operations Support. • Operations Manager will be hired for the entire duration of the operation, with a technical profile in disaster management, livelihoods & cash. The Operations Manager will be based in Kabul with need-based visit to the P a g e | 16
implementation areas. S/he will be overall responsible for operation & monitoring according to the IFRC procedures and technical support to the National Society. • RDRTs with a profile of communications/Livelihoods/Logistics/Cash/PMER for (one to three months) will be deployed subject to needs, to support technically to NS. • The IFRC Country Office will provide technical support through its Logistics, Finance, Admin, HR and Health.
Implementation of this Emergency Appeal operation is open for Shared Leadership approach to achieve collective impact. This includes the option of having PNS taking the lead in supporting ARCS in thematic area(s) of strength with IFRC sharing/providing financial resources from the Emergency Appeal to enable that support. PNS may also provide technical support (including HR surge) through the existing surge and HR processes.
ARCS: • At the provincial level, the National Society will hire a project staff designated for the implementation of this Appeal, besides a WASH & Health, Livelihoods & Cash, and youth & volunteer focal point, admin & finance persons will also be appointed. • At the level of the implementation areas, the National Society will commit NDRTs for operation and for the supervision of volunteers.
Logistics and supply chain Procurement Logistics activities aim to effectively manage the supply chain, including mobilization, procurement, customs clearance, fleet, storage and transport to distribution sites in accordance with the operation’s requirements and aligned to IFRC’s logistics standards, processes and procedures.
Relief items, such as water filter, jerry can, blanket, tarpaulins, tents, kitchen set, food parcel, medicine and dignity kit are needed for this operation. Except medicine and water filter, most of the relief items will be replenished subject to funding availability. Majority of the NFI’s are sourced internationally through Operational Logistics, Procurement & Supply Chain Management Unit, Asia Pacific (OLPSCM) by using the existing regional stocks and framework agreements. Food parcel is procured locally by IFRC Afghanistan Country Office in accordance with IFRC procurement procedures and processes.
Mobilization table for outstanding items has recently been revised and published on GO platform. National Societies are highly encouraged to support the operation based on the needs on the mobilization table.
One RDRT specialized in procurement will be deployed to Kabul in review the procurement processes and introduce improvements, coach and train IFRC logistics officer, and, coordinate logistics of the Emergency Appeal operation Information Technology Internet connectivity is available in the IFRC country office. ARCS staff members and volunteers in the field operation will be supported by high-quality internet facility and internet data packages on their smartphones which will enable them to communicate electronically with the provincial office to send reports and pictures. Assessment through mobile phone will be carried out through mobile apps, since Cash Transfer Program will be part of the intervention for carrying out surveys with Open Data Kit (ODK). As part of this operation computers, printers will be provided for the areas of operation where needed.
Communication Strategy ARCS and IFRC will collaborate to implement a communication strategy that will: • raise awareness of the complex, immediate and long-term recovery needs of communities in Afghanistan, who are currently out of sight, in an under-estimated crisis with limited access by humanitarian agencies or media, out of reach because of conflict and out of scope because this is a large, slow- onset disaster; • support the positioning of the Afghan Red Crescent Society as a credible humanitarian responder with a network of volunteers and expertise in disaster management, and unique access to people in need; • promote the emergency appeal and support a call for the international community to make the funds available for life-saving help; • manage reputational risks; • provide accountability to donors on the impact of the Red Cross Red Crescent response; • maximize opportunities to build ARCS communications capacity.
The audiences are the news media, social media audiences, Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, partners, peer organizations and donors.
Materials will be developed and shared, including high-quality photos, videos, stories, key messages to guide partner communications and social media posts. Spokespeople will be identified, supported and pitched to the media. Coverage will be monitored. Where possible, journalists and others will be supported to visit Red Crescent activities.
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All communications products will preserve the dignity of people and promote diversity, gender inclusion and respect.
Implementation strategy according to the funding mobilization plan The implementation of the activities foreseen in this Appeal, subject to the mobilization of the resources, will follow the following order of prioritization: 1. the coverage of immediate needs in terms of emergency shelter/household items, food and nutrition assistance through distribution of food packages; 2. the implementation of cash-based intervention and livelihood protection and recovery activities; 3. the implementation of health and WASH activities;
In geographical terms, through on-going coordination with the afore mentioned humanitarian partners, the ARCS will prioritize coverage of needs in 13 provinces; Herat, Badghis, Nimroz, Kandahar, Jowzjan, Farha, Helmand, Nangarhar, Kunhar, Sar-e-Pul, Faryab, Balkh and Kabul of Afghanistan.
Community engagement and accountability Community accountability and feedback/response mechanisms will be integrated into the operation to ensure that affected populations have access to timely and accurate information on the nature and scope of services provided by ARCS and expected behaviour of staff and volunteers. Since only a fraction of the affected population will be selected, the selection criteria will be communicated clearly to affected people and wider communities so that they understand the rationale behind the selection process. This will avoid potential tensions/frustrations by the people who do not meet the ARCS selection criteria. Besides, these mechanisms will be set up throughout the entire operation to receive feedback, opinion and complaints. ARCS national headquarters will directly address the feedback through setting up a hotline or complaint box/desk in the communities. Best practices will be captured, and all efforts made to record case studies as the operation progresses.
Security Generally, the security situation in the country remains unpredictable and volatile, and in some areas the security risks are extreme. The overall response in floods and drought affected communities have been hampered by the access restrictions caused by security concerns. The shrinking humanitarian space and access to populations in need remain significant challenges. The conflict has rendered major roads such as the Helmand-Kandahar highway in very poor condition, further limiting the population's access to vital services. Humanitarian workers have reported pressure from some authorities not to respond in areas controlled by non-state armed groups. I/NGO staff report harassment and restriction of movement to and from such areas. Humanitarian actors, including the Movement, have had very limited access in the past six months.
Civilians living in the provinces of Nangarhar, Kabul, Helmand, Ghazni, and Faryab were most impacted by the conflict. UNAMA notes with extreme concern that Nangarhar became the province that recorded the most civilian casualties in the first nine months of 2018. The increase in the number of civilian casualties from suicide and complex attacks by Anti- Government Elements, more than half of which are attributed to a non-state armed group, continued to offset decreases in civilian casualties from other incident. The majority resulted from suicide and complex attacks, which increased both in frequency and in lethality to civilians, driving the overall rise in civilian deaths. Ground engagements were the second leading cause of civilian casualties, followed by targeted and deliberate killings, aerial operations, and explosive remnants of war.
