Evalua on of the UNHCR Shelter Assistance Programme Final Dra The Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (MGSOG) is the Public Policy Graduate School of Maastricht University, combining high-level teaching and research. The institute provides multi-disciplinary top-academic training. Doing so, it builds on the academic resources of the different faculties at Maastricht University as well as those of several foreign partners. In January 2011, the School became part of the United Nations University, strengthening further its international training and research network while building on the expertise of UNU-MERIT the Maastricht based research institute of the UNU. One of the key areas of education and research is Migration Studies, where MGSOG has gained a strong reputation. Samuel Hall. (www.samuelhall.org) is a research and consulting company with headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan. We specialise in socio-economic surveys, private and public sector studies, monitoring and evaluation and impact assessments for governmental, non-governmental and international organisations. Our teams of field practitioners, academic experts and local interviewers have years of experience leading research in Afghanistan. We use our expertise to balance needs of beneficiaries with the requirements of development actors. This has enabled us to acquire a firm grasp of the political and socio-cultural context in the country; design data collection methods and statistical analyses for monitoring, evaluating, and planning sustainable programmes and to apply cross- disciplinary knowledge in providing integrated solutions for efficient and effective interventions. Acknowledgements The research team would like to thank, first and foremost, the men, women, children who agreed to participate in this research and share their experiences throughout the 15 provinces surveyed. Second, we express our gratitude for the commitment of a team of 50 field staff who worked tirelessly over the course of 8 weeks during the fall of 2012. The research teams in Afghanistan were led by Nassim Majidi and Hervé Nicolle, project directors, Camille Hennion, project manager, Fatma Wakil and Lucile Martin, project officers and Ibrahim Ramazani and Abdul Basir Mohmand, field coordinators. The research has been jointly designed and co-authored by Melissa Siegel, Craig Loschmann, and Katrin Marchand at the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance (MGSoG) and Nassim Majidi and Camille Hennion, at Samuel Hall. Cover Picture © Lucile Martin 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Boxes .......................................................................................................................... 4 List of Figures......................................................................................................................... 4 List of Acronyms .................................................................................................................... 7 1. Introduction...................................................................................................................19 1.1 Shelter for Displaced Populations in Afghanistan................................................................ 19 1.2 Objectives: Assessment of the Shelter Assistance Programme ............................................ 20 1.3 Key Concepts..................................................................................................................... 21 1.4 Shelter Assistance in a Changing Humanitarian Context: 2009-2011 and beyond ................. 22 1.5 Report Outline................................................................................................................... 25 2. Methodology .................................................................................................................26 2.1 Quantitative Data Collection and Analysis .......................................................................... 26 2.2 Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis ............................................................................ 35 2.3 Limitations and Constraints ............................................................................................... 38 3. Shelter Assistance Programme: Design, Support and Monitoring & Evaluation ...............40 3.1 Design and physical aspects of the shelter.......................................................................... 41 3.2 Support ............................................................................................................................. 72 3.3 Monitoring & Evaluation.................................................................................................... 77 4. Beneficiary Selection......................................................................................................82 4.1 The Selection Process and Actors Involved ......................................................................... 83 4.2 Selection Criteria on the ground: vulnerability side-lined.................................................... 86 4.3 Targeting of the Most Vulnerable: Main categories left out ................................................ 98 4.4 Factors explaining the weaknesses of the selection process .............................................. 110 5. Socio-Economic Impact of the Shelter Assistance Programme..........................................113 5.1 Impact on Beneficiary Households ................................................................................... 114 5.2 Impact on Communities................................................................................................... 136 6. Partnerships with Other Stakeholders ..........................................................................140 6.1 Shelter Assistance in Afghanistan..................................................................................... 141 6.2 Assessing Partnerships..................................................................................................... 144 7. Conclusion: What is the impact of UNHCR’s shelter assistance on the sustainable reintegration of returning refugees and IDPs? .....................................................................155 7.1 Overall Conclusion........................................................................................................... 155 7.2 Reflections on Reintegration and Sustainability................................................................ 158 7.3 Assessing the SAP Guiding Principles................................................................................ 167 7.4 Strategic evolutions of the SAP ........................................................................................ 171 8. Recommendations: Reinforcing SAP Guiding Principles ................................................172 3 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................187 Annex 1: Household Sampling by Districts and Categories of Respondents .........................194 Annex 2: List of Key Informant Interviews ..........................................................................196 LIST OF BOXES Box 1: Access to Water…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…. 59 Box 2: Best Practices: Inter-community Relations ...................................................................................130 Box 3: Occupancy Rate – Methodological Considerations.......................................................................153 Box 4: Shelter – An Incentive for Return and Settlement? ......................................................................155 Box 5: Implementing SAP in Insecure Areas.............................................................................................157 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Donors Earmarked Contributions 2009-1011 (Million USD) ..................................................... 151 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Household Survey by Beneficiary Status and Migratory Status ................................................... 27 Table 2: Household Survey Sampling by Province...................................................................................... 29 Table 3: Household Survey Sampling by Type of Location......................................................................... 29 Table 4: Community Survey Sampling........................................................................................................ 30 Table 5: Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index................................................................................................. 33 Table 6: Breakdown of KIIs per Province and Type of Respondent ........................................................... 37 Table 7: Composition of Focus Groups....................................................................................................... 38 Table 8: Type of Shelter by Location (UNHCR Beneficiaries) ..................................................................... 42 Table 9: Type of Shelter by Province (UNHCR Beneficiaries) ..................................................................... 43 Table 10: Dissatisfaction with Elements of the Shelter Programme.......................................................... 46 Table 11: Average Household Size by Province.......................................................................................... 47 Table 12: Dissatisfaction with Elements of the Shelter Programme by Location (UNHCR Beneficiaries) . 48 Table 13: Dissatisfaction with Elements