Afghanistan Humanitarian Response Impact Analysis 2021 - 2024 (October 2024)

HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE IMPACT ANALYSIS

Afghanistan has received approximately US$6.7 billion in humanitarian funding since the Taliban takeover on 15 August 2021, with resources peaking at nearly $3.3 billion in 2022. This support coincided with record-high humanitarian needs following the transition – reaching an unprecedented 29.2 million in 2023 – as a result of severe economic decline brought about by disruption to the banking sector and the abrupt suspension of bilateral development cooperation, rising food insecurity and poverty levels, the worst drought in 30 years, and concerns over a potential collapse of the public health system. While the situation has stabilised since then, with a significant – almost total – reduction in conflict-related displacement, and fragile improvements in food insecurity and poverty, Afghanistan remains extremely vulnerable to natural disasters, the effects of climate change, and geopolitical dynamics, all of which can generate new needs and exacerbate existing ones in an instant. Moreover, the increasing restrictions on women and girls, as evidenced by the recent promulgation of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Law, reinforces the extent to which Afghanistan remains at its core a protection crisis.
This impact analysis aims to highlight the humanitarian achievements it has been possible to realise and the ways in which humanitarian assistance has helped avert a worsening of the crisis as a result of the significant resources Member States and donors have made available to the response over the past three years. In that time, a famine has not just been averted but the number of people living in Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) conditions 4 (emergency) and 3 (crisis) has significantly decreased, the spread of waterborne illness has been lowered, critical service provision – including health and malnutrition treatment – has not only been maintained but expanded to new and previously underserved locations, while previously contaminated land has been released to communities for productive use (including housing, education, agriculture and irrigation). The absence of active or kinetic fighting, which once stalked all corners of the country, has been an enabling factor in facilitating that improved physical access but at the same time has meant that humanitarian actors have revealed needs in places that previously couldn’t be identified.
With most traditional donors no longer physically present in Afghanistan and lacking a direct channel of communication with the de facto authorities (DfA), the humanitarian community has served as the primary focal point for operational and strategic dialogue with the DfA and therefore the first line of defense for Afghan women and girls amid growing restrictions on their rights.
Since 2021, 71 of the 392 directives affecting humanitarian operations have directly targeted Afghan women’s involvement in the response. Despite the considerable challenges this has brought, humanitarian actors have worked tirelessly to safeguard Afghan women’s participation in all aspects of humanitarian action – from assessments to delivery to monitoring.
This has been done by, among other things, building the capacity of organizations to conduct gendered access negotiations to secure localised arrangements for Afghan women to work; making programmatic adjustments such as establishing separate office spaces, utilising gender-separated distribution points and covering mahram costs for women staff when they travel to and from the field; and training women community volunteers to ensure that Afghan women and girls can be reached in their homes by women. Humanitarian actors remain committed to continue delivering an accountable, inclusive and quality response.
While this impact analysis highlights what the humanitarian community can do when it receives the requested level of funding, this will not be possible to maintain should funding levels decrease. In the event this happens, the humanitarian gains made in recent years will be quickly reversed and affected populations will once again be exposed to further suffering and harm.