Life saving support to IDPs and host communiteis in Surkhrod District, Nangarhar The proposed project will deliver lifesaving aid to11,060 IDPs, returnees and host communities in Surkhrod district, Nangarhar province. 
Nangarhar is one of the four provinces in Afghanistan, together with Kabul, Kunar and Laghman, which received the largest influx of IDPs and returnees last year. According to figures published by OCHA in January 2018 on its assessment of new displacement, a total of 458,134 new IDPs were identified in need of assistance in 2017 123,638 of whom are in Nangarhar, which represents 27 percent of the total needs in the country.
Besides the high number of Afghans returning from Pakistan, October 2017 witnessed a dramatic increase in displacement following the intensification of fighting in areas under control of non-state armed groups (NSAGs) in Khogyani district, Nangarhar province. Clashes in the area continued over the months to come and led to the displacement of an approximate 51,600 people who, escaping the hostilities, moved to Khogyani district centre, Behsud, Chamtala, Chaparhar, Pachieragam and Surkhrod districts as well as Jalalabad City in just a few days.
Many displaced families fled their homes on foot and walked three to four hours to reach their current locations. Some 33,000 displaced people have found shelter scattered across Khogyani District, 9,800 fled to Pachir Wa Agam and 9,600 to Surkh Rod districts. 
The project proposed aims to provide lifesaving interventions to new IDPs informally settled in the Surkhrod district, targeting the villages of: Shekh Misery, Sediq Abad Upper, Sediq Abad Lower, Sultan Pur Bala and Sultan Pur Pain. 
Welthungerhilfe staff carried out a household level survey covering a sample of 384 HHs (a total of 3,033 individuals) in the mentioned villages. The families were found to live in congested spaces. A mud house, which would normally accommodate one family, was hosting three or four families. Furthermore, those living in rented accommodation expressed their lack of means to cover the cost of rent and therefore the fear of being thrown out of their dwellings. Additionally, the assessment team observed that kitchen hygiene was alarming, no hygiene measures were taken by the female respondents when preparing food. This lack of hygiene was seen in virtually all the visited households. 
A total of 500 HHs (3,500 IDPs) will directly benefit from the lifesaving assistance provided: 300 of them will receive aid in the form of cash-for-rent and 200 HHs with shelter upgrades. A further 400 HHs will receive NFI kits according to the Shelter Cluster standard kit, excluding soap and jerry cans to avoid duplication with hygiene kits. A total of 900 HHs (6,300 IDPs) will receive assistance as per the ES-NFI cluster. In order to address the severe lack of hygiene observed by the assessment team, the beneficiaries receiving shelter upgrades and NFI kits will also receive hygiene kits, bringing the number of HHs receiving assistance under both Clusters: WASH and ES-NFI to 600 (4,200 IDPs). Distribution of hygiene kits to 1,580 families, hygiene promotion will be conducted with both host and IDP communities, delivered to men, women and children above ten through house-to-house visits and participatory community hygiene promotion sessions (mass campaigns and focus group discussions) to ensure all vulnerable groups with communities are reached (this includes those assisted by other interventions as well as new IDP and vulnerable host community families).