Afghanistan

Humanitarian Need

While displacement induced by conflict has reduced in the past few years, the sudden influx of forced returnees, economic shocks, recurrent floods, earthquakes, and other natural disaster events expected to continue into 2024. These events, compounded by residual shelter needs for more than 30,000 families affected by the earthquakes in Herat, seasonal winter and shelter needs for forced returnees, the heightened risk of evictions for IDPs residing in informal settlements, has resulted in 6.6 million people in need of shelter/NFI assistance. Additionally, anticipated El Niño conditions in 2024 introduces the risk of above-normal precipitation and warmer temperatures, leading to flooding, landslides, and potential displacement.

While shelter needs have continued to improve over the last two years, these needs remain considerable especially among rural, recent-returnee and female-headed households with three out of four households facing shelter issues. According to whole of Afghanistan, 30 percent of households live in inadequate shelters. This is similar across population groups – except for refugees (78 per cent) and is heightened for rural HHs (33 per cent) compared to urban ones (21 per cent). The need for shelter and NFI assistance remains significantly high among refugees, with 93 percent and 83 per cent respectively, citing shelter and NFI assistance as their 2nd and 3rd top priority needs after food.

Equally, according to whole of Afghanistan, 63 per cent of households report at least one shelter issue, a reduction from 84 per cent in 2022. This is, however, higher among female headed households and recent-returnee populations (76 per cent). The range of shelter issues reported by households includes minor damage to roof (30 per cent), leaking during rain (29 per cent) and damage to walls (29 per cent) and lack of insulation from cold & heat (14 per cent).

Residual needs from the impact of three powerful (6.3 magnitude) earthquakes struck Herat Province, western Afghanistan, will remain a critical driver of need for the shelter Cluster in 2024. In addition to loss of life and injury, the earthquakes – which struck several villages multiple times – destroyed critical civilian infrastructure, including homes, health facilities, schools, and water networks. These earthquakes have left thousands of already-vulnerable families in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, with shelter, food, and water and sanitation needs particularly high. More than 48,000 families directly affected, with some 10,113 homes having been destroyed, 20,924 houses severely damaged and 17,596 moderately damaged across 394 villages, and 9 districts of Herat Province. The earthquakes have struck vulnerable communities – which are already grappling with decades of conflict and under-development – and left them with little resilience to cope with multiple, simultaneous shocks. Similarly, the earthquake resulted in significant needs for persons with specific needs who constitute 22 per cent of the affected families including 17,358 pregnant women, 17,146 infants, 3,976 individuals living with severe disabilities, 3,207 vulnerable elderly families, 3,139 unaccompanied children, 6,806 female-headed households and 3,176 people chronically ill have been identified. More than 48,600 families remain in open space, makeshift structures, tents, partially or destroyed houses, which are unsafe, lack privacy, dignity, leaving children, the elderly, women, exposed to severe sandstorms, and the cold harsh weather and in urgent and dire need of emergency shelter, repair, retrofitting and transitional shelter assistance.

Natural disasters and climate change, such as earthquakes, flash flooding, avalanches, harsh winters remain a key concern. In 2024, Strong El Niño conditions are anticipated in late 2023 and early 2024, typically causing above-normal snowfall/rainfall, especially in the north and northeast, as well as warmer temperatures across the country, generating new risks including flooding of drought-degraded land and landslides. Equally, being in a seismically active region, Afghanistan is highly susceptible to catastrophic damage due to earthquakes, particularly along the Chaman, Hari Rud, Central Badakhshan and Darvaz fault lines. Between January and October 2023, the country experienced more than 385 earthquake events, 109 of which were 4.5 mag and above.

The sudden influx of 1.3 million documented and undocumented returnees from Pakistan is projected to continue to 2024, triggering emergency shelter, NFI, seasonal winter needs and shelter repair and transitional shelters support for more than 530,000 documented and undocumented returnees at border points and the need for shelter repair and transitional shelter needs at points of destinations.

