In 2026, humanitarian partners in Afghanistan will implement a shock-responsive, highest severity-first and time-bound response focused on people facing the most acute risks to life, safety and dignity. Building on the boundary-setting and targeting framework, the strategy concentrates on needs arising from drought and water stress (including AWD as a proxy for malnutrition risk), large-scale returnee inflows, sudden-onset natural disasters and residual impacts of the 2025 eastern region earthquake, while remaining complementary to BHN and longer-term recovery efforts.
Planned humanitarian action
Operational priorities in 2026 are guided by inter-sector severity and verified shock exposure, with particular focus on populations in inter-sector severity 4 and 3 districts and clearly defined shock-affected pockets in severity 2 targeting the most vulnerable among the overall population in need, including children, young people, women, older persons, persons with disabilities, returnees and displaced communities. Humanitarian partners will concentrate life-saving action in districts where emergency food insecurity, acute malnutrition, disease outbreaks, displacement and protection risks converge, reducing the risk of further deterioration and irreversible harm.
Interventions will be sequenced in line with seasonal and mobility patterns, including pre-harvest and lean-season food and nutrition responses, winterisation in high-altitude provinces, and scalable surge capacity for sudden-onset disasters and large returnee inflows. Real-time needs assessments, inter-sector severity analysis and response monitoring will enable continuous adjustment of geographic and sectoral priorities as conditions evolve. Inter-cluster and cluster surge mechanisms will be activated to reinforce local response capacity during major shocks.
Gender-responsive and child-sensitive programming, is central to all planned action. Cluster plans will systematically integrate GBV risk mitigation, child protection, mine action, legal assistance, civil documentation support and mental health and psychosocial support, while specialised protection services will be scaled in high-risk locations.
Community feedback consistently confirms that food, health care, safe water, shelter and livelihoods remain the most urgent priorities for crisis-affected people. Flexible assistance, particularly cash assistance, will remain central where markets are functional and access allows, enabling households to meet diverse survival needs with dignity. In-kind assistance will be prioritised where markets are disrupted, access is constrained, or standardised
inputs are required for protection, nutrition, health and WASH outcomes. These preferences directly shape modality choices and service delivery models and will continue to inform programme adjustments through collective accountability and feedback mechanisms throughout 2026.
Prioritised humanitarian response
Geographic prioritisation in 2026 follows the inter-sector severity and shock mapping. The response will focus first on severity 4 districts, where multi-sector convergence and the highest levels of resource allocation are required, alongside severity 3 districts that continue to experience recurrent shocks, elevated protection risks or critical service gaps. In parallel, high coverage will be ensured in sudden-onset, shock-affected pockets within severity 2 districts where humanitarian needs are present.
Cluster operational plans are sequenced to seasonal and mobility patterns. Nutrition and FSAC responses are front-loaded ahead of the winter lean season (November-March), while Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Health activities are scaled in anticipation of AWD and other disease outbreaks.
ES/NFI, Health and Protection responses are intensified during winter and following major disasters or returnee surges to address overlapping needs.
Response modalities
The 2026 response strategy places strong emphasis on multi-sector convergence to maximise impact in high-severity locations and minimise duplication. Convergence will be operationalised through joint targeting and co-location of services in severity 4 districts and key shock hotspots, supported by aligned delivery calendars across clusters. Shared use of community feedback and monitoring data will continue to guide ongoing adjustments to assistance and timing to ensure responsiveness to evolving needs.
Modality choices in 2026 will be driven by context-specific feasibility, access and risk analysis. MPC and sectoral cash assistance will be prioritised where markets are accessible and functional, and financial service providers are operational, with primary focus on inter-sector severity 4 districts. In-kind assistance will be used where markets are disrupted, supply chains are unstable or standardised inputs are required, including for therapeutic nutrition, essential medicines, water treatment and shelter materials.
Close coordination between the Education, Protection and Health Clusters will continue to be critical to safeguarding children’s safety and well-being while sustaining access to learning and essential health services. Mental health and psychosocial support will be systematically integrated across the response, particularly for survivors of gender-based violence.
Localised and inclusive response
Local and national organisations, including WLOs, remain central to humanitarian access, community acceptance and service continuity in Afghanistan. The 2026 response strategy therefore prioritises increased and more predictable sub-granting and, where feasible, direct funding to national partners in
line with localisation commitments reflected in cluster transition plans. Efforts to strengthen localisation will focus on expanding direct funding to national partners, reinforcing capacity for duty of care and compliance, and enabling predictable sub-granting arrangements, while community-based protection and participation mechanisms will be expanded to ensure that women, youth, older persons, persons with disabilities and returnees are meaningfully consulted and able to influence programme design and delivery.
The women-for-women modality, where female staff deliver services directly to women and girls, will remain a cornerstone of the response to mitigate access barriers arising from restrictions. Progress on localisation will be tracked qualitatively against cluster transition commitments, including the proportion of activities implemented by national partners and the strengthening of their decision-making roles within coordination structures.
Risk informed planning
Risk-informed planning underpins the 2026 response. Building on early warning and anticipatory action systems, partners will use consolidated forecasting and monitoring including seasonal climate outlooks, market and food security analysis, disease surveillance and displacement tracking to continuously update risk scenarios. Humanitarian partners will continue to pre-position supplies, activate early financing and implement early interventions ahead of forecast drought, floods and winter hazards. Critical supplies will be pre-positioned and contingency arrangements strengthened in high-risk districts ahead of the lean season, winter and peak flood and earthquake periods. Anticipatory action and surge protocols will be activated based on pre-defined trigger thresholds, such as rainfall and snowpack deficits, crop production failure, sharp price increases and sudden rises in cross-border returns and internal displacement. Together, these measures are designed to shorten response lead times, reduce preventable loss of life and contain the scale and cost of subsequent humanitarian crises.
Transition
The 2026 HNRP is designed to prepare, where feasible, for responsible and context-appropriate transition to BHN and longer-term support. Humanitarian activities will contribute to transition by stabilising households and communities in recurrent shock-affected areas, particularly under SO3 by strengthening linkages with basic service delivery, social protection–type programmes and disaster risk reduction where minimum conditions exist, and by systematically sharing analysis and evidence with BHN and development actors to inform area-based and sectoral transition planning. Minimum conditions for transition include relative stability in shock patterns, basic functionality of essential services, predictable partner presence and the availability of alternative financing or programme arrangements. Any transition will be carefully sequenced to ensure that no population loses access to life-saving assistance before viable alternatives are in place, while also remaining conflict-sensitive and gender-responsive.