Afghanistan

Humanitarian Needs

Despite indicators of improved economic and security conditions across the country, Protection Cluster actors believe that the protection space in Afghanistan is shrinking and that the operational environment will become more demanding in 2024. This is owing to the DfA's execution of many procedures and directives at both the national and local levels, which are time-consuming and result in project delays, not to mention increased interferences in humanitarian responses. The issue is exacerbated by the systematic degradation of women's and girls' rights, as well as their isolation from socioeconomic and political life. A continuing ban on Afghan girls and women attending secondary school and university, the imposition of chaperone (mahram) requirements, and the prohibition on Afghan women working in specific businesses or with international and national non-governmental organizations limit women's and girls' participation in their communities, access to services, and undermine their fundamental and human rights. The lack of land and property rights for women is a key driver of gender-based asset disparity, especially given that land is frequently a household's most valuable asset. In the third annual Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Index for 2021, Afghanistan ranked as the worst performer for women's inclusion, justice access, and security out of 170 countries. This dire situation has not improved since the regime change in 2021, and women continue to face restrictions on their ability to exercise their basic human rights. Since the takeover, "reports of murder, rape, suicide, forced marriages including child marriage, assault and battery as well as honor killing" have come in, but none of them have been dealt with in the legitimate court system.

Two events in the fourth quarter of 2023 will impact Protection stakeholders, their concerns, and efforts in 2024: the first, in October 2023, saw severe earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 6.0 strike Herat Province. Assessments to date show that about 21,500 homes have been demolished or seriously damaged, affecting over 154,000 people. Protection Cluster partners have assisted vulnerable populations such as children and the elderly as well as performing important coordinating tasks and will continue to do so. According to preliminary evaluations, women and children make up the majority of those injured, missing, or killed. The second is Pakistan's announcement that it will deport 1.3 million Afghans from its land. According to the Pakistani government, the deportation program will begin in November 2023. As a result, from the end of October, a growing number of Afghans have begun to return in numbers not seen since 2016. Furthermore, there are reports that Iran has considering a similar course of action.

Persistent economic insecurity has had far-reaching consequences for society as a whole, forcing families to resort to harmful coping mechanisms like taking on debt or employing children in hazardous jobs. This has prompted both internal and cross-border migration, sending many children on the move in search of employment. When families are separated, children are exposed to risks and vulnerabilities which can cause psychological distress. Due to restrictive measures or bans imposed by authorities, girls and women face significant challenges in terms of limited access to basic services, participation, limited freedom of movement, and personal safety concerns, making them more vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, and violence. The restriction of national female staff in the child protection field has contributed to a lack of access to essential services. In the same way, the ban on girls attending schools beyond the seventh grade has exacerbated problems like child marriage, child labour, and psychological distress among children and their families, as well as posing a threat to the delivery of essential services like healthcare and education for girls. Furthermore, climate change is seasonal, thus the impact of the summer drought has resulted in water scarcity and food insecurity, with children, particularly those with disabilities, missing meals. The seasonal nature of climate change throughout winter has frequently resulted in extreme weather conditions in contexts where there is little shelter and warm clothes, needing rapid preventive actions. Extreme weather frequently caused relocation in both urban and rural regions, as well as across borders as undocumented migrants. The cumulative effect of these variables has drained communities' resilience and coping mechanisms, prompting urgent and varied actions to meet the pressing needs of children.

Afghanistan has one of the highest levels of explosive hazard contamination in the world, with two-thirds of the country's 401 districts contaminated by Explosive Ordnance (EO) and approximately 3.2 million people living within a 1km radius of mines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and explosive remnants of war (ERW). Improved security and the end of the conflict have allowed internally displaced people to return to their homes/areas of origin while encouraging others to return to Afghanistan. Poverty is driving the need for scrap collection, resulting in many accidents as adults and children gather live artillery shells and mortar bombs to harvest the metal. According to UNICEF estimates, over 60 children are killed or wounded each month. Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) continue to be the cause of civilian casualties, followed by Improvised Explosive Devices (IED). Contamination, in addition to causing significant physical harm, poses emotional, severe and psychosocial distress, prohibiting the safe movement of civilians and humanitarians, instilling dread in communities, and limiting secure access to livelihoods and revenue, producing additional stress for families. Contamination from legacy mines, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and explosive remains of war impede the restoration of livelihoods for communities returning to their homes and fields, as well as their access to schools.

The underlying drivers of need in 2024 remain significant tenure insecurity and a lack of a legal framework for Housing, Land, and Property (HLP) administration. The main drivers of HLP demands are growing evictions from informal settlements and an inflow of returnees, mainly from Pakistan. Neither of these challenges is new, but they are both exacerbating the demand as the rate of evictions rises and the number of returnees increases. Furthermore, the return of IDPs and returnees to their places of origin would result in increasing HLP demands, as land conflicts in these areas are projected to worsen. There are also significant long-term HLP needs throughout the country that have yet to be met. Legal uncertainty, as well as the position and influence of legal players, continue to be key obstacles in addressing the issue of land tenure security. Since 2021, HLP (Housing, Land, and Property) has been legally vague, and the status of property law, as well as how/if courts would enforce it, is unknown. One critical concern is that international standards on forced evictions are regularly ignored. This setting has a significant impact on the HLP services provided by partners. In 2023, women's tenure insecurity remains a serious concern. According to HLP AoR and GIHA research, women are extremely vulnerable to eviction and suffer greatly if evicted. Furthermore, by banning female partners from representing female beneficiaries in court, the current policy of refusing women advocacy licenses is impeding progress on women's HLP rights. In this situation, HLP partners are obliged to work through the informal legal system, which limits the response options open to them.

