Food assistance to IPC phase 3 and 4 vulnerable, prolonged and new IDPs living in IPC phase 3 and 4 urban areas Afghanistan faces a complex emergency, with combination of protracted conflict, the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and drought. Afghanistan’s 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) shows escalating suffering and hunger, with 18.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and Afghanistan as having the second highest number of people in emergency food insecurity in the world (5.5 million people in IPC Phase 4) [1]. The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, published in April 2021, shows that over 14 million people (35 percent of the population) face acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or worse) between March and May 2021, including 4.2 million people facing emergency levels of food insecurity and requiring immediate assistance. The 2021 Pre-Lean Assessment, on which the IPC 2021 analysis is based, shows that Faryab province is estimated to be in emergency levels of acute food-insecurity (IPC Phase 4), with 54 percent of households experiencing poor levels of food consumption and 82 percent showing poor or borderline food consumption [2]. In Kandahar, 13 percent of households showed poor levels of food consumption, with 67 percent showing poor or borderline food consumption [3]. Further, 57 percent of households in Faryab and Kandahar provinces have to resort to emergency or crisis livelihood coping strategies such as the sale of productive assets and borrowing money to buy food [2]. 

The drought conditions driven by La Niña, lingering socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 and escalating levels of conflict are further compounding the food security situation of a population which was already on the brink of a hunger crisis. People’s purchasing power has decreased and average prices of basic food commodities have stagnated at high levels since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has in turn resulted in reduced access to and affordability of food, eroded livelihoods, and increased levels of debt as a coping strategy primarily to buy food.

In response to these needs, WFP aims to use this funding to provide unconditional, nutrition-sensitive in-kind food assistance to acutely food-insecure people in Faryab and Kandahar provinces. Faryab province has been classified as in IPC Phase 4 levels of acute food insecurity, while Kandahar is estimated to be in IPC Phase 3. WFP plans to provide a total of 1,022.8 MT worth of emergency in-kind assistance to 29,807 acutely food-insecure people (4,258 households) in Faryab and Kandahar provinces. Targeted households will receive a monthly in-kind nutritionally balanced food basket comprised of 46kg of fortified wheat flour, 4.55kg of fortified vegetable oil, 8.5kg of pulses, and 1kg of iodized salt. Households will receive in-kind food assistance for four months in two cycles of two months each within the project implementation period. WFP’s in-kind assistance is aligned with the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster’s (FSAC) recommended guidelines on humanitarian response packages. WFP aims to prevent people facing emergency levels of acute food insecurity from falling below acceptable levels of food security, bridge critical food gaps whilst increasing food consumption levels, as well as prevent vulnerable households from having to resort to negative coping strategies that would further compound their vulnerability to food insecurity. Food assistance will be provided with full consideration of COVID-19 preventive measures.