Afghanistan
2021-07 Factsheet
Highlights
In 2021 the ES-NFI Cluster will continue all its core activities – emergency shelter; non-food items; transitional shelter; and winterization support. The Cluster will prioritize the provision of timely and targeted life-saving assistance through the delivery of emergency shelter and household items to affected people. Standard NFI kits will continue to be distributed where needed. Affected families will also be provided with seasonal items (such as warm clothing, heating materials and blankets in winter) to reduce their exposure to the harsh winter conditions and mitigate against the risk of respiratory infections, hypothermia and preventable mortality among children and the elderly. The Cluster has included in its response plan a modest range of transitional shelter interventions following the emergency shelter assistance at the onset of emergencies simultaneously contributing to meeting the affected household’s immediate needs while further rebuilding their resilience from the outset. These activities will include shelter repair and upgrade, transitional shelter, rental subsidy.
NFI
Shelter
Coverage against targets
Need analysis
In 2021 Cluster estimates 6.6 million in need of ESNFI supports and the Cluster plans to target 1 million vulnerable people affected by conflict and natural disasters with NFIs, Shelter and winterization support. This includes provision of standard NFIs, winterization, shelter repair tool kit, emergency shelter and transitional shelter packages with a funding requirement of $109.2m.
Conflict and disaster Response:
Following the withdrawal of the international military forces the conflict has escalated and has caused more internal displacements. So far 357,000 people have been displaced since beginning of the year in 31 out of 34 provinces. The Cluster continues to respond to these humanitarian needs across the affected provinces. Increase in conflict driven displacements have increased the needs, the cluster is utilizing stocks at a high rate hence there is need for more funding to meet the needs. The need to continually replenish in country stocks remains vital due to lengthy procurement and delivery lead times. This logistical process may limit timely response capacity of partners in some locations.
Winterization assistance will be one of the main needs of the new IDPs, protracted IDPs in the western region as well as other regions. The Cluster has so far received $3m funds for winterization through AHF which is only 11% of the overall need of $27m.
As of June 2021, Cluster has prepositioned stock in strategic locations with a capacity to assist 117,715 people with emergency shelter and 223,580 people with standard NFIs kits across the country.
Response
- From 01 January to 30 June 2021, the cluster reached 358,434 with shelter assistance, NFIs and winterization assistance which translates to 36 per cent of the target 1M people.
- 10,079 individuals received emergency shelter assistance, including through cash for rent support
- 152,361 vulnerable individuals received winterization support.
- 184,556 individuals received basic household items (NFI) to meet their immediate needs
- The Shelter / NFI cluster continues to maintain emergency preparedness with contingency stocks and monitoring of gaps in strategic locations.
- Partners reached 2,319 individuals with shelter repair/ upgrade support.
- 9,119 individuals received support to construct transitional shelters
Gaps / challenges
- The Cluster is only 15.7% ($17.2m) funded for 2021 and most of the emergency needs are responded through the partners carry over funding and their prepositioned stocks from 2020. Increasing patterns of conflict-driven displacements have increased the needs and created a risk for pipeline breaks. The need to continually replenish in country stocks remains vital due to lengthy procurement and delivery lead times.
- The scale, severity, and complexity of needs for emergency and transitional shelter remains high, particularly among new and protracted IDPs.
- Security-related constraints may limit partner’s capacity to access affected people. There has been an increase in conflict induced displacements and, in some locations, (like Ghazni), access to the affected people and distributions were interrupted in some occasions.
- Winterization needs for the Shelter/NFI Cluster are only 11% funds. The country will face another humanitarian situation if heating materials support, warm cloths and blankets are not provided in a timely manner to the vulnerable population in high altitude areas especially IDPs living in poor shelter conditions.