Response Strategy

Protection partners will monitor protection risks and human rights violations in rural and urban locations to inform the response and support evidence-based advocacy. Protection monitoring at household and community level will be implemented in IDP, returnees and refugees’ sites, locations of people impacted by sudden-onset natural disasters, and in the various localities of returnees as well as along the international borders to monitor the continues cross-border movement that occur both from and back to Afghanistan. Community based protection activities will focus on prevention, response and strengthening protection environment and durable solutions, and will be implemented in rural and urban locations. Protection partners will capitalize on already established community networks, community committees and shuras as well as establishing and expanding networks in newly accessible areas. The cluster will undertake a collective effort to build the technical and operational capacity of local actors including community-based mechanisms and ensure the responses are delivered in a timely manner and people in need are well informed at all programmatical and operational stages. The CBP activities foresee building the capacity of the community to use the existing resources and minimize protection risks for affected people and to develop self-protection mechanisms and bolster the recovery in communities. Hence, protection partners will fortify the community protection centers to provide comprehensive protection services to the affected population and to liaise with other clusters to provide various and integrated services. Awareness raising events will be conducted in communities on Risk Communication with Community Engagement (RCCE) activities including access to rights and available services, protection risks and mitigation measures.

Persons with Specific Needs (PSNs), including people with disability, will be reached through the provision of case management and Individual Protection Assistance (IPA), which can be in-kind or cash. Referrals to specialized services where available will be offered. IPA aims to address protection risks that are time-sensitive and require immediate action. Partners will continue to deliver and scale up cash-for-protection to vulnerable households identified through protection monitoring and other interventions to address protection risks and respond to immediate concerns or to prevent negative coping strategies. Cash-for-Protection is a one-time cash top-up grant to the most vulnerable households identified through multi-sectoral assessments and through protection monitoring. Cash-for-Protection aims to prevent the imminent exposure of those most vulnerable to further risks that may jeopardize their physical and mental wellbeing. Follow-up through case management will enable these households to better adapt to shocks such as sudden loss of income. Protection partners will continue providing PSS services to affected population groups to assist in overcoming pre-existing conflict-related trauma, the psychosocial impact of displacement, and additional stress and anxiety due to recent political changes and economic hardships. Provision of legal assistance and counselling on civil documentation will be offered to vulnerable population groups especially women to obtain Tazkira or other civil documentations which facilitate access to services, government benefits and other rights such as inheritance, HLP documentations and passport. Finally, Protection cluster will continuously monitor protection risks and provide a robust and timely analysis of the protection situation and its developments, on which the Humanitarian Coordinator and the Humanitarian Country Team can base their decisions and consult around appropriate system-wide responses.

General protection priority response activities in 2024 include:

• Provision of Individual Protection Assistance (IPA) to PSN in emergency cash or in-kind, and Cash for protection (aligned on MEB)
• Provision of Legal Counselling and Assistance including identity and support Civil documentation process
• Provision of Psycho-Social Support (PSS) Assistance and Referrals
• Conduct advocacy activities including dissemination of key messages on protection concerns
• Conduct capacity building of partners, civil society, and other stakeholders
• Support Protection mainstreaming
• Development of Data Protection and Information Sharing Protocol
• Conduct protection monitoring, community-based protection activities, and awareness raising
• Establish an advocacy red flag system for issues to be brought to the HCT
• Sensitization sessions for local authorities
• Develop standard protection terminology into local languages for system-wide use by all partners

The GBV Sub Cluster response aims at continuing with the provision of life saving case management, mental health and psychosocial support, health, and where possible legal aid and shelter to vulnerable populations in both urban and rural settings. The Sub Cluster will seek enhanced access to survivors through tailored community dialogues with influential members of the community as well as men, boys, and youth networks. Prepositioning of kits for timely response as well as guidance notes on distribution will continue to be on the agenda of the Sub Cluster. The Sub Cluster will work on the capacity building of actors (both specialized and non-specialized) to deliver higher quality and harmonized services in line with minimum standards, and will continue to support safe spaces, survivor-centered services, services in the best interest of the child, adapting the design of service modalities and entry points to meet the specific needs of diverse groups, including persons with disabilities. The Child Protection will prioritise prevention and response interventions to tackle the changing needs of children and their families. This will be achieved by offering direct integrated services delivery to vulnerable children in need of care and protection in both urban and rural areas. Community-based and integrated approaches will be employed to target children across all vulnerable populations, including IDPs, returnees, refugees, and individuals with acute needs, to ensure that girls and boys who are at-risk have access to age-, gender-, and disability-sensitive child protection services, such as psychosocial support and case management, parenting/caregivers support, and community-wide key messaging on issues and concerns that negatively affect children, such as life-threatening risks.

Priority activities:

• Provision of comprehensive case management services tailored to the specific needs of individuals, including identification and documentation, interim and alternative care, cash assistance for protection, family tracing and reunification, rehabilitation, and reintegration services. Additionally, the rollout of child protection Information management Systems (CPIMS+) to enhance the management and organization of child protection data.
• The provision of Child-Friendly Safe Spaces is proposed as a means to provide structured mental health and psychosocial support (PSS) for children, as well as their parents or caregivers. These spaces aim to create a secure setting where children can engage in recreational and educational activities, while also facilitating access to specialized mental health services through appropriate referrals.
• Engage parents/ caregivers in sessions to cope with the emotional and psychological stresses they face to enhance positive parenting and support the wellbeing of their children and families.
• Mobilize community for engagement and key messaging on child protection issues and concerns (harmful coping mechanisms, separation of families, child labour, child marriage, grave child rights violations) using community-based structures and volunteers for awareness raising including dialogues, use of mass media (TV, radios, social media etc)
• Build capacity of humanitarian actors and social workforce including community-based structures/ volunteers on CP minimum standards for services, multisectoral integration, PSEA, AAP, Gender, disability for improved quality of services delivery to children and their families.
• Strengthening coordination efforts both at national and the five sub national levels to improve capacity for services delivery, intersectoral integration and inclusion especially for children with disabilities resource mobilization, communication, and advocacy for better response to children needs.
• Emergency preparedness and response: Provide emergency response and provide NFI kits to vulnerable children and families, ensuring they are protected from violence abuse exploitation and extreme winter conditions.

The Child Protection Area of Responsibility (CP AOR) and its partners will emphasise prevention and response interventions. This will be achieved by providing direct services to children and their families through various means, including static facilities, family-based approaches, community-based approaches (including mobile Child-Friendly Spaces), and mass media for disseminating information and raising awareness about important child protection issues. Additionally, limited virtual support will be offered through child call centres, catering to both urban and rural areas, based on the specific needs, accessibility, and availability of partners.