Despite a decrease in the number of settlements over the past two years, a large population of internally displaced persons (IDPs) still residing in 893 informal settlements, with an estimated 450,000 households, which includes recent returnees from Pakistan. De facto authorities (DfA) are likely to continue to push for the return of IDPs and people living in informal settlements and clearance of informal settlements, particularly those sitting on government and private land. In 2024, the Cluster anticipates that vulnerable IDPs will remain in urgent need of emergency shelter /NFI assistance in lieu of their risk of eviction.

Equally, according to World bank, while a fragile low-level equilibrium is observed and some macro indicators have improved, more than three fifths of Afghan families continue to face significant challenges in maintaining their livelihoods. In 2024, it is anticipated that the need for seasonal winter items including heating, blankets and clothing will remain in high priority districts. According to Whole of Afghanistan Assessment (WoAA), 86 per cent of households in the lowest income group lack winter clothes for children.

The operational environment is likely to become more challenging with the varying implementation of various procedures and instructions from De-facto authorities (DfA), including but not limited to the procedure for coordination of humanitarian response, and ‘the directive banning Afghan women humanitarian workers,’ forcing humanitarian actors to continue operations through cumbersome and labor-intensive negotiations with limited participation of women.

Response Strategy

Of the 6.6 million people in need of emergency shelter and NFI assistance, the shelter Cluster and its partners have prioritized to reach 1.7 million people with emergency shelter, NFI and seasonal assistance in 2024, for which US$ 227 million is required.

The ES-NFI Cluster will continue all its core activities, ensuring that crisis affected-people of all genders and diversities – including vulnerable groups with specific protection needs – have immediate and adequate access to emergency shelter; non-food items; transitional shelter; shelter repairs and winterization support – to address needs from the impact of natural disasters, conflict, cross-border returns, and the lack of recovery, driven by the multi-faceted crises. These efforts will be facilitated through the Cluster Coordination, Camp Management and Camp Coordination (CCCM), which includes the care and maintenance of infrastructure in informal settlements (ISET).

The Shelter/NFI Cluster response is three-fold:

1. Ensure crisis-affected people of all genders and diversities have immediate and adequate access to emergency shelter, core relief household items, and seasonal assistance.
2. Ensure crisis-affected people of all gender and diversities are protected from the elements with adequate access to shelter materials, repair, retrofitting and transitional shelter, enabling safer and more dignified living conditions and contributing to acceleration of activities that reduce the duration of the emergency and the impact of temporary living conditions.
3. Ensure the prioritization of people with specific protection needs including female headed household, unaccompanied minors, elderly, people with disabilities, women and girls in design and delivery of shelter/NFI assistance.

In 2024, the Cluster will continue its progressive shift and support towards more shelter activities i.e., shelter repairs and upgrade and transitional shelter in effort to address underlying driver of needs. Particular attention will also be brought to responding to the needs of the most vulnerable groups including female headed households, persons with disabilities, chronically ill, unaccompanied minors (UAM), unaccompanied elders (UAE) among others.

The Cluster will prioritize the provision of timely and targeted life-saving assistance through the delivery of emergency shelter and household items to affected people. Standard NFI kits will continue to be distributed where needed. Affected families will also be provided with seasonal items (such as warm clothing, heating materials and blankets in winter) to save lives, reduce their exposure to the harsh winter conditions and mitigate against the risk of respiratory infections, hypothermia and preventable mortality among children and the elderly.

The Shelter Cluster takes the view that shelter is more than just the provision of tents, materials, or the construction of a physical structure. It is a process essential to the creation of an environment where people can begin rebuilding their lives in safety, durability, which are culturally appropriate, live in dignity and a goal to improve the culture of construction not only to replace the lost assets. Therefore, in addition to emergency shelter and NFI assistance, and with transitional shelter and shelter repair needs remaining high across the country with 63 per cent of households reporting at least one shelter issue, the Cluster will continue its progressive shift towards more durable solutions, with more investment directed towards shelter repair, retrofitting and transitional shelter solutions particularly for women headed HHs and other groups with intersecting vulnerabilities. This approach is foreseen to provide a multiplier effect on households, contributing to a sense of normalcy, providing physical and legal protection, improved psychological and socio-economic conditions, contributing to disaster risk reduction (DRR) and increase access to other essential services such as health, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and education. Equally, enhancing the right to adequate housing - a human right recognized in international human rights law as part of the right to an adequate standard of living.

