Afghanistan

Overview

The increasingly restrictive rights environment in Afghanistan has further marginalized vulnerable populations who already face a range of environmental, attitudinal and legal barriers which heighten their often intersecting and overlapping needs. The continued bans on Afghan women working for I/NGOs and the UN, as well as the recent PVPV law, have added to the complexity of operating environment, further complicating access to information, assistance and services in many locations, and elevating protection risks and concerns.

In 2024, to address these operational realities, OCHA initiated and led the development of a response-wide monitoring tool involving the AAP, Disability and Inclusion (DI) and Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) working groups (WGs), and the PSEA Network, to track partners’ ability to continue reaching affected populations in a safe, inclusive and quality manner, as well as the ability of affected populations to meaningfully engage with and access services. The Afghanistan Accountability Index (AAI) monitors crosscutting indicators which aim to not only shed light on the ability of partners to adequately meet the needs of the population, and ensure their meaningful and safe participation in the response, particularly for the most vulnerable groups, but also identify ‘actionable insights’ of accountability, meaning the steps or corrective actions that organizations need to continuously take to adjust their programmes in light of both the permissiveness of their operating environment and the feedback they are receiving from communities. Moreover, joint ICCT-ICCG field missions were organized to provide an additional layer of monitoring to ground-truth findings, understand partners’ capacity, and to examine to what extent women are engaged in the response, and what measures partners are actively taking to enable their participation. With this, the AAI is more than just a monitoring system and rather a real-time mechanism to improve and adapt inclusive humanitarian assistance based on the expressed needs and priorities of affected Afghans.

Response strategy

In 2025, the AAP, DI, and GiHA WGs, as well as the PSEA Network and the HCT Centrality of Protection Implementation Support Group (ISG) will continue to support clusters with evidence-based mechanisms, analysis and activities to ensure accountable, inclusive and quality interventions. Tools such as the Afghanistan Community Voices and Accountability Platform will provide data on community needs, disaggregated by sex, age, and disability.¹ Working groups will continue to produce gender alerts and analyses on system-wide adaptations, particularly regarding restrictions on women and girls.

In November 2024, a working definition of WLOs tailored to the Afghan context was developed to facilitate their inclusion and access to humanitarian funding. This definition – adapted from the IASC definition – identifies a WLO as an organization with a humanitarian mandate whose leadership is principally comprised of women (demonstrated by at least 25 per cent occupying senior leadership positions), has at least 30 per cent of women and girl staff or volunteers, has operational capacity to respond to humanitarian needs in Afghanistan and has services focusing on women’s needs. The definition also includes guidance criteria to assist partners who are unsure whether the organization fits the definition. The ICCT agreed to pilot the definition for the first six months and then adjust in mid-2025 as needed.

The cross-cutting groups will continue to support the capacity building and integration of WLOs in 2025, as well as the engagement of persons with disabilities and their representative organizations (OPDs) to address the significant gaps related to inclusion. Moreover, efforts will continue to increase the participation of women humanitarian workers through recruitment, retention, and capacity-building initiatives, including training on access negotiations. Likewise, support to the Women’s Advisory Group to the HCT will ensure women’s voices are included in strategic decisions regarding the response. In line with the IASC Guidelines,² targeted efforts will also be made to increase the participation of persons with disabilities in the humanitarian response, and to ensure organizations both inclusive mainstream programs as well as targeted interventions addressing the specific requirements of persons with disabilities (twin-track approach).

Working groups will also support clusters to strengthen community engagement and improve communication with affected populations, ensuring communication channels are accessible to all. This includes providing guidance on inclusive messaging and utilizing trusted
channels for feedback and complaints, particularly for sensitive issues such as PSEA, GBV and other protection concerns.

The capacity of clusters and partners will be strengthened through ongoing training on accountable, gender-responsive programming, inclusive humanitarian action and adherence to minimum quality standards. This will ensure that vulnerable groups, especially women and persons with disabilities, are not only included in assessments but also actively engaged in decision-making processes throughout the project cycle. Data collection across all sectors will be disaggregated by gender, age and disability, and will aim to identify barriers, needs and risks for specific groups, helping to address information gaps and to inform an evidence-based response that considers the specific needs of different population groups. Ultimately, the strategy aims to build a more inclusive and forward leaning humanitarian response by ensuring that vulnerable groups – particularly women, girls, and persons with disabilities – are represented, their needs are met, and their voices are amplified in every stage of programming.

Monitoring plan

The cross-cutting groups will continue to monitor the ability of the response to reach women, girls, and persons with disabilities with inclusive programming that is safely accessible and meets their specific needs. This includes continued use of the Community Voices and Accountability platform to inform adjustments to the response based on community feedback, as well as quarterly GiHA and HAWG surveys on the impact of ongoing restrictions on affected women and girls and partners’ ability to operate. The PSEA Network will complement monitoring with tools such as the Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Risk Overview (SEARO) and SEA risk index. These cross-cutting tools will be enhanced by community focus group discussions, joint missions and field visits with clusters to document good practices and provide community-informed recommendations, system-wide perception surveys supported by cluster partners, and leveraging regional working group field presence to support monitoring. Main findings will also be streamlined into the AAI to provide a concrete overview of trends and gaps for accountable, inclusive, and gender-responsive programming, and allow for a collective and continuous discussion on how to adjust and adapt programming to ensure it meets the expressed needs and priorities of affected Afghans.