Winterization Preparedness for most vulnerable communities in Badakhshan Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH)- an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is one of the leading humanitarian and development agencies working in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Syria, Pakistan and India. In Afghanistan it is operational in north eastern provinces of Afghanistan. AKAH is working in close coordination with eight line ministries and government agencies, especially Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), Provincial Disaster Management Committee (PDMC) and different UN clusters. AKAH is actively engaged with ES/NFIs Cluster at National and Provincial level. 

AKAH had submitted the concept note for supporting the most vulnerable communities with winterization support in Badakhshan. These are most hard-hit provinces in terms of harsh winter. AKAH has a comprehensive hazard and vulnerability methodology (HVRA) used for assessments of various natural risks to communities residing in its target areas. Cumulatively, to date a total of 740 villages are covered through such assessments. Moreover, AKAH does a comprehensive winter preparedness planning, where the most vulnerable locations are considered for targeting.. Specifically, AKAH looks into set of critical indicators looking into proximity and access, exposure to hazards (avalanches, road blockage, etc.) and vulnerability of households (female headed households, widows, etc.).  

As per the assessment the proposed targeted districts indicate that remoteness and inaccessibility and unavailability of resources makes community more vulnerable to the disaster risk. The situation got exacerbated due to COVID 19 pandemic. 

Overall, it has been identified that a total of  448 most vulnerable families (3,136 people in total) are going to be covered through this winterization project. The intervention oversees the provision of standard ESNFI winterization items, specifically, 1) standard winter clothing package, 2) heating/fuel assistance, and 3) ESNFI blanket package. Due to shortage of items, AKAH will do a tender-based procurement of blanket package and standard winter clothing packages, considering the size and sex of beneficiaries at minimum, while the heating/fuel assistance will be provided through voucher modality, however,  if no fuel items available in the local market or official vendors will do in cash through AWALA services, using standard tools for tracking cash distribution. 
The beneficiary selection and distribution will be undertaken in close cooperation with ANDMA, provincial level cluster partners at a regional level and district authorities, CDCs at the local level. The process will be thoroughly monitored and reported to respective stakeholders – PDMC, ANDMA, ESNFI cluster and local authorities. AKAH has partnership AWAAZ would be utilized as a feedback loop for the project. This will be done in addition to 24/7 call center of AKAH used for any communication and coordination with local stakeholders and the community. AKAH is very close the project location and is aware about the market situation. AKAH has already used such vendor based fuel support to its local offices. AKAH has good interaction with vendor and their capacities for the fuel distribution. AKAHA is well connected with them. Hence, it has only been proposed for Fuel support. Rest two components of Blanket and winter cloths would be provided through the kind support due to the availability of AKAH’s warehouses and connected with supplier, transporters and vendors for these items. It could be distributed within the communities in kind. Hence, AKAH has proposed the fuel support by Voucher modalities and Blanket and winter clothing by kind modalities. .