Food (in-cash) assistance for 6 months to IPC Phase 3 and 4 vulnerable people in Nuristan Province “Barg-e-Matal, Duab, and Kamdesh districts. Acute drought, recent crises, and the collapse of the economy in the second half of 2021 have caused a malnutrition crisis in Afghanistan, according to IPC 2022, 19.7M (47% of the population) are facing high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above). Severe drought and a moderate La Nina for its third year have been affecting the country from October 2021 till September 2022 and will likely continue from Oct until the lean season of 2022. 
 Nuristan is Afghanistan's least populous province, with a population of 217,760 highly food insecure/at-risk people equal to (66%) of the total provincial population i.e. (142,194) individuals in ranking 3 and 3+. the community relays on cash-based economies for the upcoming long season of winter of its complex geography and cold seasons of fall-winter. (Ref: IPC Analysis May 2022).
OCHR as a result of a needs assessment conducted on 5 – 10 Sep 2022 in Nuristan province in consultation with the community the preferred modality is in-cash assistance for food response by 80-85% of the respondents to respond to Emergency food needs for the upcoming cold winter because 1- The targeted people have regular access to local markets, A- Nuristan Centre Parun city's local market. B-Nari Bazar Barikot, C- Asada bad zonal standard market-very functional local markets with the capacity to provide all types of food commodities with quality and good prices that are normally stable in line with seasonal trends.
The precipitation anomaly still exists affecting the ongoing lean season with dire implications for farming – harvest. Recent flooding has washed out crops, and plants-fruits, which causes 217,760 more to face IPC 3-4 in Nuristan. Conflict, Covid-19, and recent crises have forced 33,600 IDPs between Jan-2021 and May 2022 while 4,200 individuals have been affected by natural disasters (flash floods, heavy snowfalls) in the province. The WoAA April-22 highlights the FSAC situation as Food needs by 90%, Healthcare by 50%, and livelihoods by 46%. And limited access to food is 95% due to economic shock. total monthly income decreased by 15% while 73% of income is spent on food. On average total debt is AFN 58,159 in 2022, compared to AFN 52,342 in 2021. HHs moderate hunger category escalating from 14% in 2021 to 38% in 2022.
Under this project, OCHR proposed to provide food (in-cash) assistance for six months at 75 percent of the food basket ($72 per month) to IPC Phase 3 - 4 vulnerable people (SO1)-SP1.2.  OCHR will target 1020 most vulnerable HHs (7140 individuals) in three districts of Nuristan. Each HH will receive a total of USD432 i.e. ($72 USD per installment) in six installments to meet the immediate food security needs of the targeted beneficiary for up to six months.  
This project adopts the Unconditional cash (Unrestricted) transfer modality as per the standard FSAC cluster guidelines. For safe and secure transfer of cash to end-users OCHR already agreed with FMFB-A (First Micro Finance Bank-Afghanistan) to deliver the cash transfer in a direct cash delivery mechanism and cash distribution services to the beneficiaries.
The project is aligned to HRP 2022 strategic objectives SO-1, Specific Objective SP 1.2, and FSAC cluster-specific objectives—2022 HRP FSAC Outcome 1.2: Necessary food assistance is provided to affected households in a timely manner.
OCHR will mitigate all C-19 mitigation measures i.e. to identify and share RCCE approaches, tools-lessons learned in combating C-19. To ensure Communication and Community engagement will provide regular awareness to the project beneficiaries through using tools that the RCCE-SWG has developed. The project has considered all the protections measures i.e. face masks, sanitizer, social distance etc.