The overall goal is to ensure the delivery of services that effectively address the needs of children and their families.

Coordination and Integrated programming: CP AOR will work with other sectors, mainly Education and Health, nutrition, food security and livelihoods, ES-NFI, GBV, WASH to leverage the CP programme continuity and services delivery to mitigate household vulnerable and reduced risk to children.

Services delivery: In-Kind and cash Assistance: Distribution of NFI kits such as warm clothing, safe spaces PSS kits and supplies, and essential items directly to children and families to meet immediate needs. Cash for protection: Using cash to help respond to child protection needs through case management, enabling them to address specific needs, including purchasing food, clothing, and essential items.

Community-Based Approaches: Engaging local structures and community members to ensure proper needs identification, ownership, effectiveness, and sustainability of child protection activities, with a focus on building community resilience and capacity to respond to child protection needs.

Mine Action will prioritise the following activities:

• Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) for returnees, internally displaced people (IDPs), and explosive ordnance-impacted communities.
• Survey of districts that have not been surveyed in recent years and particularly those districts that have witnessed intense conflicts prior August 2021 as the majority of civilian casualties are reported from spot Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) from those areas that are not recorded in the mine action database as explosive ordnance contaminated areas. However, the cost proposed for the HRP will only partially cover the activities (locations highly impacted by conflict).
• Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) activities through quick response teams, to respond to urgent mine action requests, including requests for removal of spot ERWs that are requested through the Awaaz Afghanistan mine action hotline or other requests received by UNMAS or the Mine Action Technical Cell (MATC), previously known as the Humanitarian Mine Action Coordination Support Centers (HMACSC).
• Clearance of explosive hazards that are classified as very high and high impact in the mine action database.
• Delivery of physical rehabilitation services to the victims of explosive ordnance, in close coordination with the health cluster to avoid duplications.

The overall need in terms of mine action is very large, but mine action is focusing on the most urgent and high-priority needs for the activities proposed for HRP.

• The mine action sector is labor-intensive, and its activities are service-based, meaning that they do not generally involve major cash-based modalities. However, there may be small cash-based modalities in victim assistance, such as providing small amounts to cover costs of transportation, food, and accommodation to the people with disabilities who are traveling from remote and rural areas to receive the services in physical rehabilitation centers and can not afford to pay for such costs. This was one of the findings and recommendations from the After Action Review (AAR) of previous victim assistance projects implemented by mine action partners.

The HLP response plan for 2024 prioritizes:

1. Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA) for beneficiaries involved in land conflicts and/or who are under threat of evictions and those who have returned to their place of origin. This includes the provision of legal awareness, counselling, and legal assistance; advocacy on key HLP issues with authorities; eviction monitoring; verification of land ownership/rights; Capacity building of humanitarian actors and other stakeholders.
2. Strengthening communal HLP rights for informal settlements on site or in places of origin. This includes: community mapping and planning in coordination with authorities, and investments in priority humanitarian infrastructure, including integrated HLP, climate and GBV risk mitigation investments.

HLP partners will target vulnerable individuals, including residents of informal settlements, people who have returned to places of origin, and other vulnerable individuals facing tenure insecurity. Priority will be given to households headed by single women, households headed by elderly or chronically ill members/people with disabilities, and households with extremely low or no income. HLP partners will utilize a variety of strategies and modalities to ensure access to activities for the most vulnerable, including women and girls and people with disabilities. This includes women staff to assist women and girls in needs assessment, awareness raising, counselling and legal assistance, disaggregation by gender of needs assessments, mainstreaming gender into urban planning, asserting the rights of both men and women by including their names on HLP documentation, travelling to people in their communities or households, conducting activities by phone to maximize access, and utilizing existing strong coordination relationships with community representatives and leaders, religious leaders, informal justice actors and Community Development Councils to ensure reach to the most vulnerable members of the community. Capacity-building activities will continue to target informal justice actors, humanitarian actors, and other stakeholders, with formal justice actors also being targeted by this activity if possible. HLP partners will also support activities that assist IDPs who have returned to their place of origin in locations where there is a high demand due to high volumes of returns. Activities will include the provision of ICLA services, and the strengthening of communal land rights of informal settlements through mapping, participatory planning, and priority humanitarian investments in communal infrastructure and services. Some HLP activities operating through formal regulatory and institutional frameworks have been suspended since 2021. Key laws for HLP have also been suspended or are of ambiguous status in the Post-2021 context. The HLP-TF will advocate in 2024 for inclusive, gender-equitable formal HLP regulatory and institutional systems. Advocacy on key HLP issues with de facto authorities will continue in 2024. The HLP TF will focus on developing materials and products in consultation with partners to advocate for the HLP rights of the most vulnerable.

Targeting and Prioritization

The Protection Cluster will prioritize humanitarian lifesaving and life-sustaining activities in both rural and urban regions. This includes communities situated along borders, as well as locations with high concentrations of internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, returnees, and vulnerable individuals, including those with disabilities. The process of sector prioritization is influenced by the geographic distribution of the population, as well as the severity of needs. This is determined by considering the severity scale of protection risks and the top needs found by the WoA Assessment and the JIAF severity analysis/categorization. Consequently, the protection response will be directed towards geographical regions where a significant portion of the population faces the most severe needs and where there is concern about the expansion of negative coping strategies

General Protection partners shall continue maintaining their focus on districts and provinces where elevated protection risks and concerns have been identified through partner reporting and data collected via Community-based Protection Monitoring, WoAA and the NMF. In the General Protection sector in particular, the ban on female aid workers has negatively impacted protection assessments and interventions modalities such as focus group discussions and group psychosocial counselling for women due to difficulties in reaching out to women and conducting such activities through alternative / adaptation modalities. Accordingly, the target for community-based protection activities will be realigned with the targets set by partners for 2024. In addition, considering the challenges in delivering specialized / PSN services, particularly through group sessions, the Protection Cluster will tailor its strategies, approaches and targeting in order to adapt to evolving protection environment, including cash, in-kind assistance, and referrals to specialized services, in alignment with partner targets. However, targets for capacity building and protection advocacy initiatives shall largely remain unchanged, as partners are adopting alternative / adaptation modalities through a creative and innovative approach. The overall very fluid operational environment and shrinking protection space, shall be the determining factors that will inevitably have an impact on planned protection activities, identified as priorities for 2024.

