Emergency food assistance to acutely food insecure people living in IPC Phase 3 and 4 High acute food insecurity persists across Afghanistan, as a combination of a collapsing economy and drought is depriving nearly 20 million Afghans of food, classified in Crisis or Emergency (IPC Phases 3 or 4), between March and May 2022 (the lean season), latest data shows. Among these are about 6.6 million people in Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and 13 million in Crisis (IPC Phase 3). In the projected period, between June and November 2022, harvest will allow a minimal improvement in food availability and access, from 19.7 million people facing acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 and above) to 18.9 million. Overall, 13 million will likely be in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) and 6 million in Emergency (IPC Phase 4). Several factors are further expected to hamper the foreseeable seasonal improvement. Among these is the lack of development projects the disruption of supply chain linked to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and the remaining sanctions on the de facto authorities. To complement WFP’s overall crisis response, WFP aims to use this funding to provide unconditional, nutrition-sensitive in-kind food or cash assistance to acutely 105,791 food-insecure people in Badghis, Balkh, Ghor, Ghazni, Hirat, and Wardak provinces. In the projection period (June-November 2022) of the latest IPC analysis, Badghis, Balkh and Ghor provinces are classified as IPC 4 areas, while Wardak, Ghazni and Hirat are classified as IPC 3. WFP will provide a mix of in-kind, direct cash or commodity vouchers in the targeted provinces for a total of 6 months of support, except for Ghor province, where WFP will provide only in-kind assistance for the duration. Specific modalities are selected at a district level based on market functionality, security and protection considerations, as well as logistics considerations, with a preference for direct cash where possible and preferred by populations being assisted. District level decision making on specific modality allocations is currently ongoing, and regularly reviewed as flexibility in programming is critical to enable operational efficient to ensure WFP is able to best meet the needs across the country utilizing the various modalities and mechanisms available. 

In-Kind Assistance: WFP plans to provide a total of 1,508 MT worth of emergency in-kind assistance to acutely food-insecure 27,923 people (3,989 households) in targeted districts of Badghis and Ghor provinces. In IPC 4 areas, targeted households will receive a monthly in-kind nutritionally balanced food basket comprised of 75kg of fortified wheat flour, 6.83kg of fortified vegetable oil, 9.38kg of pulses, and 0.75 kg of iodized salt. Households will receive in-kind food assistance for 6 months. Similarly, in IPC 3 areas, households will receive a monthly in-kind ration of 50kg fortified wheat flour, 4.55kg fortified vegetable oil, 6.25kg of pulses, and 0.5kg iodized salt. WFP’s in-kind assistance is aligned with the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster’s (FSAC) recommended guidelines on humanitarian response packages. WFP will use existing food commodities from additional funding sources and AHF’s contribution will serve for pipeline replenishment purposes.  Direct Cash Assistance: WFP plans to provide unconditional assistance in the form of direct cash assistance to 46,718 people (6,674 households) in the targeted provinces. Cash-based assistance will be provided in targeted locations where markets are functional and capable financial service providers are available. To help them cover their food and nutrition needs, targeted households receiving direct cash in IPC4 areas will receive a monthly cash assistance worth AFN 5700 which is 75 percent of the FSAC total monthly food basket for a family of 7 for a period of six months meanwhile, targeted households in IPC3 areas will receive a monthly cash assistance worth AFN 3800 which is 50 percent of the FSAC total monthly food basket for the same amount of time. Commodity voucher assistance: see comment