In addition, the Movement encountered access limitations following a declaration by an Armed Opposition Group (AOG) in mid-August that security guarantees given to operation in Afghanistan would be withdrawn. This resulted in restricted personnel movement and reduced operational capacity pending dialogue to address concerns of the AOG. After weeks of dialogue, security guaranties to the Movement were restored on 14 October 2018. A similar announcement was made on 11 April and a fresh round of dialogue with the AOG will be undertaken over the next weeks. It is anticipated that a solution will be reached for Movement partners to gradually resume activities, including to roll out interventions in support of communities affected by food insecurity, flooding and extreme weather events.
The IFRC Afghanistan country office will continue to provide regular security briefings that indicate the accurate security level, as well as the required prevention and mitigation measures in case the situation deteriorates. The fragile context reinforces that adaptability of this operation to changes in the context is a key operational principle underpinning the planning and delivery. As such, flexibility of funding must accompany the adaptability of the operation.
Planning, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting (PMER) Continuous monitoring will be carried out through the ARCS staff members in the areas of implementation to support the floods and drought intervention and will ensure that there is compliance with the minimum international humanitarian standards (SPHERE, Fundamental Principles etc.), as well as client satisfaction, and the management of the available resources. The IFRC Afghanistan Country Office will also carry out monitoring missions in collaboration with the ARCS to support the effective implementation of the Emergency Appeal and a revision of the Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA) and Budget will be conducted based on the results of the monitoring report. Volunteers and staff will be trained on data P a g e | 18 collection and basic analysis in the provincial branches. Data collected include registration of people to be assisted, baseline data on CTP, post-distribution monitoring (PDM) data, KAP survey, end line survey, price monitoring data. Steps are being taken to strengthen the National Society approaches to PMER.
Through this EPoA, IFRC Afghanistan country office as part of PMER development efforts of the National Society will extend its PMER support, the plans will be developed with PMER unit at the National Society that will be responsible for implementing a monitoring, evaluation and reporting system. Monitoring and reporting will be done according to the agreed monitoring framework. Whereby the provincial branch staff and volunteers will submit reports to respective branch focal person monthly. The branch monthly report will then be submitted to national PMER unit for consolidation. A mid-term and an (independent) end-term evaluation will be carried out, mainly for impact assessment.
Administration and Finance A Project Agreement will be signed between the IFRC Afghanistan country office and the ARCS, which will outline the parties’ responsibilities to implement the activities planned within the Emergency Appeal and ensure that the appropriate guidelines are complied with in terms of the use of the funding allocations. The ARCS has a permanent administrative and financial department, which will ensure the proper use of financial resources in accordance with terms of the Project Grant Agreement for Emergency Appeal. Monthly field returns will be sent to the IFRC Afghanistan county office for verification and booking to ensure that the activities are reported in accordance with the IFRC Standard Financial Management procedures. Office costs for stationery (printing, photocopying, paper etc.) will be budgeted for in the Emergency Appeal. P a g e | 19
C. Detailed Operational Plan
Shelter People targeted: 21,000 Male: 10,647 Female: 10,353 Requirements (CHF): 1,895,500
Needs analysis: The flood damaged the infrastructure including equipment and amenities which led to the disruption of the routine functioning of these facilities in the affected areas. Several of the public buildings which were damaged during the disaster, have also lost connectivity and are inaccessible due to damages to roads and bridges. Most of the provinces already affected by the protracted and recently drought affected and live in poor shelter without sufficient basic service. Together with many public buildings, thousands of houses in the flood affected areas have been completely or partially damaged and leaving people homeless. These homeless people have been accommodated in schools, and other public buildings which survived this disaster in and around their villages. These people have lost all their belongings and are in immediate need of emergency shelter, household items such as blankets, kitchen sets, cooking stoves, water containers and water purification tablets to survive.
Population to be assisted: 3,000 households (21,000 people) affected by floods will be provided with emergency shelter and essential household items and will have access to guidance on Build Back Safer shelter practices.
Programme standards/benchmarks: The shelter intervention endeavours to meet the minimum standards (planning, covered living space and environmental impact) as set out in the Sphere standards for Shelter and Settlements.
Shelter Outcome 1: Communities in disaster and crisis affected areas restore and strengthen their # of people targeted/reached with safe, appropriate and adequate shelter and settlements assistance safety, well-being and longer-term recovery through shelter and settlement solutions (Target: 21,000) P&B Shelter Output 1.1: Short, medium and long-term shelter and settlement assistance is provided to # of households are provided with emergency Output affected households shelter and settlement assistance (Target: 3,000) Code Activities planned 2019 2020 Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 AP005 Identification, registering and verification of people to be assisted x x x x x x AP005 Procurement of emergency shelter and household items x x x x x Mobilization of volunteers and provide orientation on distribution AP005 x x x protocols AP005 Transportation of emergency shelter and household items x x x Distribution of emergency shelter and household items to 3,000 AP005 x x x x families P a g e | 20
AP005 Undertake post-distribution monitoring and satisfaction survey x x # of households provided with technical support and Shelter Output 1.2: Technical support, guidance and awareness raising in safe shelter are provided to guidance, appropriate to the type of support they P&B receive (Target: 3,000) affected households # of staff and volunteer trained on safer shelter Output techniques (Target: 240) Code Activities planned 2019 2020 Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Site selection and installation of emergency shelter with safer AP006 x x x shelter techniques and appropriate use of shelter assistance AP006 Training on safer shelter techniques to volunteers and staff x x Orientation of HHs on safer shelter techniques and appropriate AP006 x x x x use of provided shelter assistance
Livelihoods and basic needs People targeted: 105,000 Male: 53,235 Female: 51,765 Requirements (CHF): 1,448,000
Needs analysis: The floods and drought affected population in Afghanistan, mostly rural community’s livelihoods, particularly small-scale agricultural producers, whose limited production negatively impacted their access and the availability of resources to cover their basic needs. Overall, the ARCS’s assessments revealed that the current floods and drought hampered affected people’s ability, these complex disasters also increased the need of affected people including shelter and food rations. The current flooding in many provinces and protracted drought, the affected population do not have the necessary resources to purchase farm supplies, which affected their ability to earn a living. Households and communities need support to recover their livelihoods with dignity. According to Government of Afghanistan and UNOCHA humanitarian needs report for 2018 drought and most recent flooding in the country the most pressing humanitarian needs in 2019 are: (i) emergency shelter need (ii) immediate access to food and nutrition; (iii) rural livelihood support to restore own food access, prevent further displacement, and enable early return or local integration or settlement elsewhere for the willing and able, (iv) urban livelihood support to improve own food access and facilitate integration in the same location or elsewhere.12 In order to assess the floods and drought impact across the country, FAO participated in a rapid assessment in March 2018, and for floods assessment is ongoing followed by an Emergency Food Security Assessment with cluster partners in August 2018 and the IPC analysis in October 2018. The assessments showed a progressively deteriorating situation with 10.6 million people (around 30 percent of the population) now facing severe food insecurity and in need of urgent action.13 The results of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, released in October 2018, show that Afghanistan is experiencing a major livelihood crisis - primarily caused by severe drought, which limits food production and depletes farmers’ and livestock keepers’ assets and livelihoods. Years of civil conflict and instability as well as the severely degraded condition of much of the land have compounded the impacts of the drought, and most recent floods are leading to the food security crisis situation we are witnessing today.