Where applicable, implementation of shelter projects will be done through owner-driven approaches that encourage community participation and that offer a level of flexibility and choice to beneficiaries. Limited participation of female staff in Shelter activities, compounded by restrictions imposed on women necessitating their extended stay indoors remains a major challenge with impact on program quality. Consultations particularly with women and girls, women headed households on GBV, adequacy of shelter solutions in terms of design, size, location, appropriate separation of spaces, has an impact on their privacy and wellbeing and will remain a key priority for the cluster.

Seasonality of response will be prioritized over winter, spring and summer seasons where typical and atypical disaster shocks are expected. Strong El Niño conditions are anticipated in Afghanistan in early 2024 bringing above-normal snowfall/rainfall, especially in the north and northeast. The Shelter Cluster will continue to prioritize the provision of emergency shelter /NFI support, repair tool kits, shelter upgrade assistance for households whose homes are partially or severely damaged. The Cluster will also advocate and prioritize repair, retrofitting and rebuilding support for those that were affected by natural disasters (earthquakes and flooding) in 2023 who have yet to receive assistance. The Cluster will also advocate and put in place measures to respond to these needs promptly, including ensuring adequate stocks are prepositioned across the country.

Freezing winter temperatures, acerbated by poor shelter conditions, limited financial capability to purchase fuel and heaters, road blockages during winter months, has a direct impact on the cluster response and notably, potentially drives women and girls into negative coping mechanisms including increased debt, and heightened risk of coerced sexual exploitation and trafficking during the winter season. The cluster will therefore continue to prioritize the provision of winter clothing, blankets, heating support & shelter repair support for vulnerable households residing especially in high altitude locations, exposed to extreme & severe cold temperatures. High altitude areas and priority provinces which witness cold winters will continue to be prioritized for winterization support. This includes Nuristan, Badakhshan, Parwan, Baghlan, Bamyan, Daykundi, Kabul, Wardak, Ghor, Panjsher, and Ghazni provinces.

Given the ever-present risk of earthquakes, a forecast of El Nino, and other natural disasters in 2024, the Cluster will continue to advocate for additional resources to be allocated towards the prepositioning of adequate stocks across the country, and replenishment of stockpiles, severely depleted by the earthquake response in Herat.

The threat of eviction for informal settlements will be addressed through strengthened coordination with the CCCM Working Group and the Housing, Land and Property (HLP) Sub-Cluster – Protection Cluster, through supporting rental subsidy to those with insecure tenure and a high debt burden. The Cluster will also closely coordinate with the WASH Cluster to mainstream both shelter and WASH core competencies in transitional shelter programs, supporting beneficiaries’ access to adequate shelter and sanitation facilities.

The response outlined in this plan will be delivered via a combination of in-kind, cash and voucher assistance. Cash or in-kind ES-NFI assistance will be provided in line with the Cluster minimum standards. The use of cash modality will be prioritized in urban areas where the markets are functioning, informed by Cluster Guidelines, Market Assessment and PDMs. The Cluster will continue to engage and further enhance its collaboration with the CVWG to coordinate cash and voucher activities, particularly on Shelter and sinter activities.

Targeting and Prioritization

The cluster recognizes that while emergency Shelter/NFI response targets the most vulnerable, these forms of assistance are essential for all affected people. Therefore, while some of these activities may be targeted according to vulnerability, others are intended as temporal, and vital substitutes for forms of assistance that have been disrupted, or suspended, by the evolving geo-political and socio-economic context. Strengthening & maintaining these activities is not only critical to directly prevent loss of life and dignity but is also essential to sustain an enabling environment for humanitarian action.

Notably, the Cluster prioritization strategy is threefold:

1. Based on severity of needs according to the shelter severity classification system - severity represents the degree of shelter needs that affected population are facing relative to the agreed adequate shelter standards.
2. Application of a protection, age, gender, and diversity lens for all affected people safeguarding prompt remedial action and assistance to persons with specific needs.
3. Assistance is tailored to phase of response, type of displacement/crisis and security of tenure.

