ReliefWeb

HIGHLIGHTS

• Afghanistan / Pakistan tensions result in border closure that interrupts lifesaving treatment for thousands of children suffering from malnutrition.

• Returnees living in Gambiri desert still struggling to get water • New PACTEC flights enable immediate assistance to families fleeing conflict in Uruzgan to the seemingly safe but remote district of Jaghori, Ghazni province.

• 1.3 million people reached with life-saving emergency humanitarian assistance, according to the 2017 HRP First Quarter Report.

• Humanitarian Coordinator allocates $15 million USD from the Common Humanitarian Fund to 14 NGO and 2 UN agency projects.

Severely food insecure displaced affected by funding shortages

The Food Security Cluster contributed to the following article

Levels of food insecurity are high across Afghanistan affecting between 30 to 40 per cent of the population. 1.6 million people suffer from a severe lack of food. Another 9.5 million people are moderately food insecure, in a situation where they cannot sustainably cope with shocks and are resorting to asset depleting strategies to meet their basic needs. The ever increasing spread of conflict in the country is further compounding these challenges for people to find the means to buy or access food for their families. Despite clear needs for both food and livelihood assistance to Afghan families, the Financial Tracking Service https://fts.unocha.org/ shows the funds received by the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster to be just $22 million of their $136 million requirement for 2017. 2016, saw more than 665,000 people internally displaced by conflict; a 40 per cent increase on the number displaced in 2015. Already in 2017, more than 100,000 more people have again been forced to flee their homes due to conflict.
Humanitarian partners have responded to these displaced families across the country, providing at least 84,000 displaced people with emergency food rations in the first three months of the year alone. Food assistance has also been provided to 132,000 returnee families crossing back into Afghanistan from Pakistan.
Due to severe funding shortages and delays in receiving funds, these emergency distributions have had to be prioritized at the cost of providing any assistance to other vulnerable groups, including provision of any follow up assistance to families that remain displaced and exhaust the initial rations they were provided.
A study commissioned by OCHA in 2016 conducted by REACH found that approximately 325,000 people displaced between January 1st 2014 and March 1st 2016, remained displaced in December 2016. While these prolonged displaced were identified spread across every region of Afghanistan, significantly higher populations were found in and around urban centres and particularly informal settlements.
In a follow up assessment of 56 settlements in Kabul and 23 settlements in Nangarhar undertaken by the food security cluster and REACH 68 per cent of households were found to be severely food insecure. 91 per cent were identified as consuming inadequate food with high dependencies on food based coping strategies such as missing meals or reducing portion sizes. Displaced people were found to be more severely food insecure than returnees, with more than 70 per cent falling into this category in both provinces compared to 30-40 per cent of returnees. Despite these findings, response to families living in a situation of prolonged displacement has been zero so far in 2017.
Response to other vulnerable groups was also limited in the first quarter of 2017. During the peak hunger season food security response remained very limited. Only 10 per cent of severely food insecure people received food assistance during peak hunger season.
The situation in terms of supporting livelihoods is even more dire. Only 6 per cent of the total targeted caseload comprising all vulnerable groups received assistance.
Despite efforts by the cluster to alert Government and key donors to the scale of unmet need funding remains limited. Recently two projects targeting the food assistance needs of prolonged IDPs have been allocated funding. The combined financing however amounts to just one million USD, far short of the amount required for timely food assistance and seasonal livelihoods response to these vulnerable groups.
FSAC strongly urges donors to provide timely and appropriate funding for the response to meet the emergency needs of targeted communities based on the HRP 2017. Funding delays will significantly impact production and income feasibly resulting in increased malnutrition, asset depletion, communal conflict, migration and mortality.