12 2018 Afghanistan Humanitarian Needs Overview: UNOCHA (https://www.unocha.org/) 13 Afghanistan drought response: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (www.fao.org/emergencies)
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ARCS is a member of the Country Cash Working group for coordination of cash interventions with other humanitarian actors. Cash transfers in Afghanistan are a well-established transfer modality for the delivery of humanitarian aid with experienced humanitarian actors, FSPs, good policy environment. This operation will be a pilot for ARCS to implement CVA in relief intervention. Under this operation, multipurpose cash grants will be distributed to 4,500 households and 1,500 households for basic needs and restoring their livelihoods through green/kitchen gardening activities respectively.
With most markets remaining functioning, recommendation from various assessments has suggested that conditional cash is practical support to the drought-affected population. The rapid need assessment for floods and the drought emergency need assessment that is carried out in thirteen provinces by ARCS with support from IFRC also pointed that emergency shelter/household items, food & livelihoods, health and water as most urgent needs of the communities.
The current intervention in provision of food and cash grants are only able to cover the needs for a month, continuously monitoring on the food security situation will be conducted with close coordination with local government and other humanitarian actors in country who are also providing food assistance. Additional assistance might be considered and provided based on the situation and assessment.
Population to be assisted: Based on the need assessment in the thirteen provinces; (Herat, Badghis, Nimroz, Kandahar, Jowzjan, Farha, Helmand, Nangarhar, Kunhar, Sar-e-Pul, Faryab, Balkh and Kabul); (i) a total of 9,000 households (63,000 people) immediately will be provided with food package; (ii) a total of 4,500 households (31,500 people) through cash interventions for (multipurpose cash grant) with CHF 70 will be supported in floods and drought affected areas; and (iii) a total of 1,500 households (10,500 people) will be supported through conditional cash grants of (CHF 80) to enable them to restore their livelihoods by increasing access to agricultural inputs and tools (through cash transfers) to set up vegetable gardens. Total target for livelihoods & basic needs are: 105,000 (Male: 53,235 & Female: 51,765).
ARCS will be supported by IFRC CO for cash-based interventions through regional cash expertise and deployment of staff, an expansion of the CVA will then be easier to implement. The target households are from rural areas.
Programme standards/benchmarks: IFRC will deploy a Cash Specialist for a period of 3 months to ensure smooth implementation of the cash scheme. IFRC will also support the ARCS to ensure effective participation of affected communities and accountability throughout the project cycle by setting up feedback and complaints platforms as guided by the IFRC community engagement and accountability (CEA) standards and Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS). The guidelines from the cash working group as well as the IFRC Cash in emergency toolkit will be instrumental as reference during implementation.
Livelihoods and basic needs Outcome 1: Communities, especially in disaster and crisis affected # of people that have enough food, cash or income to areas, restore and strengthen their livelihoods meet their survival threshold (Target: 105,000) P&B # of households assisted with conditional cash grant Output Livelihoods and basic needs Output 1.1: Vocational skills training and/or productive assets to (Target: 1,500) # of training conducted in vegetable gardening Code improve income sources are provided to target population. (Target: 25) Activities planned 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Month AP007 Restoration of livelihoods of 1,500 households through cash grant x x x x x x x Training in vegetable gardening including climate smart practices, AP007 x x x x x soil and water conservation Monitoring of progress and activities throughout the planting AP007 x x x x x x x x season P a g e | 22
Livelihoods and basic needs Output 1.2: Basic needs assistance for livelihoods security including # of households reached with food assistance food is provided to the most affected communities (Target: 9,000)
Activities planned 2019 2020 Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 AP008 Identification, registration and verification of people to be x x x x x assisted AP008 Contracting with Financial Service Providers (FSP) x x x x x AP008 Food security training for staff and volunteers x x x x x x x AP008 Procurement of food package x x x x AP008 Distribution of food package among 9,000 households (in two x x x x x x phases) AP008 Post distribution monitoring, including regular measurement of x x x x Food Security indicators # of ARCS staff & volunteers trained on CVA (Target: P&B Livelihoods and basic needs Output 1.5: Households are provided with multipurpose cash grants to 300) Output address their basic needs # of households reached with multipurpose cash Code grants for (basic needs) (Target: 4,500) Activities planned 2019 2020 Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 AP081 Consultation with service providers in the country x x AP081 Capacity building of branch staff and volunteers on CVA (4 days) x x x x AP081 Identification, registration, verification and orientation of people x x x to be provided with cash grants AP081 Preparation of baseline assessment for Cash Voucher x x Assistance (CVA) AP081 Orientation on the selection of people to be assisted and use of x x x x x mobile money transfer system for target population AP081 Preparation and piloting of mobile phone cash transfer x x x x x AP081 Distribution of multipurpose cash grants to 4,500 households x x x x x x (CHF 70) AP081 Establishment of the CEA activities such as setting up targeting committees as well as feedback and complaints mechanism and x x x x x x x x training of volunteers AP081 Conduct price and market capacity, post distribution monitoring x x x x x x and endline surveys
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Health People targeted: 405,159 Male: 205,416 Female: 199,743 Requirements (CHF): 479,000
Needs analysis: In many parts of the country, flood waters destroyed thousands of houses, public infrastructure and agriculture land. The high risks of consequent health emergencies are high and serious damage to the health service infrastructure, and lack of medical supplies, leaves millions vulnerable to diseases. A priority of the national society is to immediately deploy the mobile health teams in severely floods affected provinces in order to meet the most basic needs of the affected populations. Furthermore, as the national society continues to care for those left vulnerable by these floods, it is critical that the emergency disaster preparedness stock are replenished to allow the national society to rapidly respond to the continuation of this operation as well as new emergencies. This emergency appeal seeks to provide the national society, and thus vulnerable populations, with essential medical supplies as well as provide hygiene promotion and health education to prevent the further spread of disease in the aftermath of these floods.