In 2024, the ES-NFI Cluster will prioritize assistance to households impacted by new, sudden onset disasters, vulnerable families facing the risk of eviction, cross-border returnees in places of destination, refugees and asylum seekers, vulnerable households affected by the Herat earthquakes, families with protracted needs following recent flooding and other natural disasters in 2023, and those residing high priority districts requiring seasonal winterization support.

The protection of vulnerable groups, especially women, children and those living with disabilities, remains paramount, thus the Cluster will use the shelter severity classification system and a protection, age, gender, and diversity lens to prioritize the needs of distinct groups. Assistance will be provided and tailored to the type of event, or crisis, phase of displacement, response, security of tenure and level of vulnerability.

Immediate lifesaving emergency shelter and NFI support will be provided to people affected by the onset of sudden events, enabling their physical protection from the elements, providing a space to live and store belongings. Repair, retrofitting and transitional shelter assistance will be prioritized for persons with specific needs including female headed households, persons with disabilities, chronically ill, unaccompanied minors (UAM), unaccompanied elders (UAE) among others. The ES-NFI Cluster will continue to prioritize rebuilding support for those affected by natural disasters including recent earthquakes in Herat Province. Equally, seasonal winter assistance will be provided to vulnerable families residing in high priority districts, who remain exposed to extreme & severe cold temperatures and have no means to cope with the seasonal changes.

The CCCM Working Group, on the other hand, has formulated a response strategy for 2024 that will focus on three modalities: cash assistance, in-kind support, and profiling. Approximately 80% of the beneficiaries, around 454,000 individuals, are expected to receive cash assistance, while the remaining 20% (approximately 114,000 individuals) will receive in-kind assistance. Additionally, profiling will be conducted for 100% of the targeted individuals to gain a better understanding of their specific needs.

While the Cluster has prioritized some repair, and transitional shelter assistance for persons with specific needs, shelter needs for more than 26,000 families affected by the earthquake events in Herat, and 91 per cent for recent returnees at places of destination, are not reflected and included in the HRP. USD 98M is needed to address this gap.

Quality and Inclusive Programming

Under the framework of the IASC concept for operations, and informed by the Collective AAP Strategy for Afghanistan and the AAP, PSEA, Gender, and Disability Inclusion Minimum Standards for the Humanitarian Programme Cycle in Afghanistan, the Cluster plans to continue 1) to prioritize timely access to core lifesaving emergency shelter and NFI assistance in response to sudden events and 2) it’s progressive shift towards more durable shelter solutions that address underlying drivers of needs particularly for families affected by recent earthquake events in Herat, protracted households and those returning to places of origin.

While female participation in some cluster activities i.e., shelter construction & repair work, remains subliminal estimated at 21 per cent, women and girls remain the first responders and the best representatives of their needs. Therefore, every effort will be made to reach marginalized women and girls, including women with disabilities, elderly women, and women headed households, engaging them as active partners, and building on their needs and capacities. The Cluster will 1) advocate to partners to allocate a minimum threshold of 10 to 15 per cent for women headed households, including those with intersecting vulnerabilities 2) will support applications for women’s and girls’ rights organizations to join the Cluster, 3) will further prioritize funding opportunities to these organizations, ensuring that they are not forced to compete with international humanitarian actors in the same funding windows as well as 4) strengthen systematic collection and analysis of sex- and age-disaggregated data.

Accordingly, the Cluster will also advocate to partners to ensure their adherence to the established Minimum Standards for the Humanitarian Programme Cycle in Afghanistan and the Cluster Specific Guidelines/Checklist. Where applicable, implementation of shelter projects will be done through owner-driven or neighborhood approaches that encourage community participation and that offer a level of flexibility and choice to beneficiaries.

