Afghanistan

Context

By September 2025, CWG partners had reached 16.6 million people through cash and voucher assistance (CVA), distributing $152.7 million,¹ including $35.6 million in MPC. CVA feasibility remains high in 2026, underpinned by broadly functioning markets, active financial service providers and strong operational engagement by national and international NGOs. At the same time, the operating environment remains constrained by severe funding shortfalls and persistent restrictions on women’s participation, which continue to limit scale and coverage. The DfA maintain a largely neutral stance on the use of cash for humanitarian response, allowing CVA to remain a critical modality, with 65 per cent of people² preferring cash or a combination of cash and in-kind assistance.

In 2026, CVA is planned to reach more than 10 million people with a projected budget of just under $400 million. FSAC accounts for around 66 per cent ($262 million), reflecting the central role of cash in addressing food insecurity ($242 million) and erosion of livelihoods ($20 million). This is followed by ES/NFI at 28 per cent ($111 million), reflecting increased need for transitional shelter in disaster affected areas ($45 million), winterisation support ($30 million), rental support for highly vulnerable households including returnees ($12 million), major and minor shelter repairs ($13 million), assistance for voluntary returns ($9 million) and basic NFIs ($1 million). The Protection Cluster accounts for less than three per cent ($9.6 million) of planned CVA. Overall, MPC represents less than four per cent of total CVA requirements ($15 million), indicating a continued reliance on sector-specific cash modalities rather than unrestricted multisectoral assistance.³

In 2026, MPC assistance is planned to reach 688,300 individuals with a projected budget of $15 million.

MPC transfer values remain harmonised with the Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB),⁴ most recently reviewed in October 2025, which established a transfer value at $170 for a household of seven. MPC is primarily deployed in response to sudden-onset shocks to address immediate life-saving needs across key sectors, including food, shelter, health and transportation.

Assistance is typically provided monthly for up to three months, with the duration adjusted according to the scale of the emergency, household vulnerability and funding availability. To enhance equity and protection outcomes, a 20 per cent top-up is applied for female-headed households and households caring for persons with disabilities, recognising the compounded vulnerabilities these groups may face during crisis.

Complementarity and de-duplication

Complementarity between MPC and sectoral CVA is systematically maintained through regular national and sub-national coordination fora, shared online tracking tools and close engagement between the CWG, OCHA, and cluster coordination teams through the ICCT.

MPC is used to address immediate, multisectoral basic needs at household level, while sectoral CVA is designed to meet more specific cluster objectives. To minimise duplication and maximise coverage, partners coordinate through village-level data cross-checks, geographic deconfliction and sequenced programming, with information shared between the CWG and OCTs.

In high-severity contexts and large-scale emergencies, limited and intentional overlaps may occur to ensure that households reach minimum life-saving assistance thresholds through layered support. In such cases, time-bound sub-national CWGs are activated to strengthen field-level coordination, align targeting and modalities, and resolve operational bottlenecks. Referral pathways – including community-based mechanisms, AWAAZ hotline and inter-agency channels – are facilitated either directly through the CWG or via OCTs, ensuring that households identified through cash programming may be linked to complementary services and protection support.

Links with social protection

While Afghanistan does not have a formal, state-led social protection system, a range of activities implemented under the UNSFA BHN framework by several CWG partners provide complementary, quasi-social protection support to highly vulnerable populations. These interventions contribute to household resilience through predictable assistance linked to basic service access and livelihoods, helping to mitigate longer-term vulnerability beyond immediate humanitarian response. Humanitarian MPC interventions, by contrast, remain primarily focused on addressing acute, life-saving needs in emergency contexts. Some BHN projects incorporate crisis modifiers, allowing for the rapid scale up of assistance in response to large-scale shocks. At the national level, the CWG continues to engage with the Social Protection Technical Working Group (SP-TWG) to support dialogue, learning and the gradual alignment of humanitarian and BHN approaches, with a view to informing the progressive development of social protection systems in Afghanistan.