The needs related to health have been clearly outlined by the analysis of monitoring data from UN agencies, including WHO, OCHA, FEWS and the Ministry of Public Health in Afghanistan. The Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2019 has been released. 6.3 million people will be in need of humanitarian assistance. Of those, 1.9 million people will be in need of emergency health services due to conflict, natural disasters and a lack of basic services.14 The latest version of the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) learning resources has been reviewed by National Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) in Emergency sub-committee in Afghanistan. The committee started advocacy and discussion with faculties of Ghazanfar Institute of Health Sciences (GIHS) to integrate the MISP into the midwifery curriculum.15 Rapid Assessment Tool developed by the committee was applied in assessing the health facilities of three provinces (Nangarhar, Kandahar and Herat). The Committee decided to include the new-born health services and supplies in humanitarian services as part of its response strategy. The Humanitarian Response Plan for Afghanistan has been revised to respond to the emergency. WHO as lead agency for health cluster will continue to complement and support the drought response. Working with the Ministry of Public Health and partners implementing the Basic Package of Health Services for Afghanistan and sustainable solutions need to be introduced to provide vulnerable population access to health care. UNICEF and partners in the nutrition cluster estimates also show that between July and December 2018, some 121,000 acutely malnourished children under five and 33,000 pregnant and lactating women could need life-saving nutrition services. During the reporting period in December 2018, 479 cases and 59 deaths due to Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever have been reported. Though the majority of the cases are reported from Herat and Kabul provinces, the spread of the disease to 31 provinces is concerning. Prevention and control measures are already in place to enhance coordination among relevant actors and ministries, increased public awareness, capacity building, enhanced surveillance, and timely distribution of medication and supplies.16
The ARCS has been working in collaboration with the IFRC, ICRC and movement partners and with other key stakeholders in responding to Health in Emergencies (HiE) including AWD/Cholera and measles outbreaks, Community Based Health and First Aid (CBHFA), Youth Health, Routine Immunization and WASH, psychosocial support (PSS), volunteer’s management, youth mobilization and restoring family links (RFL) and tracing activities in Afghanistan. The current AWD/Cholera outbreaks in Afghanistan appear to be escalating and affecting many more communities in drought affected areas. Therefore, a scale up operation is required to urgently and swiftly treat reported cases, control the spread through social mobilization activities, improved quality of household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene practices as well as improving surveillance.
Population to be assisted: A total of 405,159 (Male: 205,416 & Female: 199,743) people will be targeted by health interventions in six provinces of Afghanistan.
14 Afghanistan: Health Cluster Bulletin December 2018 15 National Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) Strategy 2017−2021 of the Ministry of Public Health, Afghanistan 16 Afghanistan: Health Cluster Bulletin December 2018 P a g e | 24 a) Helmand & Farah (provinces are affected by Floods) b) Herat, Kandahar, Faryab & Jawzjan (provinces are affected by Floods and Drought)
Through the ARCS’s six Mobile Health Teams (MHT), an estimated of 405,159 people in six provinces will have access to general health care, vaccinations, nutrition screening, hospital referrals and other services that are part of regular medical services at the clinics as well as AWD treatment. 4,500 women will be targeted for nutritional supplements. The support will be targeting an estimated 10 percent of lactating and pregnant women (PLW) in the ARCS MHTs catchment area. Target people will be selected through nutrition screening at the clinics or through community visits by mobile health team staff and volunteers. 4,500 PLW will receive nutritional supplements through the ARCS mobile health teams. Mothers of malnourished children will receive education on health, hygiene and nutrition, including Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) information at the clinic and mobiles, including through mother mentor groups.
Programme standards/benchmarks: The activities included in this Appeal are based on assessment conducted by ARCS teams in thirteen floods and drought affected provinces of Afghanistan and coordination and harmonization with humanitarian actors in accordance with the Sphere Standards.
# of people reached by NS with services to reduce Health Outcome 1: The immediate risks to the health of affected populations are reduced relevant health risk factors (Target: 405,159)
# of RCRC Mobile Health Teams (MHTs) deployed P&B Health Output 1.2: Target population is provided with rapid medical management of injuries and to provide health services support (Target: 6) Output # of people reached through NS emergency health diseases Code management programme (Target: 405,159)
Activities planned 2019 2020 Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Deploy six mobile health teams (MHTs) in Herat, Kandahar, Faryab AP022 & Jawzjan (Flood and Drought affected) and in Helmand and Farah x x x x x x x x x x x x (heavily flood affected) AP022 Procurement and supply of medicines to health facilities x x x x x x x x x x x x AP022 Provide refresher training for nurses and midwives to improve in x x case management and disease surveillance skills – 5 days # of community volunteers trained on CBHFA modules (Target: 180) # of ARCS RCY volunteers trained on CBHFA Health Output 1.3: Community-based disease prevention and health promotion is provided to the modules (Target: 90) P&B target population # of PLW received nutritional supplements (Target: Output 4,500) Code # of people reached through health education sessions (Target: 405,159) Activities planned 2019 2020 Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 AP011 Establishment of twelve community health committees x x x x x x x AP011 Community mobilization for vaccination especially during National x x x x x x x x x x x x immunization Days (NIDs) P a g e | 25
AP011 Identification of pregnant and lactating women and under 5 x x x x x x children for nutrition support AP011 Distribution of food supplements to pregnant and lactating women x x x x x x x x AP011 Conduct nutrition promotion sessions x x x x x x x x x x x AP011 Provide first aid services for the affected communities x x x x x x x x x x x AP011 Print and supply information, education and communication (IEC) materials for health volunteers with more focus on health promotion x x x x x x and acute watery diarrhoea/cholera prevention AP011 Procure first aid kits and supply to volunteers for case x x x x x x management AP011 Conduct community-based health and first aid (CBHFA) training to x x x volunteers using Epidemic Control for Volunteers (ECV) Toolkit. AP011 Volunteer mobilization for health education x x x x x x x x x x x AP011 Field monitoring by ARCS HQ - jointly by IFRC x x x x x x x x x x x
Water, sanitation and hygiene People targeted: 674,686 Male: 342,066 Female: 332,620 Requirements (CHF): 969,500
Needs analysis: Access to safe water is an immediate need in floods and protracted drought affected communities of Afghanistan, as a significant proportion of households do not have access to sufficient and drinkable water to meet emergency standards. Even in areas where recent rains caused flooding and water contamination, the reliance on uncovered sources for drinking, and the limited use of water treatment either at source or at the household level means that water quality is of serious concern. The knock-on effect of low-quality drinking water is likely to affect nutrition and health in the medium to long term. In Afghanistan water which comes from wells and open streams more than 90 per cent of which are contaminated to one degree or another due to current floods and drought in past years. The local community is mainly relying on unimproved water sources, primarily borehole and/or unprotected wells and sometime springs and streams water.