CP AOR targeting strategy will involve a multifaceted approach to prioritize activities based on the severity of needs and available resources:

• Geographical Prioritization: Priority will be given to rural areas with the most severe child protection needs, considering factors such as lack of social services, prevalence of child exploitation, violence, displacement, and the impact of climatic changes like winter, drought conditions. This prioritization is guided by data and assessments to ensure assistance reaches the most vulnerable communities.
• Vulnerable Groups: Vulnerable groups, including unaccompanied and separated children, girls, children with disabilities, female headed households and those living in high-risk environments, will be a primary focus of our activities. We will ensure that our child protection interventions are tailored to address the specific needs and risks faced by these groups.
• Emergency response and Seasonal Needs: Given the seasonal challenges of winter, we will prioritize areas and communities affected by extreme weather conditions like drought, inadequate shelter, and displacement. We will work to provide warm clothing, and psychosocial support to mitigate the impact on children and their families.
• Community Engagement: Community-based approaches will be central to our strategy, ensuring that the affected communities actively participate in the identification of protection needs and the design and implementation of interventions. This approach promotes community ownership and resilience.

If the AoR does not receive full funding, the prioritization strategy will involve adjusting to ensure that critical activities are still implemented to the greatest extent possible:

Given that 9.2M people in need humanitarian assistance in 2024, Children in Need 6.8M and targeted 4.6M children (80%) and caregivers (20%) of which 3.1M (70%) people are rural based and 1.4M (30%) are urban based. So if we only receive 50% of the funding, we shall need to focus on lifesaving activities such as case management for 50,000(50%) children most vulnerable children, provide structured PSS for 275,000 (50%) children, engage in parenting sessions for 500,000 (30%) and only built capacity of 2,000(15%) humanitarian workers for better quality services provision meaning that over 50% of children will miss out on case management , 50% children miss out on structured PSS , 1.1M parents/care givers will not to engaged in PSS interventions on positive parenting and 50% people will not be reached with key child protection messaging for prevention of violence against children including negative coping mechanism which mainly possess risk to children from violence ,abuse, exploitation. If only 25% of funds are received. Only critical lifesaving activities of case management will be provided to 40,000 (40%) children, structured PSS to 140,000(25%), parenting sessions to 250,000(15%) and the other activities will be missed out like 60,000 (60%) of children for case management, structured PSS 410,000(75%)parenting sessions for 1.3M , capacity building for 10,000 community workers and prevention messaging to 4.6M and roll out of CPIMS+ to all partners and inter-clusters for referrals to services. We will continuously assess the situation and adapt our response based on the available resources toensure that the most critical child protection needs are addressed, even in the face of funding constraints.

UNMAS and the Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan are currently in the process of fully transitioning to a new Prioritization Matrix in order to ensure planning and prioritization of land release and other MA activities using data-driven decision making. The highest priority indicators utilized include EO hazards with civilian casualties, intended land use, humanitarian activities needing MA support, communities directly impacted by the threat, and community proximity to hazards. Households dependent on agriculture-based livelihoods, including farmers, shepherds and herders, are particularly at risk of the threat posed by explosive hazards. Returning populations are also vulnerable, as they are in lack of knowledge of the areas they are returning to, while children and adults engaging in gathering live artillery shells and mortar bombs to harvest metal are also exposed. Increasing poverty rates over the past two years have driven the demand for scrap and firewood collection, resulting in many accidents. Currently, 2 children in Afghanistan either die or injure each day because of explosive ordnance. Mine action activities will cover the majority of provinces, with particular emphasis on 1) clearing Abandoned Improvised Mines (AIM) and ERW contaminated areas that are now accessible for survey/clearance given access opportunities following the 2021 political change and 2) facilitating the delivery of humanitarian imperatives and/or development initiatives. Given the Prioritization Matrix, the majority of mine action targeted population are in rural areas- 2.2 million, and 770K urban population are also included. The provinces with the highest priorities are Uruzgan, Kunduz, Helmand, Kandahar, Kunar, Badghis, Faryab, Laghman, Nangarhar, Nuristan, Ghazni, Farah, Maidan Wardak, and Samangan according to information available in the current mine action database. This priority will be monitored and adjusted as the national explosive contamination survey provides updates on contamination across the country and also adjusted based on civilian casualties reported from the province as a result of the spot ERW that are not recorded in the database. Under the HRP, UNMAS aims to clear the highest priority areas. However, it is important to note that while high priority areas are those included in the HRP, many other hazards still exist and pose threats to civilians across Afghanistan.

Currently, Mine Action is among the severely underfunded sectors in Afghanistan, with an estimated 68 per cent funding shortfall under the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan. To address the most devastating effects posed by explosive ordnance, the most urgent funding (to respond to this plan) will be placed on the national explosive contamination survey, quick response, EOD, explosive hazard clearance, and EORE. Humanitarian mine action coordination also has urgent funding needs, the financial requirement is however, not included in this analysis due to constraints in calculating beneficiaries. If 75% of required funding is received, mine action will not be able to carry out victim assistance activities. Survey, clearance, and EORE will also scale down, missing out over 400,000 target beneficiaries who risk getting harm from explosive ordnance, burdening the already fragile health and social system and catalyze poverty in affected families. If 50% of required funding is received, mine action will further scale down survey, clearance, and EORE, missing out around 800k beneficiaries. In such a scenario, Afghanistan will observe increased civilian casualties from explosive ordnance accidents, putting additional requirements on victim assistance as well as on the public health sector. Affected families will be dragged into humanitarian assistance target groups, putting additional burden on food assistance as well as other sectors that aim to alleviate poverty that will enlarge the financial needs. If 25% of required funding is received, mine action will prioritize survey and clearance with limited EORE, missing out over 1.2 million targeted beneficiaries. When mine action diminishes to such a degree, it will negatively impact the country’s overall security situation, in addition to having increased civilian casualties from explosive ordnance accidents. The situation will generate increased humanitarian needs in all other sectors and trigger a catastrophic humanitarian situation that will require multiple times more financial resources to address.

