Emergency Food Assistance for the Acute Food Insecure People in Daikundi Province The proposed project will be implemented in four districts (Ashtarlay, Khadir, Miramor, and Sang-e-Takht) of Daikundi province prioritized by the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC) aiming to provide life-saving assistance to address immediate food needs of 5,200 multiple shocks affected households (36,400 individuals) that are/will be classified in IPC phase 4. Based on analysis of FSAC (food security and agriculture cluster) and a rapid needs assessment of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and Afghanistan Red Crescent Society (ARCS), there are significant gaps in food needs of shock affected populations in these districts of Daikundi province.

The chosen modality to deliver this assistance will be unconditional but restricted value voucher which will enable target beneficiaries to purchase essential food items for 3 months. This modality will also assist in strengthening local markets by increasing demand with local vendors in the target locations. This project aligns with IFRC’s broader emergency response strategy for food security to ensure that the disaster affected families have access to food in sufficient quality and quantity to meet daily basic needs. IFRC and ARCS will ensure a gender sensitive approach so that both men and women have access to humanitarian aid and that socio-cultural barriers limiting access to services are considered: gender-sensitive selection process, accessible accountability mechanism and gender-balanced field team will ensure easy access by both genders.

All project beneficiaries will be eligible to receive 3 months of food assistance through unconditional but restricted value vouchers. The value of each transfer will be 45 USD per month and will cover 50% of the cost of a monthly food basket for a family of seven (based on agreed FSAC standards).

Any kind of cash assistance depends on a functioning market, and as part of a rapid assessment detailed below, in February 2020, IFRC supported ARCS conduct a rapid market assessment in the target districts to assess the functionality of local markets, capacity of local vendors, availability and price of key commodities, and to assess the potential impact of a cash intervention on the market. Vendors (food suppliers) in local markets and key informants in communities were interviewed. Markets are functioning with households including men and women regularly accessing markets in targeted districts in Daikundi province. All key food commodities are readily available in the market.

This proposed project will be implemented using a methodology based on lessons learned through implementation of previous cash and voucher assistance operations of ARCS in Afghanistan. IFRC has been supporting ARCS implement cash and voucher assistance activities in different provinces (including Jawzjan, Badghis, and Herat) of Afghanistan since 2019, with its main activities largely focused on emergency food-security support to families affected by certain disasters. Furthermore, ARCS, as part of its disaster management operation, has been providing lifesaving supports to the disaster-affected population in all 34 provinces of the country since it was instituted in 1934. It also worth to mention that IFRC has extensive experience using cash-based modalities to deliver humanitarian relief assistance in Afghanistan, and globally.