One of the biggest challenges that the communities in Afghanistan are facing is access to safe and clean water for household and livestock consumption. Access to safe water is an immediate need in drought affected communities, as a significant proportion of households do not have access to sufficient water to meet emergency standards. Even in areas where recent rains will have alleviated quantity issues in water supply, the reliance on uncovered sources for drinking, and the limited use of water treatment either at source or at the household level means that water quality is of serious concern. Water points and fountains across the country have dried up, and rivers have run low or dried up. In many cases, farmers could do nothing but watch their seeds dry out and their crops fail. Herders could not find any pastures, and tens of thousands of sheep and goats have died. The knock-on effect of low-quality drinking water is likely to affect nutrition and health in the medium to long term. In Afghanistan, water which comes from wells and open streams more than 90 per cent of which are contaminated to one degree or another.
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Community people are unaware on water purification methods for safe drinking. The solid waste management system is also weak, with indiscriminate household garbage disposal. Due to this practice/behaviour, communities suffer from WASH related diseases such as diarrhea which is one of the major diseases affecting mostly children below 5 years of age. WASH (especially in the hygiene promotion and solid waste management) need to be the major focus area. Open defecation is the common practice in affected area and it has been observed that, animal and human feces contaminate the drinking water sources which can create hazard of water borne disease and stagnant water contributes to the increase in incidences of vector borne diseases. The affected population need immediate support in terms of access to clean drinking water through provision of water purification tablets, household water filters for affected families along with health and hygiene sessions for healthier living practices. Due to the drought, nearly 150,000 people from affected provinces have been displaced to Herat and Qala-e-Now. The drought has had a devastating effect on pre-existing water sources, with 750,000 people experiencing acute water shortages and an increased use of unprotected water sources for drinking, exposing children to waterborne diseases, leading to malnourishment.17
ARCS seeks to give access to safe and clean water for consumption, through rehabilitation/maintenance of water points (handpumps/boreholes) and installation of handpumps/boreholes that serve the affected communities at risk of AWD. In addition, ARCS will distribute the 50 water tanks/tap stands in schools within the same communities. It has been observed that many nomadic populations travel for fodder for various periods at a time and return to their village for water. Hence it is crucial to ensure the water points in these villages are rehabilitated and protected. Due to the uncertain security situation in many parts of the country, the ARCS have had to take into account the effective implementation of the operation. The ARCS have full access to the regions which are the worst affected by drought in Afghanistan. This makes it possible to target the affected population in the provinces, which are particularly at risk of AWD outbreaks due to poverty, limited access to safe water and extremely poor hygiene.
The ARCS has conducted a need assessment supported by IFRC in December and January 2019 revealed that the sanitation facilities are insufficient in many districts and several AWD cases have been reported. Open defecation is practiced in the settlements and because of the rains the ground becomes muddy and water collection is creating conditions for outbreaks of waterborne diseases. Orientation sessions will be conducted for safe water storage and use of water treatment products (Aquatabs) to target communities and schools and awareness on AWD/cholera outbreak.
Population to be assisted:
A total of 674,686 (male: 342,066 and female: 332,620), people in thirteen provinces of Afghanistan will be targeted by WASH interventions during the Appeal.
High-risk communities: 1. Flood and drought affected communities 2. IDPs living in camps 3. IDPs and host communities accommodating IDPs 4. School children in the affected communities
Programme standards/benchmarks: The aim of WASH interventions to promote good personal and environmental hygiene in order to protect health, with protecting the environment, promoting health and facilitate access to resources. The activities included in Appeal will be implemented in floods and drought affected provinces in collaboration with other humanitarian actors in accordance with the Sphere Standards.