HLP partners will target 15 provinces with severe HLP needs. Priority areas include: provinces and districts with large informal settlement populations; border points experiencing high volume of returns; areas experiencing high rates of IDP and returnee returns to place of origin. In all these cases, women-headed households and women in male-headed households are priotised for assistance. If 50 % of funding is not received, 50 % less people with severe HLP needs will be reached. This will leave affected populations at higher risk of eviction, and restrict vulnerable people accessing land and housing. In addition to the humanitarian implications, failing to secure HLP rights will also have longer-term impacts, since investments to meet basic needs will not occur in the absence of secure HLP rights.

The process of targeting has been tailored to assist individuals who are considered the most vulnerable within the already vulnerable population. The application of severity at the district level has been implemented, together with the incorporation of expert opinion, to address the areas with the greatest need adequately. The activities conducted by the GBVSC partners are crucial for saving lives. In the event of limited funding, priority will be given to the distribution of dignity kits, which aim to address the immediate needs of women and girls, particularly those displaced. Additionally, efforts will be made to provide well-being activities for women and girls, along with necessary referrals to medical services.

Quality and Inclusive Programming

In collaboration with GiHA, the protection cluster will continue in exploring innovation to allow entry and deliver services to women and girls in danger, as well as survivors. This includes the provision of specialized services, dissemination of information, and raising awareness through diverse modalities. These methods include collaborating with women's organizations or engaging with women through various sectors such as ESNFI, Health, FSAC, etc. The Protection Cluster will recruit personnel of both genders to carry out protection monitoring activities. In cases where women cannot participate in the in-person household surveys, alternative methods such as remote surveys will be employed. This approach aims to ensure that the protection requirements and concerns of women and girls are comprehensively considered. The supposed involvement of traditional and existing community members and structures in raising awareness and facilitating access to services is based on the imposed restriction on freedom of movement for women and girls. The cluster will collaborate with all relevant stakeholders, including leaders and organizational frameworks, to establish effective channels for reaching women and girls and delivering essential services.

The GBVSC will implement a survivor-centered approach and prioritize the well-being of children, enabling agencies to effectively address the unique gender-related and individual needs of the population they serve. Given the dynamic nature of the environment, it is crucial to conduct regular and timely analyses to inform and adapt service modalities to specific limitations. Enhancing the protective environment and support systems requires engaging in community dialogues with influential members and fostering collaboration with men, boys, and youth networks.

CP AoR is committed to ensuring the inclusion of women and girls, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups. This will be done through:

• Inclusion of Women and Girls: Safe Spaces will be established specifically designed to accommodate needs of women, girls and boy ensuring they all have a secure and supportive environment for play, learning, and psychosocial support.
• Gender-Sensitive Awareness: Our child protection awareness campaigns will be gender-sensitive, addressing the unique vulnerabilities and risks faced by women and girls. We will engage women in active roles in these campaigns to ensure their voices are heard.
• Empowerment: Our activities will include elements of empowerment for women and girls, providing them with opportunities to build resilience and access resources to protect themselves from exploitation and violence including through remote/virtue services such as helpline.

Inclusion of People with Disabilities:

• Accessibility: Our programming and the distribution of essential items will consider the needs of people with disabilities. We will ensure accessibility in the physical design of safe spaces and in the distribution process.
• Specialized Support: Our case management services will be adapted to the specific needs of children with disabilities, providing them with the necessary support and resources.
• Inclusive Awareness: Our awareness campaigns will promote inclusion and raise awareness about the rights and vulnerabilities of people with disabilities, advocating for their protection within the community.

Other Vulnerable Groups:

Children on the Move both internal and cross border: Given the specific vulnerabilities of children on the move, we will tailor our activities to address their protection needs, including providing support for family tracing and reunification. Unaccompanied and Separated Children: We will prioritize activities related to the identification and care of unaccompanied and separated children, ensuring their protection and well-being. Female headed households are key focus since they're have most at risk children. We recognize that these groups often face amplified risks during crises, and their protection remains a core element of our response.

Women in Afghanistan have limited freedom of movement. Travel and time costs also negatively affect women’s mobility. This consequently affects their access to information and also health services. As a result of this and other barriers the Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan has been employing several strategies to promote the inclusion of women and girls in mine action. Mine action partners will among other things deploy couple (Mix Gender) teams to conduct explosive ordnance risk education to ensure that the female trainers reach out to women and girls because women and girls often have different information about contamination by EO and less access to explosive ordnance risk education (EORE). MAPA has been promoting hiring gender focal points in mine action organizations. The MAPA is also making deliberate efforts to increase the employment opportunities for women in mine action. Women who are injured may not have the same access to health care and rehabilitation services as men. More women are therefore needed in areas like Victim Assistance where female physiotherapists are needed to provide the victim assistance services to women. In addition to promoting the availability of female staff to attend to females in victim assistance/health facilities, mine action partners will try to promote mobile services to reach beneficiaries who would otherwise not be able to access the services’ fixed centers. Mine action sub-cluster will also lobby for gender mainstreaming grants to be awarded to national implementing partners which focus on hiring gender focal points, deploying of couple teams to ensure service delivery to women and girls in beneficiary communities, developing policies and procedures to ensure safe working places for women, increasing employment of women and raising awareness regarding gender equality in MAPA. By the end of 2022, all IPs had grievance mechanisms to address SEA concerns. Furthermore, In 2022, pre-conditions were included in the Voluntary Trust Fund (VTF) grants for deployment of couples EORE teams and community mobilizers to ensure service delivery to women in the beneficiary communities. In 2022, negotiations were conducted with de-facto authorities regarding continuation of women’s work in EORE teams which had previously been banned for a while mainstreaming gender in risk education. Collecting Sex and Age Disaggregated Data (SADD) including clearance beneficiaries, EO risk education participants, accident casualties, interviewees in surveys, team composition will also be done to track the progress in reaching women and girls.