The Cluster will prioritize and enhance gender responsive programming, ensuring female participation, throughout the humanitarian program cycle i.e., during assessment, distributions, through adequate establishment of post distribution and complain feedback mechanisms and adapting alternative measures to safeguard voices and reach to women and girls. Consultations particularly with women and girls, women headed households on adequacy of a shelter solutions and the related standard packages is a priority for the cluster. This will be done through the involvement of local women groups including elderly women to provide a lens to the needs and priorities of women and girls, engaging with religious and community leaders to respectfully deconstruct these gender inequalities; encouraging the establishment of female driven complaint feedback channels via phone/SMS; providing digital trainings and incentives including visibility materials to women groups to facilitate their roles in the community; and, adopting distributions practices that reduce barriers reported by women headed households, and those with intersecting vulnerabilities. The Cluster will encourage partners to consider door to-door distributions, the selection of distribution sites such as hospitals, schools, mosques, where women are allowed, covering of transport costs for mahram to enable women to travel to distribution sites, the establishment of separate and safe distribution spaces for women and men, conducted in different days, where possible.

The cluster will ensure protection principles promoting meaningful access, safety and dignity in humanitarian aid are mainstreamed within the shelter/NFI response, prioritizing the differentiated needs of various groups, and placing special attention towards vulnerable persons. Affected communities will be fully involved in implementation. Beneficiary selection will be done through careful application of pre-agreed selection criteria, with vulnerability scoring to determine eligibility for assistance. All assistance packages will be tailored in line with the cluster standards to ensure equal access and mitigate tension within communities. Meaningful access to groups often faced with barriers to receiving humanitarian assistance, including women-headed households, and people with disabilities will be mitigated through encouraged presence of women on assessment teams, proper awareness or socio-cultural sensitivity, design of culturally appropriate housing modalities including provision of doors, windows, partition, etc. Distribution sites will be selected cognizant of safety risks and access constraints, including those faced by specific groups, women heads of households, elderly heads of households, and people living with disabilities. PDMs will take feedback from all AGD groups with results informing future programming.

The CCCM Working Group, in collaboration with the Protection Cluster and ES-NFI Cluster, is dedicated to assisting vulnerable populations in informal settlements in Afghanistan. Their plan entails training field staff to enhance the identification and referral of protection cases. They will also work closely with other clusters to address housing, land, and property issues, aiming to mitigate evictions. The group aims to provide support to individuals with insecure tenures and heavy debts, reducing the risks of eviction. Overall, their collective approach aims to address protection concerns, improve housing access, and comprehensively mitigate evictions.

Links to basic services and development programmes

In 2024, the Cluster’s activities are geared towards establishing concrete links between short-term emergency responses with more durable shelter and sustainable seasonal responses centered on the protection of vulnerable groups, especially women, children and those living with disabilities. While the shelter Cluster has prioritized repair, retrofitting and transitional shelter for most vulnerable people affected by the earthquake events in Herat, more than 26,000 families whose homes were affected, are not reflected, neither targeted within the HRP or emergency flash appeal published in 2023. These families remain in open space, makeshift structures, tents, partially or destroyed houses, that are unsafe, lack privacy, dignity, leaving children, the elderly, women, exposed to the elements and in dire need of repair, retrofitting and transitional shelter assistance with a funding requirement of USD 39M. Equally, a bulk of shelter repair (91 per cent) and transitional shelter support for documented and undocumented returnees at place of destination, is excluded in the HRP, with a requirement of USD 59M.

Critical shelter gaps remain for most families affected by recent events. Activities transitioned to basic human needs include:

• Shelter solutions (recovery and rebuild) for Herat EQ response for persons without specific needs.
• Shelter repair and transitional shelter support for cross-border returnees at areas of destination.
• Basic disaster risk mitigation infrastructure for flood-prone and at-risk areas.

The Cluster will continue to strengthen its engagement with key de facto government line ministries including Ministry of Urban Development and Land (MUDL), Ministry of Rural, Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR), Afghanistan Natural Disasters Management Authority (ANDMA), to enhance and enable the delivery of durable shelter solutions. Equally, the Cluster will continue to enhance its collaboration and engagement with developmental actors (UNDP, World Bank, etc.) enabling bridge the gap between humanitarian and development assistance, and a return to longer-term development to be planned from the outset of the emergency/transitional shelter responses.