% of targeted population have access to clean water, P&B WASH Outcome1: Immediate reduction in risk of waterborne and water related diseases in targeted sanitation and with increased knowledge of personal Output communities hygiene according to Sphere standards (Target: Code 80%) WASH Output 1.2: Daily access to safe water which meets Sphere and WHO standards in terms of % of people provided with safe water (according to quantity and quality is provided to target population WHO standards) (Target: 80%)
17 UNOCHA Afghanistan: Drought Response Situation Report # 1, Aug 2018 P a g e | 27
% of target population with access to an improved water source (Target: 80%) # of water points rehabilitated/repaired (Target: 50) # of new handpumps/boreholes installed (Target: 20 # of households provided with jerry cans (2 per HH) (Target: 3,000) # of households provided with water filters (Target: 6,000) Activities planned 2019 2020 Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 AP029 Establish WASH committees in twelve provinces x x x x x x x x Repair/rehabilitation of 50 water points (boreholes/wells/water AP029 x x x x x x x x reservoir/spring) for 17,500 people AP029 Installation of new 20 handpumps/boreholes in affected communities/schools for 4,200 people from communities and x x x x x x x x x 20,000 beneficiaries in schools AP029 Procurement and distribution of 50 water tanks/tap stands in x x x x x x x x x schools for 50,000 people AP029 Procurement and distribution of 6,000 households water filters for x x x x x x x 42,000 people AP029 Procurement of 6,000 jerry cans and distribution among target x x x x x x x communities for 3,000 families AP029 Procurement and distribution of 50,000 Aquatabs x x x x AP029 Orientation sessions for solid waste management, safe water x x x x x x x x storage and use of water treatment products (Aquatabs) AP029 Monitor treatment and storage of water through household/school x x x x x x x x x surveys WASH Outcome 2. Sustainable reduction in risk of waterborne and water related diseases in targeted % of targeted population have access to sanitation communities facilities (Target: 80%) P&B # of latrines installed to an improved sanitation WASH Output 2.2: Improved access to and use of adequate sanitation provided to target population Output facility (Target: 60) Code Activities planned 2019 2020 Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 AP029 Construct 60 latrines in affected schools/communities x x x x x x x x x x x x # of ARCS staff/volunteers trained on PHAST modules (Target: 300) # of teachers/volunteers trained on CHAST modules P&B WASH Output 2.4: Hygiene promotion activities are provided to the entire affected population. Output (Target: 250) Code % of the targeted population reached for hygiene promotion activities (Target: 80%) Activities planned 2019 2020 P a g e | 28
Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Training on participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation AP030 x x x (PHAST) methodology for branch staff and volunteers (ToT) AP030 Conduct child hygiene and sanitation training (CHAST) training for x x x teachers and volunteers (ToT) AP030 Support WASH and community health and hygiene promotion and awareness sessions along with distribution of ORS, households x x x x x x x x x x x water treatment (HHWT) such as aqua tabs, soaps and IEC materials during social mobilization campaigns AP030 Develop, print and distribution of IEC materials through volunteers x x x x x x x x x x in relation to water, sanitation and hygiene promotion (WASH) AP030 Post distribution monitoring x x x x
Disaster Risk Reduction People targeted18: 674,686 Male: 342,066 Female: 332,620 Requirements (CHF): 593,000
Needs analysis: Afghanistan today faces one of the most acute complex humanitarian and environmental crises in the world. An estimated 9.6 million people in Afghanistan are in need of humanitarian assistance, including 3.6 million malnourished food insecure men, women, and children affected by severe drought. More than 80 percent of the country’s population relies on the natural resource base to meet daily needs, but serious environmental issues such as deforestation, desertification, climate change, aquifer depletion, ecosystem degradation, biodiversity loss, and pollution all negatively impact the resilience of the rural livelihoods that form the country’s foundation.19 Afghanistan is highly vulnerable to natural hazards and frequently affected by earthquakes, floods, drought, landslides, and avalanches. Approximately 60 percent of Afghanistan’s population is threatened by natural hazards, and each year recurrent hazards affect an average of 235,000 people. These hazards are indiscriminate and harm people, lands, and infrastructure alike, causing serious setbacks for many development programmes that aim to increase access to education, health, employment, transportation, and other basic services. Addressing Afghanistan’s complex humanitarian and environmental crises requires a holistic approach that prioritize disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) in order to provide households and communities with the ability to prepare for, withstand, and recover from the shocks of natural hazards and climate change and work with local and national institutions to steer change through innovation and learning.
The underlying vulnerability and poverty of so much of the population in the drought affected areas of the Afghanistan cannot be underestimated as key factors increasing disaster risk. In many regions of Afghanistan, lives and livelihoods suffer from periodic weather-related stress, particularly from below-normal rainfall. The climate-smart disaster risk reduction activities will enhance the community capacity to address adverse climate and disaster impacts and risks in drought and flood affected areas. This will build resilience and capacity at community level (women and youth groups) to be able to identify, address and report on risks and vulnerabilities for early action and raise awareness and strengthen early warning systems with the aim to support the community. The DRR activities will strengthen capacity of Local Government Authorities (Regional/District
18 Reference to the guidance on counting people targeted guidance 19 A Position Paper 2106 Brussels Conference Building Afghanistan’s Resilience: Natural Hazards, Climate Change, and Humanitarian Needs P a g e | 29
Disaster Management Agencies) in drought affected areas to take a lead role in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) interventions. The integration of resilience approaches in the appeal becomes the natural exit strategy for the Emergency Appeal.
Population to be assisted: Population to be assisted: 674,686 (male: 342,066 and female: 332,620), will be targeted in thirteen provinces that have resilience related activities, as follows:
Programme standards/benchmarks: During the planning and implementation processes of the community-based approach in disaster risk reduction; it is important to develop and enhance multi-sectoral collaboration between the local authorities, local health care facilities, communities and other key stakeholders. Appropriate disaster risk reduction measures in communities will enable the people to significantly reduce exposure and vulnerability to various hazards and also to minimize the adverse impacts. The community members have the capacity to cope with the impacts of a disaster and must be involved in the development of disaster risk reduction activities starting from the early planning stages. Community will be trained to identify and assess major threats/hazards, exposure, vulnerabilities and capacities in the community. Community risk assessments/VCAs have been carried out in participatory way (with the involvement of women and men). Community information from the participatory community risk assessments/VCA and available scientific information are used to develop, prioritise and adjust the activities in the community plans as well as support the development of early warning early action mechanisms. In the project area losses and damage due to exposure and vulnerability to natural hazards at individual, household and community level will be reduced within a defined time period of Appeal.