HLP partners will continue to prioritize including women and girls, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups. Female staff will assist women and girls in needs assessments, awareness raising, counselling and legal assistance. Partners will continue disaggregation by gender for needs assessments, and asserting the rights of both men and women by including their names on HLP documentation. Partners will maximize access to women and girls by traveling to reach them in their communities and households, and/or conducting activities by phone. Partners will utilize existing strong coordination relationships with community representatives and leaders, religious leaders, informal justice actors and Community Development Councils to access the most vulnerable members of the community. In addition, strong coordination with other humanitarian stakeholders such as I/NGOs and UN agencies will ensure referrals are made to HLP partners for the required assistance.

Links to basic services and development programmes

Addressing some of the underlying protection needs requires long-term planning and funding streams. The limited access to justice, education, social protection structures, etc. continue to exacerbate the vulnerability of at-risk population which could continue to force them to adopt negative coping strategies.

Through upscaled delivery of humanitarian services (including mobile and remote modalities), the GBVSC programming can continue to operate in the immediate absence of development partners if adequate funding for humanitarian activities is received. However, the services will be able to expand and reach a larger proportion of populations in need than currently targeted, depending on the level of functioning health services that were previously supported by development partners. Activities involving justice sector reform, policy and “positive masculinity” will not be targeted by humanitarian actors and require dedicated assistance and prioritization by development interventions. The levels of activity and engagement on risk mitigation and prevention will also vary depending on how key sectors shift from development funding (e.g, Education, Livelihoods). Coordination with development actors for initiatives such as the Special Trust Fund for Afghanistan will be important to ensure risk mitigation measures are integrated so there is not an unintended increase in the humanitarian caseload, and to enhance access to all services for women and girls.

Mine action is itself an enabling activity for humanitarian response and development, given that it serves as a basis for other activities to take place. In addition to saving lives through mitigating the threat posed by explosive hazards, survey, clearance, and Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) all enable the safe delivery of vital humanitarian assistance. Mine action also serves as a prerequisite for development such as through constructing of roads, markets, and other critical infrastructure.

HLP works at the intersection of humanitarian aid and basic services. The relationship between secure HLP rights and the extension of basic services is clear: authorities, humanitarian/development agencies, communities and individuals will not invest in assets that will be appropriated. From this foundation, there are a number of mechanisms through which HLP activities support equitable and sustainable basic service provision. Firstly, HLP's activities improve gender-equitable HLP rights- creating a secure environment for investment in settlement upgrading that protects women’s assets and services. Secondly, by strengthening HLP rights, marginalized groups are integrated into formal socio-economic and governance structures, leading to long-term benefits in their socio-economic development. This also links to development programs that increase public revenues (through land taxes), utilities, services, infrastructure (through enabling user fees), housing investment (through securing property rights) and a wide range of other development outcomes. Some modalities of activities by HLP partners, such as technical support to the former government in land allocation schemes, depend on the continuation of development and government programs. Nonetheless, given HLP partners' extensive experience working with the informal justice system in Afghanistan, not only to secure HLP rights for people and communities but also in capacity-building informal justice actors, all activities will continue, and HLP partners will be able to adapt modalities to the new context. For example, partners propose taking a community-based approach to increase security of tenure in informal settlements, assisting people in resolving HLP disputes through informal justice mechanisms.

To complement our humanitarian response and address underlying drivers of needs, it is essential to establish links between child protection and basic services /development programs. Key enabling activities that should be prioritized within the Strategic Framework include:

• Education: Collaborate with the education sector to ensure that all children have access to quality education including those affected by emergencies /displacement. This includes supporting temporary learning spaces, providing educational materials, and promoting the reintegration of children into the formal education system.
• Healthcare: Work in collaboration with the health sector to ensure that children's health needs are met, including access to essential healthcare services, vaccinations, MHPSS and nutrition programs. Coordinate with health providers to address the physical well-being of children.
• Livelihoods and Economic Empowerment: Partner with livelihood and economic development programs to create opportunities for families to earn a sustainable income. This can help reduce economic instability, which is one of the drivers of child protection needs.
• Community Mechanisms: Engage in Community-Based Child Protection mechanisms to implement programs that build resilience and capacity at the local level. Empowering communities to identify and address child protection risks can contribute to sustainable solutions and linkages with formal child protection systems such as justice and social welfare.

Critical activities that are not included in the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) but are essential to reducing needs may include long-term development initiatives and strengthening formal child protection systems. These activities can help address the root causes of child protection issues and enhance community resilience. Finally strengthen engagement in inter-sectoral coordination mechanisms, participate in cluster meetings and working groups, and collaborate with local and international organizations. By aligning strategies, sharing data, and working together on common objectives, we can ensure a holistic and sustainable approach to child protection that addresses immediate needs while also tackling the underlying drivers of vulnerability.

Response Monitoring

The Protection Cluster will ensure quality programming by investing in evidence-based, protection monitoring and information and reporting systems. The Cluster will work with partners to strengthen their capacity for internal program monitoring and improve reporting rates in Report Hub. Learning sessions and capacity building workshops will be organised by the Information Management team through data collection, management, and reporting. The Cluster will develop indicators and reporting guidance for partners, including updated tools and complemented by training partners at national and regional levels. It will also maintain systematic and timely reporting to Report Hub for close monitoring of outcome and output indicators. In addition access in provinces and districts will result in more opportunities to conduct in person monitoring- visits of ongoing projects including those supported by AHF. The Cluster will continue to conduct protection monitoring of the affected and/or at-risk areas. The Cluster is planning to strengthen monitoring and AAP at regional and field level through investing in enhancing coordination structures in the regions. Dedicated protection cluster staff will liaison with the regional coordinators on a regular basis to support the technical and coordination capacity to enhance monitoring. The Cluster also plans to enhance accountability to affected population where various mechanisms will be introduced and followed up on.The Protection Cluster’s reporting mechanisms will be disaggregated by age, sex and disability to enable the monitoring of the response for all groups presenting specific vulnerabilities. In 2023, the Protection Cluster will continue to produce sector-specific dashboards and operational presence maps with real time information, which will enable monitoring of the protection response on the ground and facilitate the early identification of gaps.

