Livelihood assistance to the Drought-Affected Population in Kama and Kuz-Kunar districts of Nangarhar Province Afghanistan has been suffering from an upsurge in drought frequency due to a rise in temperature and a decrease in rainfall for approximately two years, severely damaging agriculture throughout the country. In Afghanistan, the winter wet season is critical for successful agriculture and food production throughout the year. The planting season for Afghanistan’s main crop, wheat, starts when autumn rainfall allows farmers to sow seeds. However, A La Niña drought in 2021 impacted food production. 25 provinces out of 34 were affected by agricultural stress related to the drought in 2021. Below-average cumulative precipitation during the wet season (October 2020 – May 2021) and above-average temperatures resulted in reduced snowfall and reduced snow-melt (vital for irrigation in many areas) and a reduced area under cultivation. As preliminary estimates, the 2021 cereal harvest is 20% below 2020 levels and 15% below the five-year average. The 2021 Seasonal Food Security Assessment (SFSA), undertaken by the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC), revealed that drought represented a major shock for about 37% of rural households. (IPC ACUTE FOOD INSECURITY ANALYSIS September 2021 - March 2022)

According to SFSA 2021, 34% of the households already using emergency coping strategies i.e. 33% spent saving, 39% sold HH assets, 3.8% sold animals, 90% borrow food or money for food, 7.3% sold income generation equipment 2% decreased agriculture expenditures, 42.3% decreased expenditure on health and education, 1.2% sold land, 15% sold last female animal, 5.6% begging, 39.3% rely on charity, 3.4% early marriage of daughters, 8.1% entire HH migrated.

The combined impact of conflict and insecurity, acute drought – the worst for more than three decades – and economic collapse in the second half of 2021 have generated a hunger crisis of unprecedented proportions in Afghanistan, with some 22.8 million people projected to be facing acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above) by the start of 2022. This includes a staggering 8.7 million people in ‘emergency’ food insecurity (IPC Phase 4) - the highest absolute number in the world. (Humanitarian Response Plan-HRP Issued January 2022)

In Nangarhar, 70% of participants in a recent FAO survey have declared to have suffered from current severe/moderate food insecurity, while 22% are in an IPC3+ situation. The same analysis emerges that 44% of the families suffer because of the drought and 69% suffer a less than average harvest (FAO).

To respond to the above situation, under this proposal, OCHR will target 1,430 HHs in the Nangarhar province by accomplishing the following activities:

- Distribution of FSAC cluster standard livestock package to ensure livestock wellbeing and resistance against diseases. 
- Distribution of FSAC cluster standard vegetable kit to address nutrition challenges in the targeted areas. 

OCHR will conduct social mobilization in coordination with targeted communities, CDCs and Shura elders, and relevant local sectoral authorities to ensure that the most vulnerable drought-affected population is identified and selected.
OCHR will select a safe distribution point in coordination with the target beneficiaries and ensure the day, time, and location for the distribution of inputs. In addition, field staff will add to the beneficiaries' knowledge, skills, and experience through on-the-spot brief hands-on demo training before distributing packages so that the beneficiaries appropriately utilize the distributed items.

CHS and AWAAZ complaint mechanisms will be applied to be accountable to the beneficiaries and implement all activities in an accountable, transparent way. 

The project is designed upon the recommendation of FSAC i.e. to support cluster objectives addressing IPC3/IPC4.