Afghanistan represents a protracted crisis with deeprooted poverty and socio-cultural factors converging with decades of conflict to generate different types and layers of need. Consequently, the HNRP sharpens the humanitarian focus on acute needs arising from distinct drivers.
In recognition that humanitarian action and capacity has its limits, and that the humanitarian burden can only be sustainably reduced through a greater commitment to early recovery and resilience-building initiatives which bridge short-term relief and longer-term assistance, the boundaries of humanitarian action in Afghanistan have been further tightened in 2024 to focus on vulnerability, prioritise populations facing critical and catastrophic needs (severity 4 and 5), and reduce the scope of basic human needs activities included in the response plan. Indeed, the danger of with labelling all needs present in a humanitarian context as ‘humanitarian’ is that agencies and partners will only address those in areas where they have existing programmes, rather than tackling immediate needs in locations of highest severity, where lives will be lost.
As a result, Clusters have shifted some response activities to basic human needs including school rehabilitation activities; basic disaster risk mitigation infrastructure for flood-prone and other areas; shelter repair and transitional shelter support for cross-border returnees at areas of destination; non-conflict-related trauma care and coordination and surveillance of attacks on health care; community nutrition screening of children aged 6-59 months; dialogues with community leaders, men, and boys; land allocation; community-led total sanitation activities; and urban water networks and sanitation/sewerage in cities.
Yet, some of the prioritized humanitarian interventions will contribute directly or indirectly to the achievement of durable solutions and meeting basic human needs. To this end, short-term humanitarian interventions to address acute vulnerabilities will help where possible to support and enable mid- to long-term approaches and resilience-oriented interventions. Activities that support emergency livelihoods, improve food security and expand access to basic services are examples of this approach. Other examples include efforts to ensure the sustainability of interventions. For instance, Emergency Shelter/NFI Cluster partners are adopting durable shelter solutions, understanding that they are key to building the resilience of affected populations; this includes addressing housing, land and property rights, and facilitating housing repairs.
Under the overall leadership of the triple-hatted UN leadership structure - the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General/Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator (DSRSG/RC/HC), a durable solutions architecture has been established in-country to facilitate joint analysis and response planning across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. The strategic-level Durable Solutions Working Group (DSWG), includes members of the UN Country Team (UNCT) and the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) and works closely with the humanitarian Inter-Cluster Coordination Team (ICCT). To that end the 2024 HNRP and the United Nations Strategic Framework for Afghanistan (UNSFA) have been designed to complement each other, while avoiding overlaps in response.