Emergency lifesaving cash assistance to vulnerable food insecure households in Herat, Ghor, and Badghis provinces ltpgtThis project will enable vulnerable households to benefit from timely and inclusive lifesaving assistance to address food insecurity, reduce adoption of negative coping mechanisms, and have increased resilience to shocks in Ghor Province (IPC4), Herat and Badghis Provinces (IPC3+) through unconditional cash assistance. The project will target 4,645 households in 10 districts of Western Region:nbsp2,231nbsphouseholds in Ghor province in five districts (Charsadra, Dawlatyar, DoLayna, Pasaband, Taywarah963nbsphouseholds in Herat province in two districts (nbspKushk-eKuhna, Shindand),nbsp1,450nbsphouseholds in Badghis province in threenbspdistricts (Bala Murghab, Jawand, Qadis) Province. Households targeted alongside the FSAC targeting criteria will be provided with 3 rounds of unconditional cash transfers over the course of the project in anticipation of winter. Each cash transfer will be the AFN equivalent at the prevailing exchange rate of 37.5$ and will be provided in three tranches on a monthly basis. Thus far, War Child anticipates working with a hawala through a cash-in-hand mechanism that it has a long-term agreement with, but following a financial services provider capacity assessment, this choice will be validated based on user preference and suitability to the targeted community. This project will benefit 60,385 individuals. 32,515 directly (12,362 women, 9,758 men, 4,865 boys, 5,530 girls), 27,870 indirectly. Of the targeted beneficiaries, 6,039 individuals will be persons with disabilities.ltbrgtlt/pgtltpgtThe targeted threenbspprovinces are classified at level 3  4 (Serious and Emergency) based on the latest IPC analysis a situation due to worsen over the coming winter season with more people projected to reach Crisis and Emergency levels (levels 3 and 4) of food insecurity. 15.3 million people are projected to be acutely food insecure between May and October 2023, including 2.8 million people in Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Phase 4 (Emergency). 4 million people are acutely malnourished, including 3.2 million children under the age of 5. 28.8 million people – two-thirds of Afghanistan’s population – require multi-sectoral humanitarian assistance in 2023. The situation will worsen in winter, with households often ill prepared to cope with extreme weather conditions. 56% of children do not have adequate winter clothing, and 43% of households do not have sufficient blankets. Limited financial capability to purchase fuel and heaters may drive women and girls into negative coping mechanisms including increased debt, and heightened risk of coerced sexual exploitation and trafficking. Major road blockages may limit the provision of timely life-saving medical supplies and other critical assistance to isolated communities, preventing timely access for women and girls to services, and restricted movement can cause a spike in incidents of violence as survivors are trapped in the home with perpetrators (HRP, 2023). ltbrgtltbrgtlt/pgtltpgtIn line with the centrality of protection and War Child’s commitments to disability inclusion and gender mainstreaming, the most vulnerable households in the targeted districts will be selected based on FSAC targeting and vulnerability criteria through an assessment in line with War Child’s Standard Operating Procedures in consultation with communities. These planned activities will enable households to meet their basic food needs which will, in turn, contribute to reducing asset depletion and reliance on negative coping mechanisms. Additionally, most disadvantaged households participating from the project will benefit from protection mainstreaming through referrals for households with protection and/or other sectoral concerns. These complementary interventions will enable households to meet their basic food needs which will in turn reduce asset depletion and dependance on negative coping mechanisms.ltbrgtlt/pgt