Afghanistan 2023 - Islamic Relief HUM 2023-2025 RRM In 2022, Sida and Islamic Relief Sweden entered into a multi-year agreement for the period 2022-2025 to enable support for Islamic Relief's humanitarian activities. 

The intervention consists of two different types of support. One part relates to support for annual projects in specific countries with ongoing humanitarian crises. A second part concerns funds that can be allocated in the event of sudden crises (Rapid Response Mechanism, RRM). 

The proposed support for Islamic Relief is based on the fact that Islamic Relief is judged to have a good ability to respond to humanitarian crises, through its forty different country operations and 2000 employees globally. Sida has financed Islamic Relief for several years and based on the organization's ability
to deliver results in hard-to-reach areas, Sida has assessed Islamic Relief to be a
appropriate implementing partners for humanitarian aid operations.

Islamic Relief's goals are in line with the strategy for Sweden's Humanitarian Aid through
Sida 2021-2025 and through their activities they strengthen the capacity of the humanitarian system and efficiency.  The contribution is relevant to all objectives of the strategy, but with emphasis on the strategic objective of humanitarian aid and protection activities reaching people in hard-to-reach areas.

Sida assesses that Islamic Relief is a particularly strong organization when it comes to humanitarian access. Examples of this are their activities in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Pakistan and northwest Syria. 

Most of Islamic Relief's projects are based on a multi-sector approach. The sectors included in the projects are: nutrition, protection, food security, health, livelihoods, shelter, gender,  water, sanitation, and multipurpose  cash). A common form of aid that is included in several sectors is cash based assistance, which will be used in crises with functional markets and where it is deemed relevant. 

The programme takes conflict perspectives into account in design, implementation and evaluation, but conflict management is rarely the main purpose of the activities. The programme also takes gender perspectives into account in the design, implementation and evaluation, but gender is rarely the main purpose of the activities. År 2022 ingick Sida och Islamic Relief Sverige ett flerårigt avtal för perioden 2022-2025
för att möjliggöra stöd till Islamic Reliefs humanitära verksamhet. 

Insatsen består av två olika typer av stöd. En del avser stöd till årliga projekt i specifika länder med pågående humanitära kriser. En andra del avser medel som kan allokeras i händelse av plötsligt uppkomna kriser (Rapid Response Mechanism, RRM). 

Det föreslagna stödet till Islamic Relief grundas på att Islamic Relief bedöms ha en god förmåga att svara på humanitära kriser, genom sina fyrtio olika landoperationer och 2000 anställda globalt. Sida har finansierat Islamic Relief i flera år och baserat på organisationens förmåga
att leverera resultat i svåråtkomliga områden har Sida bedömt Islamic Relief vara en
lämplig genomförande partner för humanitära biståndsinsatser.

Islamic Reliefs mål ligger i linje med strategin för Sveriges Humanitära bistånd genom
Sida 2021-2025 och genom sin verksamhet stärker de det humanitära systemets kapacitet
och effektivitet. Bidraget är relevant för alla mål i strategin, men med tonvikt på det strategiska målet att humanitärt bistånd och skyddsverksamhet ska nå människor i svåråtkomliga områden.

Sida bedömer att Islamic Relief är en särskild stark organisation när det gäller tillträde.
Exempel på detta är deras verksamhet i Afghanistan, Etiopien, Somalia, Sydsudan,
Sudan, Pakistan och nordvästra Syrien. 

De flesta av Islamic Reliefs projekt utgår från en multisektoriell ansats. De sektorer som ingår i projekten är (det engelska namnet på sektorn inom parentes): nutrition (nutrition), skydd (protection), tryggad livsmedelsförsörjning (food security), hälsa (health), försörjning (livelihoods), boende (shelter), könsbaserat och sexuellt våld (GBV), vatten, sanitet och hygien (WASH), samt kontantstöd (multipurpose cash). En vanligt förekommande form av bistånd som ingår i flera sektorer är kontantstöd som kommer att nyttjas i de kriser där det bedöms som relevant. 

Programmen tar hänsyn till konfliktperspektiv vid utformning, genomförande och utvärdering, men konflikthantering är sällan det huvudsakliga syftet med verksamheten. Programmen tar även hänsyn till genderperspektiv vid utformning, genomförande och utvärdering, men gender är sällan det huvudsakliga syftet med verksamheten. The objective of the intervention is to contribute to the Strategy for Sweden's humanitarian aid provided through Sida 2021-2025. The intervention is supposed to contribute to reducing the vulnerability and exposure of vulnerable people to threats and abuse, including sexual and gender-based violence, in seven crises through annual allocation and in sudden onset or deteriorating crises crises through support through the Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM). The intervention also contributes to strengthening of the humanitarian aid delivery system through engagement with cluster coordination. 

The operational purpose of Islamic Relief's work is to support the realisation of the rights of every person, especially the most disadvantaged. This work is linked to the Sustainable Development Goals. Islamic Relief has also developed an organisational theory of change which is aligned with its strategy. The organisational theory of change outlines concrete actions at country, regional and global levels that enables Islamic Relief to contribute to the outcomes and impacts across three strategic goal areas of the strategy, as well as cross-cutting priorities such as gender equality. The three strategic objectives are:

a) Enable communities to mitigate the effect of disasters, prepare for their occurrence and respond by providing relief, protection, and recovery.

b) Promote integrated development and environmental custodianship with a focus on sustainable livelihoods.

c) Support the marginalised and vulnerable to voice their needs and address root causes of poverty.

It is above all expected that the intervention will contribute to the first objective. In 2022, through its agreement with IRS, Sida will support IR's humanitarian interventions in seven contexts, as well as its capacity to implement life-saving responses through the Rapid Response Mechanism.

The objectives for the proposed projects in 2022 - Pakistan, Palestine, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen - are to assist those people who are most in need. IRS will assist them through various modalities, such as cash assistance, food aid, protection, health, and nutrition. By also including local capacity building and coordination in its projects, the support to the organisation is further expected to lead to a more localised, efficient, and principled humanitarian response. By including an RRM allocation as part of this contribution, the organisation will be able to respond to rapidly deteriorating conflicts, emergency support to affected populations, and to respond to natural disasters.