Integrated Emergency Response to Natural Disasters: Takana Village Case Study

Background

Following the collapse of the former government in August 2021, Afghanistan is experiencing a complex humanitarian crisis, with existing inequalities and vulnerabilities exacerbated by economic decline, global inflationary pressure, and the near collapse of social services such as the public health system. Increasingly frequent natural disasters and climate-related shocks compound the challenges facing communities already reeling from decades of conflict. Against this backdrop, women and girls are disproportionately affected, due to increasing restrictions limiting their coping capacities. DRC and its partners work in 17 provinces across Afghanistan to support household self-reliance and community resilience through integrated programs that serve hard-to-reach populations.

Climate Change Impact – drought and frequent floods

Afghanistan is the 12th most vulnerable country in the world to the impacts of climate change, experiencing high sensitivity, exacerbated by low adaptive capacity. Furthermore, the INFORM Risk Index ranks Afghanistan as the third most at risk country from human and natural disasters. These two facts are intrinsically linked, as climate change continues to worsen the frequency and severity of climate-related disasters such as droughts, floods, and landslides. Afghanistan is also in the midst of a water crisis, compounded by three years of drought. For hundreds of years Afghanistan’s vast highlands fed water to lowland areas, with winter rain, snow, and run off from large glaciers providing the population with water through rivers and groundwater. As temperatures have risen, glaciers have rapidly receded. Changed weather patterns have also led to unpredictable rainfall and other climatic shocks. In addition, massive flooding affects the population in terms of education, water and sanitation, agriculture, health, and social life, leading to a general decline of the community. Together, the effects of climate change and a deepening water crisis present a complex problem for Afghanistan and its people, nearly 80 percent of whom rely on natural resources to meet their daily needs. Among all population groups, women and girls – and especially female-headed households – face the greatest impact of the crisis, also due to their reliance on agriculture, including for self-consumption, which remains one of the economic sectors with the highest participation of women in Afghanistan.

DRC integrated emergency response

In order to respond to the acute needs arising following natural disasters, DRC Afghanistan’s program aims at reducing the impact and risks of shocks on target communities through the implementation of an integrated approach that links protection, Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA), emergency shelter, and emergency livelihoods with the aim of facilitating the recovery of disaster-affected communities.

The ambition of DRC Afghanistan’s emergency response is to address the immediate needs of shock-affected households, while promoting linkages with longer-term programs to achieve self-reliance and promote community resilience. This ambition is pursued through the careful sequencing of first-line emergency response activities (e.g. MPCA), with second-line sectorial interventions (see psychosocial support, individual protection assistance, cash for work, and shelter repairs), complemented with community-level response packages, including the rehabilitation of key infrastructure damaged by the disaster. This process is strengthened by comprehensive community consultations and by the participation of community members in decision-making and implementation of all programme activities. Attention is provided towards the most vulnerable segments of the population, including displaced households, women-headed households, and persons with specific needs. Throughout all steps of the project cycle, DRC promotes safe access to assistance and engagement of women through consultations during the planning and intervention’s design phase, through participation in the activities, and through the application of gender-sensitive evaluation techniques.