Response Monitoring

• Source of data and analysis:
  • Whole of Afghanistan Assessment (WoAA)
  • Humanitarian Situation Monitoring (HSM)
  • DTM
  • Cluster specific assessments conducted in collaboration with REACH, RAM etc.
  • Partners’ independent assessments
  • MSRAF data – community level
  • MRAT data – HH level.
  • HBDA (UN joint initiative).
  • IOM Health Assessment Programmes (HAP).
  • Emergency Response Mechanism (ERM).
  • UNHCR Protection Analysis
  • CCCM ISET Mapping
• Monthly reporting: response will be monitored through monthly reports provided by partners via Report Hub. The results of the analysis will be published monthly to reflect gaps in the response against the HRP.
• Stockpile monthly monitoring: stocks monitoring and funding will continue via Report Hub and the Financial Tracking Service (FTS) respectively.
• Impact monitoring: PDMs.
• Dashboard and Activity-based tracker and emergency response (capacity, gaps and needs) trackers - shared with partners.
• Interactive dashboards (Static and online/ e.g., Herat EQ Dashboard): updated based on partners’ input to provide real time information on gaps, achievement, coverage by partners at national and subnational level.

The Cluster will continue to rely on the Whole of Afghanistan Assessment (WoAA), and Cluster-led assessments as its key data sources. Other proxy sources will be sought including individual partner assessments, MSRAF, DTM, Humanitarian Situation Monitoring (HSM) among others.

Response will be monitored through monthly reports provided by partners via Report Hub. The results of the analysis will be published monthly to reflect gaps in the response against the HRP. Monitoring of stocks and funding will continue to be undertaken via Report Hub and the Financial Tracking Service (FTS) respectively. Impact monitoring will be done through post-distribution monitoring to further feed into future programming. Static and online interactive dashboards will continue to be updated to provide real time information on gaps, achievement, coverage by partners at national and subnational levels.

Women and Girls: The Cluster will monitor reach to women & girls through a) reporting on two cluster specific IASC indicators on reach to women, girls and women headed households via Report Hub b) Adopting 3 new non HRP activity indicators tailored to measure women inclusion during NFI distributions and their receipt of adequate technical support during construction/rehabilitation work c) Advocating and ensuring where possible that all S/NFI projects adhere to the minimum threshold of 10-15 per cent allocated for - women headed households and /or women with other intersecting vulnerabilities during selection & targeting phase d) monitoring and reporting on the level of the engagement, working modalities for female UN, NGO and NNGO staff workers in needs assessment and other S/NFI field activities.

Capacity Building: The Cluster will further continue to enhance its capacity building efforts working with GiHA, AAP, PSEA & DIWG to roll out various tailor-made trainings on Shelter and GBV, AAP, Gender, and Disability and provide technical support to partners during project proposal development phase.

Research & Assessment: The Cluster will finalize two studies in 2024. A participatory qualitative assessment to measure the extent to which priorities of women and girls are reflected within ES/NFI standards & activities, and second, a mapping of localized and vernacular practices in shelter, housing and settlements across Afghanistan, targeted to regions prone to natural hazards and conducted in each of the 4 regions, all coordinated with GiHA WG, to safeguard the mainstreaming of gender and protection within shelter processes and thirdly, initiate research on wider impact and contribution of shelter towards other sectors in Afghanistan.

The Cluster will also continue to monitor displacement, cross-border movement, and the impact of disasters throughout the year to guide preparedness and response to needs. The success of the assistance and specific coordination brought to IDPs living in informal settlements will particularly depend on the accuracy of the new assessment of all informal settlements scheduled by the CCCM members in 2024 and the regular monitoring by the mobile CCCM teams along the year. Additionally, ES-NFI partners will also undertake field missions to hotspot areas to verify key drivers of emergency shelter and NFI needs. Throughout 2024, the Cluster will continue to work with Awaaz to respond to ES-NFI-related referral calls to ensure communities’ concerns are heard and duly incorporated in the response.

Monitoring remains essential for CCCM partners to measure the impact but also to assess the level of satisfaction of beneficiaries. The CCCM WG partners will explore first any existing mechanism to achieve this goal. In case of obstruction, using the services of third-party companies with female contractors will be explored as option.

Cost of Response

In 2024, the Shelter/ NFI Cluster requires US $227M to respond to the needs of 1.7 million people across the country. Compared to 2023, the 2024 total financial requirements have increased by 21 per cent. The increase is attributed to the severity of needs and large scale of response to shelter needs stemming from the earthquake events in Herat and the influx of cross-border returnees from Pakistan and Iran, at their place of destination. Equally, the unit cost of transitional shelter activities has increased due to the inclusion of seismic resistant elements in the design.