% of the targeted population increased the DRR Outcome 1: Communities in high risk areas are prepared for and able to respond to disaster resilience level and prepared to respond disaster (Target: 80%) # of ARCS staff/volunteers trained on DRR/CCA & EWS (Target: 225) P&B % people have communities risk knowledge DRR Output 1.1: Communities take active steps to strengthen their preparedness for timely and effective (Target: 80%) Output response to disasters. # of sessions conducted in flood & drought Code communities (Target: 200) # of provinces with mitigation measures taken in high risk areas (Target: 12) Activities planned 2019 2020 Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 AP001 Training of staff and volunteers on DRR/CCA and early warning x x x x system – 3 days (12 provinces) AP001 Mobilization of volunteers for disseminating early warning x x x x x x x messages AP001 Formation of community-based disaster risk management x x x x x committees in disaster prone areas (12 committees) AP001 Train and equip of community-based disaster risk management x x x x x x x x x committees AP001 Conduct CBDRR programming, including risk assessment, x x x x x x x x x x x planning and implementation of DRR measures AP001 Support awareness raising of risks of drought and floods and x x x x x x x x x conduct mitigation measures P a g e | 30
AP001 Plantation for climate change mitigation and to protect soil erosion x x x x on river banks in 12 provinces AP001 Work with local actors to enhance their capacities and resilience x x x x x x x x x x x x
Protection, Gender and Inclusion20 People targeted: 674,686 Male: 342,066 Female: 332,620 Requirements (CHF): 182,000
Needs analysis: During disasters, affected people are made more vulnerable by housing and economic insecurity. Vulnerable population in Afghanistan such as children, elderly, persons with disabilities and the sick are at higher risk of exploitation. There is a need to protect this population and incorporate their different needs into the programming. Protection needs in the complex emergency in Afghanistan are mainly related to the deteriorating security situation, involuntarily population movements and current drought situations affected most of the population in country. Violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and Human Rights Law (HRL) occur regularly. Children are at particular risk of abuse, neglect, marginalization and exploitation, as well as interrupted school attendance, harmful child labour, drug abuse and trafficking. Multiple forms of GBV, particularly early and forced marriage, domestic, psychological and sexual abuse are reported, affecting individuals in hosting and displaced communities alike. Women, who are frequently already unable to fully participate in civil life, face heightened risks of discrimination and abuse if divorced, separated or widowed, including expulsion, forced remarriage and hampered property ownership. Holistic approaches aimed at improving the resilience and self-reliance of affected households, as well as enhancing positive engagement of governance structures are needed to reduce vulnerabilities and to mitigate short and longer-term protection risks. The Afghanistan Protection Cluster (APC) aims to protect and uphold the fundamental rights of women, girls, boys, and men affected by the complex emergency in Afghanistan. Timely identification of protection risks and violations through systematic and coordinated protection monitoring and analysis will inform preventative, responsive, and remedial interventions, as well as enhance accountability. This includes evidence-based advocacy, protection specific service delivery, and community-based mobilization, mitigation, and prevention activities creating a protection-conducive environment. In addition to the physical safety risks to civilians living in conflict, floods and drought affected areas and the increasing pressures facing those living in displacement, people have had to endure significant interruptions to vital services as a result of the closure of healthcare facilities and attacks on education facilities. ARCS and IFRC will coordinate with protection and gender-based violence clusters in western, central, northern and eastern regions. Stronger linkages with protection clusters are also sought on relevant issues of common interest, such as the development of a comprehensive disability and survivor support strategy and response; enhanced operational and planning integration around protection and GBV prevention and response. ARCS and IFRC will coordinate with protection and gender-based violence clusters in western, central, northern and eastern regions. Stronger linkages with protection clusters are also sought on relevant issues of common interest, such as the development of a comprehensive disability and victim assistance strategy and response; enhanced operational and planning integration around protection and GBV response.
Population to be assisted: PGI initiatives aim to provide access to women, men, girls and boys in the target areas of floods and drought response in Afghanistan. Population in the targeted areas will be provided with access to protection and gender support and community engagement approaches. Through mainstreamed approaches in WASH, Health, DRR and relied/livelihoods & basic needs the approach will also reach those supported through the sectors, including the registered household will be provided with dignity kits to women and girls.
20 This area of focus is a merge of what previously was Social Inclusion and Culture of Non-violence and peace. It is under development, so for now it represents the physical merge of three existing relevant outputs.
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Programme standards/benchmarks: PGI approaches will be aligned with the IFRC Minimum Standard to Protection, Gender and Inclusion in Emergency Programming, the IASC Gender-Based Violence Guidelines. The IFRC MSs have been developed based on (but not limited to) the Sphere handbook and the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action. The Protection, Gender and Inclusion Area of Focus of the emergency appeal is complimentary to the Response Priority 1 of the One Window Framework.
Inclusion and Protection Outcome 1: Communities identify the needs of the most vulnerable and Operation demonstrates evidence of addressing the specific needs to ensure particularly disadvantaged and marginalised groups, as a result of inequality, discrimination and other equitable access to disaster response (Target: non-respect of their human rights and address their distinct needs P&B Yes) # of staff/volunteers trained on PGI(Target: 30) Output Inclusion and Protection Output 1.1: NS programmes improve equitable access to basic services, # of dignity kits distributed to women and girls Code considering different needs based on gender and other diversity factors. (Target: 5,000) Activities planned 2019 2020 Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Trainings of Trainers (ToT) session on Minimum standards for AP031 protection, gender and inclusion in emergencies (NHQ and x x x regional/provincial staff) Follow up and provide technical support in compliance with IFRC AP031 minimum standards for protection, gender and inclusion in x x x x x x x x x x x x emergency programming, closely linked with a CEA approach Support sectoral teams to ensure collection and analysis of sex- AP031 x x x x x x x x x x x x age and disability-disaggregated data Develop content and support procurement and distribution of AP031 x x x x x x x 5,000 dignity kits Inclusion and Protection Output 1.2: Emergency response operations prevent and respond to sexual- # of women/child friendly spaces established P&B and gender-based violence and all forms of violence against children. (Target: 4) Output Activities planned 2019 2020 Code Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Establish and operate women/child friendly spaces in four AP034 x x x x x x provinces
Strategies for Implementation Requirements (CHF): 2.43 million
The response to the floods and drought emergency will put pressure on ARCS capacities and will demand scaling up of staffing and other organizational components. Therefore, the need to allocate additional resources to mitigate a potential negative impact on the longer-term development of the National Society by putting deliberate efforts to strengthen the institutional preparedness capacity of the ARCS. The activities planned in this regard look at the following three broad areas with a strong focus on the regional and provincial branch level:
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• Skillset improvement/capacity development - through training, coaching and mentoring of staff and volunteers • Facility, equipment and pre-positioned stock capacity • Data management & branch development
So far, IFRC has supported trainings on emergency need assessment (ENA) and data collection in DREF operation for drought and for recent floods in Afghanistan. Such capacity building initiatives will continue. The Appeal will focus to follow IFRC finance systems, planning and reporting and capacity building in logistics in accordance with the development plan developed by the NS and Norcross across thirteen provincial branches. Capacity building of branch staff and volunteers on Cash Based Interventions is one of the areas. This may be caused by the selection of those trained and will be utilised during the operation.
