AFGHANISTAN JOINT RESPONSE 2019

ABOUT THE CRISIS

With 6.3 million people in need, the Afghanistan 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) is now targeting 4.5 million people, a drastic increase of people in need compared to 2017. The rise in number of people in need of humanitarian assistance has mainly been caused by the deteriorating security situation and worst drought in nearly 20 years, affecting people in 32 of the 34 provinces. 2018 was an increasingly violent year in Afghanistan, caused by the parliamentary elections. 2019 is not expected to be different with presidential elections planned for September 2019 and on-going peace talks. Currently the conflict in Afghanistan is killing more civilians than anywhere else in the world and Afghanistan is ranking rock bottom in the global peace index (163 out of 163).

In response to the humanitarian crisis in country, and ever shrinking humanitarian space, the proposed Afghanistan Joint Response (AFJR) 2019 will target an estimated 59,760 conflict, natural disaster affected and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), returning Afghans and their host community during a period of 12 months, starting 1 January, 2019. The five DRA AFJR partners including Cordaid, Oxfam Novib (Oxfam), Stichting Vluchteling (SV-IRC), Terre des Hommes (TdH) and ZOA will continue to provide life-saving and protection assistance, in line with HRP SO1 (save lives in the areas of highest needs) and SO3 (people stuck by sudden onset crises get the help they need, on time) in the sectors of Food Security / Livelihood, Shelter and WASH. Cash based interventions will be widely used by partners as the main modality to address the immediate needs of newly displaced and returning Afghans.

THE DRA RESPONSE

The five Dutch Relief Alliance (DRA) members participating in the Afghanistan Joint Response contribute to the life-saving protection and assistance needs of conflict, natural disaster affected and internally displaced persons, returning Afghans and their host community. Following on from successful first three phase of the Joint Response, the fourth joint response, which started on 1 January 2019 and will end 31^st December 2019, will target 59,760 extremely vulnerable conflict and natural disaster affected and internally displaced persons, returning Afghans and host communities.

The total budget of the 2019 response amounts to EUR 4.31 million and will be implemented in two of the most conflict and returnee affected provinces; Kunduz and Nangarhar. More than half of the districts in both provinces are classified as Hard To Reach (HTR). Parts of both provinces are also severely affected by the on-going drought.

• 13,804 people will be targeted with access to food activities
• 3,458 people will be targeted with shelter assistance
• 27,038 people are targeted with activities to improve their access to safe and sufficient water resources for domestic use and sanitation, including hygiene promotion.
• And, 19,089 newly displaced people are targeted with (Multi-Purpose) cash assistance.