The response cost utilizes an average cost of $134 per person as analyzed based on the 2023 programming data, a 14 per cent decrease compared to the previous year. This is due to the transfer of some activities to the basic human needs framework, including repair and rebuild for earthquake-affected families, shelter support for cross-border returnees in areas of destination, and basic disaster risk mitigation infrastructure for areas vulnerable to floods & other natural disasters. An additional $98 million is needed to address this gap.

CCCM interventions targeting internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Afghanistan have incurred significant costs. The provision of cash assistance reached a total of 454,171 individuals, which accounts for 80% of the overall target. With an allocation of $10 per person, this intervention alone amounted to approximately $4.5 million. In parallel, the in-kind assistance was extended to 113,542 people, covering 20% of the overall target. Based on the same valuation of $10 per person, this component incurred costs of around $1.1 million. Furthermore, the profiling effort was undertaken for all 567,713 individuals within the targeted population. At a rate of $13 per household, this profiling initiative accounted for an additional $1.1 million. Collectively, these investments highlight the substantial financial commitment that CCCM has dedicated to supporting IDPs and meeting their specific needs in Afghanistan.

PiN Calculation Methodology

The Cluster prioritization methodology is a function of the anticipated drivers of needs in 2024 and their severity across affected population groups. The key drivers of needs in 2024 include:

1. Residual needs from earthquake response in Herat.
2. Projected new conflict and disaster affected IDPs.
3. Influx of cross-border returnees from Pakistan and Iran.
4. Heightened risk of evictions in informal settlements.
5. Protracted needs from other recent natural disasters events from 2023
6. 2024 annual forecast of natural disaster events.
7. High priority districts in need of seasonal support.

The prioritization of needs across the affected populations is based on:

1. The shelter severity classification system - Determines the level of severity of shelter needs, conceptually, to be in level 1 (minimal), 2 (stressed), 3 (crisis), 4 (critical) or 5 (catastrophic), formulated for both the individual household and at province levels. The cluster utilizes the WoA dataset to provide representative findings at household level. The SSC model (framework, severity phases, and core indicators) are applied on an analysis grid which contains the criteria and weights attached to each sub-indicator.
2. Application of a protection, age, gender, and diversity lens for all affected people safeguarding prompt remedial action and assistance to persons with specific needs.
3. Assistance is tailored to phase of response, type of displacement/crisis and security of tenure.

Emergency shelter assistance and nonfood items is provided to all displaced and non-displaced affected people, falling either under category crisis, critical or catastrophic as immediate lifesaving assistance, enabling their physical protection from the elements, providing a space to live and store belongings, privacy and emotional security and household items for cooking and daily household chores.

Shelter repair, retrofitting and transitional shelter assistance is provided to the most vulnerable people falling either under category critical or catastrophic and tailored in line with their phase of displacement, security of land tenure and the state of their shelter. Assistance is prioritized for persons with specific needs including female headed households, persons with disabilities, chronically ill, unaccompanied minors (UAM), unaccompanied elders (UAE) among others. The ES-NFI Cluster prioritizes the provision of ES-NFI support, repair tool kits, shelter upgrade assistance for households whose homes are partially or severely damaged and fully destroyed and rebuilding support for those that were affected by natural disasters (Herat earthquake) in 2023 who are yet to receive assistance.

Seasonal winter assistance is prioritized for vulnerable families residing high priority districts, who remain exposed to extreme & severe cold temperatures, with aim to directly preventing loss of life and mitigate the risk of respiratory infections, hypothermia and preventable mortality among children and the elderly. This includes Nuristan, Badakhshan, Parwan, Baghlan, Bamyan, Daykundi, Kabul, Wardak, Ghor, Panjsher, and Ghazni provinces.

For undocumented returnees and PoR holders, the shelter Cluster will provide emergency shelter support, including cash for rent, non-food items, seasonal winter and shelter assistance at point of destination, prioritizing assistance for the most vulnerable families and persons with specific needs including female headed households, persons with disabilities, chronically ill, unaccompanied minors (UAM), unaccompanied elders (UAE) among others.

