Rapid WaSH assessment in Nimroz and Farah Province Relief International, August 2019 Contents Background ............................................................................................................................................. 2 RI/MRCA presence in Nimroz and Farah ............................................................................................ 2 Objectives ........................................................................................................................................... 3 Methodology and Process...................................................................................................................... 3 Nimroz ................................................................................................................................................. 3 Key Informant Interviews ................................................................................................................ 3 Focus Group Discussions ................................................................................................................. 3 Borehole Mapping .......................................................................................................................... 3 Team Selection ................................................................................................................................ 4 Farah ................................................................................................................................................... 4 Key informant interviews ................................................................................................................ 4 Field Observation ............................................................................................................................ 4 Key Findings ............................................................................................................................................ 4 Water Supply....................................................................................................................................... 4 Sanitation and Hygiene ....................................................................................................................... 5 Farah ................................................................................................................................................... 5 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................. 5 Nimroz ................................................................................................................................................. 5 Farah ................................................................................................................................................... 6 Proposed number of beneficiaries and budget ..................................................................................... 6 Annex 1 ................................................................................................................................................... 8 Annex 2 ................................................................................................................................................. 11 Annex 3 ................................................................................................................................................. 13 1 Background Located in the south-western part of Afghanistan, Nimroz Province lays to the east of the Sistan and Baluchistan Province of Iran and north of Balochistan, Pakistan. The province contains five district of Zaranj, which serves as the provincial capital, Kang, Chakhansor, Khashorud and Charborjak encompassing about 649 villages, and roughly 156,600 settled people.1 Severe drought affected more than two-thirds of Afghanistan, including Nimroz province, devastated the agricultural sector and left some four million people across the worst-affected provinces in dire need of life-saving humanitarian assistance.2 Flash floods in Afghanistan are common after a drought with El Niño historically associated with above-average snowfall/rainfall particularly during the period February to May and hit Nimroz during March and April. The flood water increased the water level in the two rivers of Khashroud and Helmand passing through the province during spring 2019. The former passes through the districts of Chakhansor and Kharoud and the latter passes through Charborjak district reaching to Zaranj city. However, during the summer the level of underground water decreased and many wells are dried and other salty, especially in Kang and Chakhansor districts. Members of the communities where the wells went dry or salty started to rely on neighboring villages, causing extra pressure on those water sources and, eventually, their depletion. Local authorities have promised interventions but were unable to deliver. It has been demonstrated that the presence of water alone is sufficient to dissuade community members to migrate. This shows that the preference is towards not migrating. Those forced to migrate, seek better conditions and earning opportunities in the cities, namely Zaranj, and Iran. This has catastrophic consequences for protection, with trafficking, deportation and detention awaiting illegal migrants attempting to cross the border. Although flood and drought have affected different areas of Farah province, this province was most impacted by conflicts and general insecurity and presence of multiple AOG groups that led to high number of displacements and destruction of many WASH facilities. Farah city has hosted a large portion of the displaced population of this province, while some migrated to the neighbouring provinces including Nimroz. RI/MRCA presence in Nimroz and Farah Relief International (RI) has been operating in Afghanistan since November 2001, delivering a wide spectrum of humanitarian assistance and development programs including WASH, Food Security, health, agricultural and enterprise development, governance, animal health and husbandry, shelter and natural disaster response. RI has supported the most disadvantaged sectors of the population including returnees, displaced persons, and female-headed households in Afghanistan's least- resourced provinces. During 2018 and 2019 RI had WASH responses in Nimroz funded by UNICEF and ECHO. In 2019 the French NGO MRCA joined RI Alliance.MRCA has been delivering life-saving healthcare in Afghanistan since 1993, establishing and operating health centres in partnership with the Afghan Ministry of Public Health (MoPH). In Nimroz, MRCA has been providing primary health care, antenatal (ANC), postnatal (PNC), and delivery care, via the 18 MOPH's Basic Package of Health Services (BPHs) health facilities and 140 Health posts for the past 10 months, has implemented a new health facility at zero point for returnees under the WHO funding and is running 6 MHT under the CHF funding for the drought affected population. 1 slamic Republic of Afghanistan: Central Statistics Organization. Retrieved 2012-10-31, See: http://cso.gov.af/Content/files/Nimroz(1).pdf 2 Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund Annual Report 2018: https://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghanistan-humanitarian- fund-annual-report-2018 2 RCA has a good knowledge of Farah province having been the EPHS implementer for three years and having implemented and run FATP in unsecure areas of the province under CHF Funding. RI/MRCA completed an ECHO funded drought response project in Farah and Nimroz during 2019 and covered both secure and insecure areas of the province. RI is now a partner for Emergency Response Mechanism (ERM), funded by ECHO, covering both provinces of Farah and Paktika, providing emergency assistance to the shock affected housheolds. Objectives The objectives of the assessment are to (1) identify emergency WASH needs and gaps in the villages of Nimroz and Farah province (2) assess gaps in water storage practices, accessibility and conditions of water sources and WASH facilities and hygiene practices. Methodology and Process Nimroz Data collection in the field was carried out through Key Informant (KI) interviews, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and field observations with community members in two districts of Kang and Chakhansor, during August 2019. Key Informant Interviews A total of 6 key informant interviews were conducted, 2 of which were conducted with female members of the local community. Key informants from the local community included community elders and members of community councils. Focus Group Discussions Seven Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted in five communities of Kang and Chakhansor districts. Two of the FGDs were organized with women. The average number of participants was 15 and it covered the total number of 107 individuals. Sites for FGDs were identified in consultation with local community elders. The five villages include Dashte Mustafa, Mohammad Ayoub, Molah Amir Makaki, Mehr Ali Khan, Khalifa nazar gogich, in which 9926 persons reside. The questions Figure 1 FGDs with community members in Chakhansor district of Nimroz Province were driven from the WaSH sector of the initial rapid assessment with modifications in an effort to ensure the assessment is culturally sensitive. Borehole Mapping RI conducted remote borehole mapping in these two districts and covered the borehole data of 50 villages. (See annex 1) 3 Team Selection Relief