Life-saving winterization assistance to highly at-risk populations in Ghazni Province The proposed project aims to provide life-saving assistance to address the immediate winterization needs of 1,800 households (12,600 beneficiaries) in the Andar, Dehyak, and Naur districts of Ghazni Province. The beneficiaries will be prioritized based on the level of need determined by a rapid needs assessment that will be conducted by the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee (NAC). The majority of the population in these hard-to-reach districts will soon be facing severe winter conditions with a lack of heating material, clothing and blankets. This winter season is expected to be more difficult for many due to the economic crisis in the country, the lack of job opportunities, the banking crisis and depreciation of the afghani, and many other issues including the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects. This proposed project will be implemented to improve the life conditions for many of the most vulnerable individuals (e.g., pregnant women, children and elderly people) throughout the winter season.

The 2021-2022 Joint Winter Plan highlights significant needs over the winter due to aggravated vulnerability. Previous year trends indicate that by November, cases of hypothermia and acute respiratory infections and deaths directly and indirectly associated with cold weather are likely to increase. Lessons learned from past years’ winter assistance shows the urgency of providing targeted assistance early in the winter season. This will be critical as many people – particularly IDPs and returnees who reside in open spaces or in congested informal settlements – are left in poor, unhygienic and undignified living conditions with little access to basic services.

The chosen modality for this assistance will be through direct cash transfers to the neediest households, which will enable target beneficiaries to access essential heating materials, clothing and blankets in the harsh winter season. This project aligns with NAC’s current programs to add emergency assistance to our “emergency cash assistance” to ensure that families and their children have access to heating materials to cope with the harsh winter season. NAC will ensure a gender-sensitive selection process and accessible accountability mechanisms, and the gender-balanced field team will ensure easy access by both genders.

All project beneficiaries will be eligible to receive cash assistance through the direct cash transfer modality by a Financial Service Provider (FSP)/ local hawala dealers. The value of transfer will be USD 305 as single transfer (based on agreed ES/NFI standards) per household.

NAC will contribute in areas where we are currently implementing our Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) funded 3-year program. Using our knowledge, experience and trained personnel, NAC will also provide the beneficiaries of the AHF project with:

1. Nutrition training: beneficiaries will learn about nutrition through messages and posters covering topics such as basic healthy cooking practices, how to best utilize vegetables, children’s diet diversification, and the use of staple foods.
2. Health training: beneficiaries will be informed about how to prevent and respond to communicable diseases, reducing the risk of spreading COVID-19, hepatitis, and other diseases that impact the lives of community members. 
3. Responsible parenting training: beneficiaries will learn how increased spacing between childbirths will have positive effects on infant and maternal mortality rates and on children’s physical, social, emotional and cognitive development. Awareness-raising sessions on nutrition (food safety) and responsible parenting will be reported to NORAD.

The trainings will help beneficiary households to understand the diversification of food items, nutrition and effective use of cash to provide the food commodities.

NAC will ensure coordination and cooperation with other stakeholders in the proposed project target areas to avoid any duplication or overlap.