Food-oriented support to vulnerable HHs in Chemtal district, Balkh province High acute food insecurity persists across Afghanistan, as a combination of a collapsing economy and drought is depriving nearly 20 million Afghans of food. Almost half of the population face high levels of food insecurity: some 6.6 million of people are in IPC4 and 13 million in IPC3 phase, characterized by large food gaps and/ or employing emergency coping strategies to access food. For the first time since the introduction of IPC in Afghanistan, Catastrophe conditions (IPC 5) were detected for 20,000 people in the province of Ghor (IPC, May 2022).

93% of HHs surveyed by PIN in May 2022 reported that they have not enough to eat during past 30 days. 44% of surveyed households show poor food consumption score and 42% are at the border line. People deploy negative coping strategies to meet their family needs such as selling assets (69%), child labour (16%), borrowing from friends and relatives (96%), and several have already exhausted these resources. Striking 95% of households are in debt, with average height of 50 000 Afghani. 

The proposed project responds to the burning needs of the population of Chemtal district by providing continuous 6 months long Cash for food support to 1125 most vulnerable HHs to support them in improving their food consumption and complement their depleted food stocks, complemented by nutrition and C-19 awareness sessions. Each family will receive USD 60 per month, e.g. in total each household will receive USD 360 in 6 months. The district is dependent mostly on rainfed agriculture, and is among the districts most impacted by numerous shocks, especially the current drought as well as the conflict in the months preceding the change of regime. With local markets being functional, stocked and accessible, cash assistance enables the quickest roll-out, considering the urgency of needs, compared to other modalities. It is also cost-effective, attracts less visibility than other modalities, and gives households the choice and flexibility to react to regional/district variation of item prices, reducing their dependency and offering choice, flexibility and dignity in securing their food needs. This Action seeks to fill humanitarian response gaps in the targeted underserved district, in alignment with the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) 2022 and cluster prioritization. PIN has strong access and consent in the targeted province, at the provincial, district and local level, has an operational set-up and is able to operate in a safe, efficient and effective manner that does not risk causing harm to communities or staff. 

PIN has been operating in Balkh Province since 2001. For the last 20 years, PIN managed to operate in majority of Balkh districts including Chemtal, succeeding in building high acceptance among the communities, local structures and stakeholders. Between 2010 to 2021, PIN reached over 150,000 people with emergency support, facilitated 32,000 IDPs to return home and supported over 80,000 farmers. At the moment, PIN provides 3110 HHs negatively affected by the impact of the conflict and drought with Cash for food support complemented with nutrition and Covid-19 awareness sessions in similar location. This intervention follows already completed Cash for food intervention targeting 1365 in Mazar-e-Sharif and Cash for food and nutrition intervention in Balkh as a part of joint Alliance 2015 programming in Balkh, Jawzjan and Samangan provinces.