Food Security support to IDPs in Nangarhar as part of COVID-19 Response in Afghanistan The project will provide emergency response to the most vulnerable households (HHs) in Nangarhar who are food insecure as they are living under the poverty line and were already struggling to manage their minimum food requirements, it is worsened by the loss of income/earning opportunity and thus purchasing power, as a result of COVID-19 pandemic in Afghanistan. 

Through the proposed project Oxfam and long-term strategic partner Organization for Human Welfare (OHW) will provide cash assistance to a total of 39,400 individuals (5662 HHs) in Jalalabad district of Nangarhar province to buy food items. Based on the cluster standards and the allocation strategy paper, every eligible beneficiary HHs will receive AFN 6500 (equivalent to USD90). This amount is based on the Cash Voucher Working Group (CVWG) and Food Security amp Agriculture Cluster (FSAC) recommended full basket food items for one month (calculated based on 2,100 kcal/person/day food need of an average size family and the market price of food items). Market price monitoring will be done before and after each distribution to verify the feasibility and appropriateness of the cash amount. Cash for Food was preferred by the majority of the persons interviewed during the needs assessment since the local markets are operational. The Market Assessment confirmed that access is available but limited due to the lockdown the markets are permitted to operate specific days in a week and there is supply of basic food items.

Oxfam’s interventions will be guided by the Integrated Food-Security Phase Classification (IPC) and Seasonal Food Security Assessment (SFSA) findings. As per IPC and SFSA, Nangarhar province was already in Crisis Situation (IPC3). Around 46% of the population in Nangarhar (1,237,262 individuals) were estimated to be at IPC3 or above during the period of April-May 2020. The prevalence is higher in the urban area as 50% of the population in Urban area of Nangarhar (210,326 individuals) are found to be at IPC 3 or above. This project will support the most food-insecure population in urban area of Nangarhar Province, Jalalabad City. FSAC identified that protracted IDPs are among the worst hit in terms of food insecurity, in the changed context of COVID-19. This project will target them so that they can survive without adopting harmful coping strategies and reduce their risk of exposure to the deadly virus. 

Protection will be integrated across the project cycle by raising awareness among the women and men about their rights. Women’s rights will be discussed in  country context, gender-based violence (GBV) impacts, measures to mitigate GBV and ways of getting support in case of rights violation, GBV or other protection concerns. The women and men of the selected HHs will also be made aware of COVID-19 risks, prevention methods and other vital information in this regard this will be done with no additional cost except staff time. Oxfam uses the tailored awareness raising manual, which is developed based on UNFPA and GBV cluster tools and contextualized to Afghanistan and Islam. COVID-19 Awareness raising messages developed by Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) with the support of World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF in the languages of Afghanistan will be used for this purpose. 

Oxfam will integrate conflict sensitivity into the action, by conducting context and conflict analysis of the target areas. This is especially important as cash assistance can work as potential flashpoint in creating new conflict or exacerbating existing tensions. 
The grant of USD 689,400 will save lives of 39,400 persons (USD 17.49 per person) with USD 509,580 (73.9%) of the total funding directly going towards Cash for Food.