GBVSC will work with partners to strengthen their capacity to improve the reporting rates for response monitoring in Report Hub, whilst ensuring verification of information prior to creating evidence based analysis to strengthen coordination and programming at the field both at the national and regional level. Consideration will be given to management of survivor data, considering the given context, when possible the GBVSC will work towards developing a data collection tool and templates to collect and compile survivor data by integrating survivor centered approaches, to ensure that data collection and monitoring is done in line with ethically best practices, and always in line with the principle of do-no- harm. This will be combined with learning sessions and capacity building workshops on safe data collection and management and survivor centered approaches. The SC will track assessments, provide guidance to partners on methodology, training materials and establish and maintain safe, secure and ethical referral pathways throughout 2024. The SC will continue to work with OCHA and AHF team to devise safe and ethical Monitoring and Evaluation formats for both in person and remote project monitoring. The GBVSC with the support of other sectors will incorporate risk mitigation strategies and integrate observation tools/ risk mitigation checklists with other sectors to strengthen mainstreaming activities.

In 2024, we plan to enhance the child protection cluster's monitoring efforts, considering the ongoing restrictions and the complex context:

CP AOR needs indicators to be monitored through general protection monitoring and reporting (twice a year), and services mapping analysis. CP partners will be trained in protection monitoring tools and expected to collect data on a quarterly basis as part of child protection monitoring reports. The use of monthly Project/Activity reports through iMMAP Report Hub (5W) shall provide information on progress made identifying locations that are either under-serviced or saturated with child protection services. The standard Monthly CP AOR meetings shall provide a forum to discuss emerging concerns and changes in the contexts plus informing advocacy on issues including reach to vulnerable categories of population like children with disabilities, and accountabilities to affected population which forms abasis for taking corrective measure.

• Community Engagement: CP AOR will continue to engage with local communities and community-based organizations to collect information and feedback on child protection issues. These local partners can serve as important sources of data and provide insights into the situation on the ground for appropriate redress.
• CP remote Monitoring: Cognizant of ongoing restrictions and staff's security concerns, CP AOR will strengthen remote monitoring mechanisms. This will involve leveraging technology and data collection methods that do not require physical presence in certain areas, allowing us to gather information while adhering to safety and security protocols.
• Data triangulation: CP AOR will work on data from various sources/sectors including local and international NGOs, UN agencies, and other studies in country to develop a comprehensive picture of the child protection situation. Based on data-sharing agreements and standardized data collection tools in place.
• Contextual Analysis: Given the dynamic context, CP AOR will conduct regular contextual analyses to understand evolving risks, needs and challenges. This will inform our monitoring and response strategies.

The CP AOR is establishing a Child Protection information management system (CPIMS+) by December 2022 and is expected to support effective case management for individual vulnerable children, promoting best practice like “do no harm” and accountability including assisting with delivering quality care. Additionally, regular field missions (both CP and intersectoral coordination group) shall provide progress of implementation and provide possible technical support/corrective measures where challenges are identified. To improve monitoring of key priorities, including AAP (Accountability to Affected Populations), gender, PSEA (Preventing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse), disability inclusion, and other cross-cutting issues:

• CP AOR will implement targeted capacity-building programs to ensure that field teams are equipped with the skills and knowledge to effectively implement and monitor these priorities.
• CP AOR will work within the AWAAZ platform for feedback mechanisms to gather input from affected populations and vulnerable groups, ensuring that their voices are heard and integrated into decision-making processes.
• CP AOR shall utilize data from regular gender and disability inclusion assessments conducted to identify gaps and inform program adjustments.

To mitigate monitoring challenges in the context of de facto authorities, development program challenges, sanctions, and restrictions on basic services:

• Maintain a flexible and adaptive approach, adjusting monitoring strategies as necessary to navigate the complex operating environment.
• Work with partners to engage in diplomacy and adhoc negotiations to facilitate access and cooperation with de facto authorities, ensuring that child protection activities can be carried out effectively.
• Collaborate with development actors and seek opportunities to align humanitarian responses with basic need goals, where feasible, to address the underlying drivers of child protection needs.

Data gaps that could limit the accuracy or availability of monitoring and reporting include:

• Limited access to certain areas due to DfA restrictions especially on national female.
• Challenges in collecting data from marginalized and hard-to-reach populations and areas.
• Resource constraints that may limit the scope and frequency of data collection efforts.
• The need for standardized data collection tools and harmonized reporting mechanisms to address gaps in data consistency.

CP AoR will make efforts to address these gaps through innovative data collection methods, improved coordination with local partners, and advocating for increased access to areas with data limitations. This will help ensure more accurate and comprehensive monitoring and reporting in the child protection sector.

The political situation following August 15, 2021 has provided access opportunities to areas that were previously inaccessible. As a result, the Mine Action Technical Cell (MATC), an independent third-party service provider responsible for conducting the monitoring and quality management of mine action projects, will be able to conduct visits to mine action projects in those districts that were considered as inaccessible previously. The MATC, once fully staffed, will conduct remote monitoring through the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) tool for all mine action projects. To reach all gender groups, mine action is planning to deliver risk education through couple (mix gender) teams. Mine action partners were able to secure approval for the deployment of couple teams in many locations in 2023. Additionally, there is a gender and diversity manager in the MATC who will be monitoring projects to ensure that gender mainstreaming aspects are being considered. The gender and diversity mainstreaming manager will also engage with gender focal points of mine action partners and support them with gender mainstreaming and the distribution of PSEA materials with mine action partners at HQ and field level. Mine action partners have signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Awaaz Afghanistan and are using it as an accountability, complaint, and feedback mechanism. Additionally, a separate and standalone accountability and feedback mechanism called the Mine Action Hotline is also in place that compliments the accountability mechanism. Most of mine action projects also include community liaison positions. These positions are engaged with communities in all phases of the project, providing them with the required information on the projects, consulting them on their priorities, and engaging them in the project handover ceremonies. Mine action will aim to resolve access and restrictions issues through the engagement of communities in negotiations with local authorities and liaison officers employed in the projects can play a pivotal role in the process. For issues that cannot be resolved at the local level, mine action will report and engage the Humanitarian Access Group (HAG) for potential support. Due to the scale of the conflicts in recent years, there is a high possibility of additional explosive ordnance contamination in areas that are not yet recorded in the national mine action database. A nationwide survey is needed to provide an up-to-date dataset on the level of contamination that can help with an effective response plan and programming. As the MATC is functional and back to work, it will focus on the quality of reports and verify the data before being processed in the national mine action database.

