Provision of lifesaving integrated Emergency WASH and Protection services to drought affected people in Keshendeh, Sholgareh and Chemtal districts of Balkh province . In consideration of the 2018 CHF 2nd Standard Allocation’s Strategic Objectives, International Medical Corps (IMC) proposes to provide lifesaving integrated WASH and Protection (GBV) assistance to the drought affected communities in 3 hard to reach districts of Balkh province, namely Keshendeh, Sholgareh and Chemtal districts. As per IMC’s coordination with key stakeholders in the area and secondary information such as the REACH Assessment (June 2018), currently there are critical WASH gaps in humanitarian services especially safe drinking water and hygienic conditions, forcing majority of these communities to choose negative coping strategies such as drinking water from un protected  sources and adopting to unsafe hygiene behavior, etc. On the other hand, the persistent dry spell and the resulting negative socioeconomic status of the affected families has contributed to the increase in different forms of gender based violence (GBV), including early and forced marriages, domestic and psychological, and sexual exploitation and abuse. 

IMC has  a strong presence and experience in Balkh province as well as experience in the implementation of integrated WASH and GBV programs in similar contexts, IMC will contribute to the concerned cluster/sector objectives through the following activities:

1- Under the WASH component of the project, IMC will improve the water, sanitation and hygienic conditions in selected villages of the  3 districts by:
 Providing access to safe drinking water through water trucking to the most affected villages in all  targeted villages in 2 districts for 2 months to meet the minimum water demands
 Provision of additional 23 water reservoirs/storages for 19 schools and 4 Health Facilities
 Drilling of 5 strategic boreholes (2 in Chemtal and 3 in Sholgareh districts) to facilitate trucking by and reduce travel distance for trucks
 Rehabilitation/drilling and retrofitting of solar system for 12 boreholes (5 in Chemtal and 7 in Keshendeh)
 Provision of Jerry cans for the collection and storage of safe water and distribution of water treatment chemicals at household level
 Establishment and training of 9 WASH Committees to provide community the sense of ownership and responsibility for project activities and to maintain good communication among all stakeholders
 Training of community members as pump minders/mechanics for regular maintenance of boreholes after project handover conduct hygiene awareness sessions
*  The intervention will take specific care to implement the program per the Sphere standard, ensuring safe access for vulnerable groups, such as women and girls to the services. This will also be in line with the IASC guidelines on mainstreaming GBV in humanitarian action (2015).
 2- Under the Protection (GBV) component of the project, IMC will facilitate an effective prevention and response program to mitigate GBV and reduce protection violations through:

 Provision of services through 3 mobile psychosocial support / counseling (teams)
 Establishment of 2 Women Friendly Health Spaces (WFHS) in Keshendeh, and Chemtal districts
 Establishment of 1 Family Protection Center (FPC) in Sholgareh district
 Provision of awareness on GBV and rights to health
 Conducting 24 community dialogues to raise GBV awareness among key community stakeholders
 Training of projects staff on guiding principles of GBV

International Medical Corps will implement project in close coordination with WASH Cluster, Protection Cluster, GBV Sub-cluster, MRRD , DoWA, MoPH and the communities at national and local level