Food Assistance for Drought-Affected Populations in Faryab Province The proposed project will be implemented in in four districts (Almar, Bilcheragh, Dawlatabad, and Pashtunkot) prioritized by the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC) in Faryab province aiming to provide life-saving assistance to address immediate food needs of 1,200 drought affected households. Based on analysis of FSAC (food security and agriculture cluster) and a rapid needs assessment of Save the Children (SCI), there are food gaps for drought affected populations in these hard to reach districts of Faryab. Considering these gaps, this proposed project will be implemented to improve the food security situation of drought affected households through unconditional cash transfers.   

The chosen modality to deliver this assistance will be unconditional unrestricted cash grants which will enable target beneficiaries to purchase essential food items for six months. This modality will also assist in strengthening local markets by increasing demand with local vendors in the target locations. This project aligns with SCI’s broader emergency response strategy for food security to ensure that children and their families have access to food in sufficient quality and quantity to meet daily basic needs. SCI 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 6 months of food assistance through unconditional cash transfers. The value of each transfer will be 3,500 AFN (48 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). Beneficiaries will be encouraged through nutrition messaging to purchase vegetables, meat and eggs which will have a positive impact on household and child diet diversification, in addition to staple foods. 

Any kind of cash assistance depends on a functioning market, and as part of a rapid assessment detailed below, in mid-July, 2018, SCI conducted a rapid market assessment in the four target districts to assess the functionality of local markets, capacity of local vendors, availability and price of key commodities, availability of financial service providers and to assess the potential impact of a cash intervention on the market. Financial service providers, traders in local markets and key informants in communities were interviewed. Markets are functioning with households including men and women regularly accessing markets in targeted areas in Faryab 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 transfer projects of SCI in Afghanistan. SCI has been implementing food security and livelihoods projects in different provinces (including Bamyan, Nangarhar, Sar-i-Pul, Balkh, Jawzjan, Faryab, Kunduz, Urozgan) of Afghanistan since 2009, with its main activities largely focused on emergency food-security support to families affected by slow-onset, chronic or rapid-onset emergencies, or creating short-term economic opportunities. Furthermore, SCI has been implementing cash transfer projects with financial support of CHF in various locations (Nangarhar, Faryab, Balkh, and Badakhshan) supporting displaced populations. SCI has extensive experience using cash-based modalities to deliver food security and livelihoods assistance in Afghanistan, and globally.