Response to food security and protection needs of prolonged IDP populations through the lean season in Maydan Wardak and Khost Provinces The conflict increase has resulted in many IDPs in the last two years in Afghanistan and notably in the Khost and Wardak Provinces. Most of those displaced families stay for several months or years in their arrival location, due to insecurity in their home. Those prolonged IDPs rarely find livelihood opportunities and have to survive on small unstable income sources. In Wardak and Khost Provinces, 15,022 prolonged IDPs have settled between 2015 and 2016.
Following a Household Emergency Assessment (HEAT) conducted in March 2017 SI identified 1,500 families among those displaced people, who are in a situation of chronic food insecurity. To cope with a lack of access to food, those families adopt critical coping strategies leading to protection risks. During the upcoming lean season, the food insecurity of those populations will become exacerbated if not addressed immediately.
Through the proposed project, SI will support 10,515 individuals who are the most vulnerable among all prolonged IDPs from May to Oct. 2017. Households with Specific Needs such as women headed households, children headed households… will be supported in priority.
Among the 10,515 targeted individuals, 4,010 are located in Maydan Shahr and Nirkh districts (Wardak Province) and 6,506 in Khost Matun, Gurbuz and Mandozayi districts (Khost Province). 
According to the REACH assessment on prolonged IDPs and to the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster’s strategy, Wardak and Khost Provinces are priorities in terms of prolonged displacement and food insecurity.
To address immediate risks and vulnerabilities, SI will implement a food distribution to all beneficiaries to cover their food needs during two months in the lean season.
Each family will receive a cash grant  through two installments of 6,000 Aghanis. Each grant is based on the FSAC standard basket, calculated to cover daily needs of 2,100 Kcal per person for an average family of seven persons. The use of unconditional cash transfer will ensure the efficiency of the aid, by letting beneficiaries cover their priority needs. Local procurement will in addition contribute to support the depleted local economy. The program will meet CHF requirements for Cash Based Interventions.
Among those vulnerable displaced populations, some families have additional vulnerabilities due to social, medical, legal or security issues. Those families therefore need to be protected with a specific and dedicated assistance that goes beyond distributing assistance. The project will include an integrated protection component in the frame of other activities: SI will identify and refer protection risks to other relevant stakeholders (NGOs, public services, UN agencies…) with specific referral mechanism
SI will also ensure that good practices are enforced to avoid harming beneficiaries.
Overall, the project will contribute to addressing immediate humanitarian needs and to mitigating shock induced acute vulnerabilities in the two Provinces, through two specific objectives:
- Ensure access to food during the lean season for severely food insecure prolonged IDPs to mitigate negative coping strategies and risks of acute malnutrition
- Identify and refer protection concerns to ensure beneficiaries’ dignity, rights, safety and well-being