Core assumptions, the context and impact, operational constraints, and priority needs continuous assessments will be carried out by the ARCS volunteers and staff as well as IFRC operational staff in the targeted area. Assessments and monitoring of activities is challenged by limited access to some of the targeted areas, particularly in some provinces, which cannot be accessed directly by IFRC staff due to the uncertain security situation. Thus, monitoring will be done through the ARCS branch staff and volunteers and national headquarter staff. Regular monitoring will be conducted on cash voucher assistance (CVA) activities as well as of distributions of food packages and hygiene items. The data gathered will form the basis for continuous assessment and re-evaluation of needs as well as the impact of the assistance.
Outcome S1.1: National Society capacity building and organizational development objectives are ARCS has a self-development plan in follow up facilitated to ensure that National Societies have the necessary legal, ethical and financial foundations, to BOCA (Target: Yes) systems and structures, competences and capacities to plan and perform
# of insured volunteers engaged in the operation P&B Output S1.1.4: National Societies have effective and motivated volunteers who are protected Output (Target: 50) Code Activities planned 2019 2020 Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Training, coaching and mentoring of staff and volunteers on AP040 x x x x x x x x x x x x various sector technical aspects AP040 Volunteer management capacity enhancement x x x x x x x x x x x x # of national/provincial level trainings conducted Output S1.1.6: National Societies have the necessary corporate infrastructure and systems in place P&B for staff and volunteers of ARCS (Target: 6) Output 2019 2020 Code Activities planned Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 AP002 Conduct National Disaster Response Team training x x x x AP002 Conduct Branch Disaster Response Team training x x x x AP042 Conduct Logistics supply chain, procurement/fleet, warehouse x x management workshop AP042 Security management capacity building workshop x x AP039 Support for implementing priorities outlined in BOCA plans / x x x x x x x x x x x x Branch Development Plans P&B Outcome S2.1: Effective and coordinated international disaster response is ensured Effective and coordinated international disaster Output response ensured (Target: Yes) P a g e | 33
Code # of NS surge capacity deployed for the operation (Target: tbc) Output S2.1.1: Effective response preparedness and NS surge capacity mechanism is maintained # of people deployed using global response tools (Target: 3) Activities planned 2019 2020 Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 AP046 Operations Manager x x x x x x x x x x x x AP046 RDRTs Surge x x x x x x x x x x AP046 IFRC - technical missions and support x x x x x x x x x x x Outcome S3.1: The IFRC secretariat, together with National Societies uses their unique position to Regular coordination with the government and influence decisions at local, national and international levels that affect the most vulnerable. within the humanitarian system (Target: Yes) P&B # of involvement within the humanitarian system Output S3.1.1: IFRC and NS are visible, trusted and effective advocates on humanitarian issues Output on advocacy for the crisis (Target: tbc) Code Activities planned 2019 2020 Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 AP053 Communications work/visibility x x x x x x x x x x x x Output S3.1.2: IFRC produces high-quality research and evaluation that informs advocacy, resource # of evaluations conducted (Target: 2) P&B # of paper/report published (for RCRC) (Target: mobilization and programming. 2) Output Code Activities planned 2019 2020 Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Conduct regular analysis of trends, risks and vulnerabilities to AP055 x x x x x x x x x x x x ensure readiness in evolving context Mobilize staff and volunteers to carry out continuous need AP055 x x x x x x x x x x x x assessments AP055 Undertake joint (ARCS, IFRC, ICRC and PNS) monitoring visits x x x x x x x x x x x x AP055 Conduct mid-term evaluation x AP055 Conduct an external final evaluation x Regular monitoring of safety and security of staff Output S4.1.4: Staff security is prioritised in all IFRC activities P&B members (Target: Yes) Output Activities planned 2019 2020 Code Month 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Security Risk Assessment (SRA) and continuous security AP066 x x x x x x x x x x x x updates
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Budget
Refer to below for revised budget details.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies EMERGENCY APPEAL
Afghanistan: Floods & Drought Funding requirements
DISASTER RISK REDUCTION 593,000 SHELTER 1,895,500 LIVELIHOODS AND BASIC NEEDS 1,448,000 HEALTH 479,000 WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE 969,500 PROTECTION, GENDER AND INCLUSION, 182,000 STRENGTHEN NATIONAL SOCIETY CAPACITIES 779,000 ENSURE EFFECTIVE INTER'L DISASTER MANAGEMENT 1,487,000 INFLUENCE OTHERS AS LEADING STRATEGIC PARTNERS 151,000 ENSURE A STRONG IFRC 16,000 TOTAL FUNDING REQUIREMENTS 8,000,000 all amounts in Swiss Francs (CHF)
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Reference For further information, specifically related to this operation please contact: documents In the Afghan Red Crescent Society Click for: • Dr. Nilab Mobarez, secretary general; phone: +93781570085; • Previous email: [email protected] Appeals and • Abdulrahman Kalantary, director disaster management; phone: +93792222182; updates email: [email protected] • Emergency Plan of In the IFRC Country Office, Kabul Action • Ariel Kestens, head of country office; phone: +93 700274881; (EPoA) email: [email protected] • Dr. Arvind Bhardwaj, health delegate; phone: +93 702727254; email: [email protected], • Abdul Basit Khan Swati, surge operations manager; phone: +93 707549974; email: [email protected],
In the IFRC Asia Pacific Regional Office, Kuala Lumpur • Alka Kapoorsharma, acting deputy regional director; email: [email protected] • Necephor Mghendi, head of disaster and crisis prevention, response and recovery; email: [email protected] • Alice Ho, operations coordinator; mobile: +6013 360 0366; email: [email protected] • Riku Assamaki, regional logistics coordinator; mobile: +6012 2989 752; email: [email protected] • Rosemarie North, communications manager; email: [email protected]
For IFRC Resource Mobilization and Pledges support • In IFRC Asia Pacific Regional Office: Nabila Nasir-Myers, marketing and partnerships coordinator; email: [email protected]
For Performance and Accountability support (planning, monitoring, evaluation and reporting enquiries) • In IFRC Asia Pacific Regional Office: Liew Siew Hui, PMER manager; email: [email protected]
In IFRC Geneva • Tiffany Loh, senior officer, operations coordination; email: [email protected] • Nelson Castano, manager, operations coordination; email: [email protected]
How we work
All IFRC assistance seeks to adhere to the 34TCode of Conduct34T for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent
Movement and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Disaster Relief and the 34THumanitarian Charter and
Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response (Sphere)34T in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable. The IFRC’s vision is to inspire, encourage, facilitate and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies, with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering, and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.