Emergency cash-based support to food insecure IPC 3 and 4 households in Darwaz-e-Balla, Darwaz-e-Payin, Eshkashem, Khwahan and Kofab districts in Badakhshan province High acute food insecurity persists across Afghanistan, as a combination of a collapsing economy and drought is depriving nearly 18.9 million Afghans of food, classified in Crisis or Emergency (IPC Phases 3 or 4), between June and November 2022 including 770,655 (55%) people in category IPC 3 and 4 in Badakhshan province therefore it is considered a top priority for Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC) as well as for the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund (AHF) under 2022 third reserve allocation. Affected people are using negative coping mechanisms such as reduction in expenditures on most needed basic foods and using debts to pay for food to copy with the situation and to feed their children among other family members. ACDO proposes this eight months’ project which will cover six months of beneficiary’s food consumption gaps and two months for the community mobilization and sensitization, and post distribution monitoring and final evaluation report.

Per Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC) guidelines and AHF third reserve allocation priorities, and in line with the latest approved Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB), each household will receive cash assistance of US dollars 432/- (144*3=432 US dollars), corresponding to 75% of the food basket, in three (3) installments via a contracted hawala dealer who will distribute the money to the beneficiary in each targeted district in presence of ACDO staff, and local stakeholders. Beneficiary will receive equivalent afghani per prevailing currency exchange rate in each distribution/installment.

The total value for the food basket is 96 US dollars per month per household, however, as per Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC) guidelines, beneficiaries will receive 75% of the said amount which is 72 US dollars per month per household, but considering the remoteness of the districts and communities and harsh weather conditions, two tranches of assistance i.e., 144 US dollars (72*2=144) will be distributed for three times (each in two months) to 7,890 vulnerable individuals (1,127 households) in Darwaz-e-Balla, Darwaz-e-Payin, Eshkashem, Khwahan and Kofab districts of Badakhshan province. 

Hawala dealer will transfer the money from Kabul to each district with all responsibilities including theft, loss, or damage to the money until it is distributed to the beneficiary. Remoteness of districts and communities, non-availability of other financial mechanisms such as functional banks, western union/money gram or electronic fund transfer (EFT) in these districts – using hawala is the only safe and secure method of transferring assistance to the beneficiary. 

In terms of market functionality, ACDO will use the data collected by REACH’s Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI) before and after each distribution to receive the most updated indication on markets functionality and prices and to assure the possibility of cash assistance in target districts. Besides all data from JMMI, if there is still need for further assessment of markets, ACDO with qualified staff and tools and technical expertise will carry out survey on markets functionality, availability of commodities and status of prices when and where needed.

Though it was a priority for ACDO to deliver in-kind assistance to the beneficiary, but after careful assessment of the situation including remoteness of the districts from provincial center and/or any other nearby local markets, non-availability of enough food commodities in local/districts markets, and higher cost of transporting food commodities from provincial center to districts and communities, it was decided that beneficiary should be assisted with cash assistance to pay for their food. ACDO will raise awareness among target households on the importance of food security and will try to encourage them to use the cash for the intended purchase of food to improve households’ food consumption score and avoid malnutrition among children.