Emergency WASH Response for protracted IDPs and vulnerable host communities in Nimroz and Sar-e-Pul Provinces. During 2021, the people of Afghanistan faced intensified conflicts, withdrawal of international forces followed by the country takeover by the de-facto authority in August. The resulting political, social, and economic shocks have reverberated across the country with a massive deterioration of the humanitarian and protection situation in the 4th quarter of 2021 and the outlook for 2022 remaining profoundly uncertain .

Across the country, WASH systems have faced under-investment and disruption, which in return generates complex needs that worsen the burden on health system. While estimates of the country’s population have almost doubled over the last twenty years, safe drinking water coverage in Afghanistan continues to be limited and is still among the lowest in the world. Decades of conflict and repeated sudden-onset natural disasters have damaged the limited infrastructure that exist. The 73% of the population who live in rural areas are the most affected by the lack of access to safe drinking water, sanitation, hygiene services including poor hygiene practices and knowledge—where open defecation is still widespread and hand washing with soap at critical times is infrequently practiced. Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) appears at high rates among infants, especially among the households headed by women and people with a disability. In addition, households headed by a person with a disability may face higher hygiene needs, as only 58 per cent report having enough water for handwashing (compared to 67 per cent of other households). 

The most vulnerable IDPs and Host Communities in 4 districts (Zaranj, Kang, Chakhansoor, Charborjak, Khashrood, Delaram) of Nimroz Province and 3 districts (Saripul center, Sozma Qala and Sancharak) of Saripul Province will receive emergency WASH assistance such as provision of water, construction of latrine and hygiene material to cover their daily needs to prevent them from the water and sanitation diseases. 

NRC conducted rapid assessment in the targeted locations to assess WASH needs in both provinces- key findings are that people do not have access to enough clean water due to non-functional water supply system, widely open defecation due lack of latrine facilities and poor hygiene practices due to not having access to basic hygiene material. 
 
Through this intervention, NRC will provide integrated WASH assistance such as provision of clean water, provision of sanitation facilities, chlorination of existing water points and hygiene promotion to 34,195 most vulnerable women, men and children in Nimroz and Saripul province.
Community has preferred to construct latrines through provision of the cash to be led by community the construction of the latrines. Community has also mentioned that the required skills and un-skill labors are available in the targeted communities. Based on the above suggestion of the community, NRC has decided the sanitation component of the proposal particularly latrine construction will be carried out through provision of cash to the participants to construct their own latrines. NRC WASH engineers will develop BoQs and design of the latrines to monitor the construction of the latrines to make sure the latrines are constructed as the provided design. The cash will be provided in two installments, the first installment will be to construct the sub structure of the latrine and the second installment will be provided once the sub structure is constructed after verifying the NRC WASH team. The materials for the construction of latrine are locally available in both provinces (Nimroz and Saripul) and market are functional to support our intervention. Community led construction will also contribute to long term sustainability to promote the use of latrines. 

NRC has been providing cash assistance to beneficiaries in different projects through Hawala and has already signed frame work agreement with Hawala service providers to provide cash to the beneficiaries.