Additional details are set out below:

New IDPs Conflict & Natural Disasters 2024

1. All affected people falling either under category crisis, critical or catastrophic (Phase 3, 4, and 5) are to receive support with (1) Emergency shelter and CFR support, (2) NFI and (3) winterization assistance equivalent to 83,934 individuals.
2. Shelter repair and upgrade assistance provided to affected families who fall under category critical (phase 4) whose homes are moderately or severely damaged equivalent to 21,986 individuals.
3. Transitional shelter assistance provided to affected families who fall under category catastrophic (phase 5) whose homes are destroyed, or living in open space, makeshift shelter and have access secure land tenure equivalent to 2,558 individuals.

New Cross Border Returnees 2024 (Iran & Pakistan)

1. Emergency shelter assistance cash for rent and NFI prioritized for most vulnerable including undocumented/ACC individuals, unaccompanied minors or separated children, individuals with specific protection concerns including persons facing GBV, survivors of torture, individuals at risk of forced or early marriage, and victims of trafficking and assisted Vol Rep (PoR) households expected to return to Afghanistan, equivalent to 136,400 individuals.
2. Shelter repair assistance targeted at place of origin /destination for vulnerable persons and others with specific needs, whose homes are damaged, equivalent to 47,886 individuals.
3. Winter seasonal assistance prioritized for 2 months including heating, blankets, and winter clothes for 140,400 individuals.

Natural Disaster Affected 2024 (Sudden Onset)

1. All affected people falling either under category crisis, critical or catastrophic (Phase 3, 4, and 5) are to receive support with (1) Emergency shelter and CFR support, (2) NFI and (3) winterization assistance equivalent to 137,029 individuals.
2. Shelter repair and upgrade assistance provided to affected families who fall under category critical (phase 4) whose homes are moderately or severely damaged equivalent to 110,713 individuals.
3. Transitional shelter assistance provided to affected families who fall under category catastrophic (phase 5) whose homes are destroyed, or living in open space, makeshift shelter and have access secure land tenure equivalent to 26,315 individuals.

Refugees & Asylum Seekers

1. All affected people falling either under category crisis, critical or catastrophic (Phase 3, 4, and 5) are to receive support with (1) Emergency shelter and CFR support, (2) NFI and (3) winterization assistance equivalent to 23,992 individuals.
2. Shelter repair and upgrade assistance provided to affected families who fall under category critical (phase 4) whose homes are moderately or severely damaged equivalent to 19,434 individuals.
3. Transitional shelter assistance provided to affected families who fall under category catastrophic (phase 5) whose homes are destroyed, or living in open space, makeshift shelter and have access secure land tenure equivalent to 4,559 individuals.

Vulnerable People in Need (included under rural/urban)

1. Affected most vulnerable IDPs falling either under category critical or catastrophic (Phase 4, and 5), residing in informal settlement flagged at risk of eviction, are to receive support with (1) Emergency shelter and CFR support, (2) NFI and (3) winterization assistance equivalent to 67,378 individuals.
2. Support and repair for upgrades and retrofitting for families affected by earthquake in Herat and residual needs from 2023 natural disaster events in other parts of the country including:
3. 20,062 vulnerable individuals, affected by natural disasters 2023, who have yet to receive assistance and whose homes remain moderately and severely damaged.
4. 80,465 vulnerable individuals, affected by earthquake in Herat, who have yet to receive assistance and whose homes were either severely damaged or destroyed.
5. Shelter repair and retrofitting prioritization based on the state of damage in shelter and families’ vulnerabilities for 80,465 individuals.
6. Support with transitional shelters (Herat Earthquake and residual needs from 2023 natural disaster events in other parts of the country):
7. Transitional shelter assistance provided to affected families who fall under category catastrophic (phase 5) whose homes are destroyed, by 2023 floods and other natural disaster events, equivalent to 3,105 individuals.
8. Rebuild and reconstruction support for most vulnerable families including those with specific protection concerns, affected by recent earthquake events in Herat, whose homes were destroyed, equivalent to 21,126 individuals.