HLP partners have collected significant data on informal urban settlements to identify potential vulnerability dynamics. The ICLA program, for instance, monitors evictions, and other HLP activities involve data collection on HLP rights. In 2024, the HLP TF plans to expand systematic eviction monitoring to provinces where HLP partners are not present and to document and map more urban informal settlements. Partners have internal monitoring procedures to ensure that they are reaching people with disabilities. Partners face challenges in this regard, and monitoring is useful to improve their response by targeting activities, strengthening coordination with community groups or humanitarian stakeholders, and taking new approaches. HLP partners have access to extensive datasets on vulnerability in urban informal settlements and funding to leverage this data to identify and address data gaps. The HLP cluster is also collaborating with REACH and will continue to do so in the future. Another data gap is the lack of widespread data across the country on the nature of HLP disputes that the population is currently facing and the formal and informal institutions governing HLP rights following the takeover of de facto authorities. HLP AoR is contributing to update protection monitoring tools within the Protection Cluster to improve the quality of data collected on HLP needs of the population in 2024.

PiN Calculation Methodology

The Protection PIN was calculated using data from the 2023 WOAA assessment, taking into account the regional expert judgment, and REACH ISET data updated with HLP and CCCM data of informal settlement and populations by district. Additionally, the cluster also drew on a range of research and analysis from partners as well as protection monitoring reports. This data particularly determined the number of respondents who indicated that a member of their household experienced a protection incident, behavioural changes, valid documentation, and vulnerable heads of household. GBV considered percentage of girls (aged 6-17years) who were married, households that take more than 1 hour to reach a functional healthcare facility through habitual mode of transportation, areas reporting women and girls feel unsafe, and households that do not have access to sufficient quality and quantity of water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and washing. For HLP, households that reported unmet need for occupancy documents were considered as people in need. Data from the Information Management System of Mine Action (IMSMA) was used to determine the number of people living within 1 km of legacy hazards and improvised mines and classified them as needing Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Survey, Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) and Clearance. Child Protection used indicators that include individuals experiencing any behavioural changes, those experiencing a protection incident, report on barriers to access education for children (6-17 years), children working outside the household and girls and boys under the age of 18 who are married.

The predetermined JIAF and Humanitarian Situation Monitoring (HSM) indicators and thresholds were chosen, analyzed and used to calculate the PIN. Each indicator's severity was calculated separately based on the severity scale. Later, the overall indicator was determined by taking the average of all indicators, and severity was assessed at the provincial and district levels, these were further shared to regional partners for expert judgement on the severity ranking by the provinces. Provinces with severity levels of 3 to 5 (severe, extreme, and cataclysmic) were designated as Population in Need. For General Protection, all population groupings, 100% were classified as PiN, whereas 40% of the non-specified population (formerly classified as Vulnerable) were considered. This group includes the host community, vulnerable individuals returning to their homes, long-term IDP (displaced 2021-2022), conflict-affected non-displaced people. Using the calculated PiN, the following population is target for assistance:

• IDP 70% of the PiN which corresponds to 75,740 individuals,
• Cross border returnees: 50% of the PiN which corresponds to 393,205 individuals,
• Natural disaster: 60% of the PiN which corresponds to 81,912 individuals,
• Refugees and asylum seekers: 100% of the PiN which corresponds to 50,434 individuals
• Non-specified group: 15% corresponding to 2,002,465 individuals.

GBVSC considered population groupings from severity 3, 4 and 5 to calculate the People in Need, based on the following criterion:

• . For severity 5, 85% of women and girls, 10% of men and boys from each province and district;
• ; For severity 4, 80% of women and girls, 8% of men and boys, from each province and district;
• For severity 3, 50% of women and girls, 5% of men and boys from each province and district,; were considered to calculate the overall PiN for the GBVSC

The IMSMA database is used worldwide to record mine action-related information. The Mine Action Sub-Cluster also considered IDPs in need of EORE and EOD services, – based on the 2024 projected data provided by OCHA & documented and undocumented cross-border returnees – based on the IOM and UNHCR projected data for 2024 – in need of EORE, and people injured by explosive ordnance as part of the PiN calculation. For the severity scale of provinces, the Mine Action Sub-Cluster applied two indicators: people living within 1 km of explosive hazards; and people getting killed or injured by explosive ordnance in 2022 and 2023.

The CP AoR used 5 JIAF indicators (General Protection concerns, psychological distress, Children out of school, child labour and Child marriage) to conduct the analysis of the WoAA data. The responses for the respective indicator values were classified along a five-point scale (1-5) to determine the indicator severity. The following indicator values were applied i.e. 1-Minimal, 2 signifies stress, 3 represents severe need, 4 represents extreme, and 5 represents catastrophic needs. The household level datasets were analyzed by coding each indicator value to represent the severity score at the district level, with Rural separately calculated from Urban. The indicator severities were tabulated for each district and aggregated using the “Mean of Max 50% of indicators” to determine the final severity for the districts and the same methodology was applied to calculate for the Provinces. The PIN was calculated separately for each 5 JIAF indicators at the district levels. The district level PIN were aggregated using the “Mean of Max top 3 indicators” to determine the final PIN for the Provinces. With a PIN of 9.2 million people, 50% of the PIN (4.6 million) was taken as the target for 2024 HNRP (80% children, 20% adults). Priority was only given to districts between severity scale 3 and 4 with main focus on border districts that may experience refugees and returnees’ influx in 2024. The cluster partners and SAG were consulted, and feedback taken and incorporated into the analysis.