Attachments
Situation of the areas (conflict /natural disaster):
According to the WASH Cluster priority locations, Sar e Pul, Kunar and Nuristan are either Cat. 4 or higher This report describe and looks into observation and conclusions of a WASH need assessment conducted by CAHPO staff members in three provinces which have planned to be the main program areas of CAHPO this year. The villages and districts of the provinces as mention above in the table selected based on the WASH Cluster priority areas for 2021. The assessment was conducted to observe the living condition of IDPs and their priority needs related to WASH in displaced area. As well as in host communities where the IDPs are settled. Returnees were observed which found less number in the mentioned areas. The assessment gathered and assessed the quantitative and qualitative data from 204 sampled HHs across the 37 villages in 6 districts in three mentioned provinces in January 2021.
Conflict and lack of basic services are the main issues. There are conflict in the targeted provinces. Afghanistan is now the scene of the deadliest region on earth. Fighting continues to rage, exposing civilians, particularly women and children, to daily deadly risks, prompting mass displacement and choking the country’s unstable economy. Years of shocks have left an acutely vulnerable population with few economic resources, an eroded capacity to cope with the unfolding crisis and little hope of recovery if the current conditions persist. As a result of the new scope of analysis and the cumulative impact of conflict and disaster in HNO and HRP 2021, almost over half of the country’s population (18.4 million people out of a population of almost 40,4 million) is now estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2021. The majority of those in need are children (52 per cent). 1
The ongoing conflict is affecting every province in the country with shock-affected households 3-4 facing multiple humanitarian needs simultaneously, undermining their capacity to cope and recover. In the REACH Assessment, ooverlapping sectoral needs were highest among shock-affected households in Kunar in the east and Sar e Pul in the north. Nuristan is shock affecting mentioned in the WASH Cluster Strategy. Three of the provinces have been heavily affected by conflict and displacement, overloading existing basic services and stretching the capacity of aid agencies for a comprehensive response.
KAHPO conducted this assessment, which its focus was the areas where the IDPs were settled and they expanded the host villages or they integrated in host community in Sar e Pul, Kunar and Nuristan province. Considering the geographical situation, mostly these village include new settlements where the IDPs are settled and the HHs are in need WASH services. The existing host HHs also affected by two ways (resources reduced and resources shared by the other new comers). However, some other organizations provided water facilities in some of these locations, which the existed number water points cannot provide enough drinking water for the communities, which as IDPs settlement increased their needs in these areas. According to the organization assessment which also showed in the REACH assessment report, there are IDP population in mentioned three provinces due to conflict in their origin places.
Education sector also affected by the conflicts and COVID-19, which most of the children could not go to school. According to our meeting and assessment in the education department, many children especially girls were not attending school because of lack of WASH facilities in the schools. The information collected from 27 schools in all the three provinces where 11816 children are studying, which 1758 are from the IDP and returnee families. Girls do not proper and separate sanitation infrastructures and culturally it is difficult for girls to go for OD and they have not permitted by their families to go to school.
Due to increased number HHs with the IDPs in settlement locations and in the host communities where the IDPs are settled, the HHs are facing shortage of safe drinking water even lack of safe drinking in some new settlements. Therefore, people are using unsafe drinking water from dug wells, streams or from the river. As a result a lot of diarrhea cases happened especially among children, which become burden for the poor families to provide treatment.