Afghanistan

Summary of needs

Protection risks in Afghanistan persist despite the end of conflict induced by mass forced returns from Iran and Pakistan, earthquakes, drought, floods, and climate-related disasters. Most people are experiencing multiple risks including forced displacement, psychological/emotional abuse, discrimination and or denial of services, family separation, exposure to mines, violence and significantly affecting their economic, social and cultural rights. According to protection monitoring, men are particularly affected by community tensions, denial of humanitarian assistance, violence, and harmful practices. The same report reveals that women are severely affected by violence including within the family, restrictions to freedom of movement and harassment as well as intimidation. Boys reported to be affected by violence including within the family, child or early marriage, and community tensions. While girls reported being impacted by early forced marriage, family violence, restrictions to freedom of movement, denial of access to education for girls, and harmful practices.

According to DRC data, 49% of the surveyed returnees declared to fear security issues or protection risks in Afghanistan, identifying psychological/emotional abuse or inflicted distress as the main one (48%), followed by presence of mine and other explosive ordnance (22%); discrimination and/or denial of services (18%); restrictions on freedom of movement or forced displacement (18%); forced eviction (17%); and extortion/theft (12%). Some returnees are also deprived of access to services and opportunities due to discrimination based on their displacement status, with women and girls being the most affected group because of restrictions on female education and employment in the country. The same study indicated that, 81% of returnees lacked civil identity documents.

Almost 15M have been identified to be in urgent need of protection services including a GBV PiN of 11.4M and 8.9million children in need. The cluster will target 5.4M women, men, boys and girls. Protection risks have deepened in 32 out of 34 provinces. 231 out of 401 districts fall within severity of needs at scale 3-critical (176) and 4-extreme (55).

The main drivers of GBV needs continue to be heightened by GBV risk in key locations and in light of specific shocks, including drought, unaddressed issues from the Eastern Region earthquake, and high numbers of returns from neighboring countries. The number of Afghan women and girls at heightened risk of violence has increased by 40 per cent in the past two years, with 14.2 million women now in need of protection and assistance.¹ Also, as highlighted in a range of assessments including UNFPA safety audits and Protection Cluster analysis, GBV risk increases in these settings due to irregular accommodation arrangements, lack of privacy, lack of security arrangements including lighting and door locks, use of communal facilities, loss of key possessions, travelling long distances to seek out resources such as water, negative coping strategies, and others. Shortages of available services and relevant DfA restrictions, further limiting access of those at risk and survivors to support and contributing to the erosion of coping capacities, continue to exacerbate the impacts of these shocks on women and girls in particular. Needs are assessed as severe countrywide with most provinces in Severity levels 4 and above, given the lack of availability of protective environment including both authorities and community structures, as well as forms of basic services such as health and education, consistently a concern. While needs for 2026 remain consistent with 2025 or higher, the PiN has slightly reduced in order to take into account the absorption by Basic Human Needs frameworks and actors of those individuals who would fall outside of a shock-affected population or the highest severity groups.

Afghanistan faces a protracted Child Protection crisis driven by socio-economic collapse, cumulative climate shocks (drought, floods, earthquakes) leading to constant internal displacements, undocumented cross-border migration, and structural restrictions by the De facto Authorities (DfA). The crisis has deepened since 2025, severely weakening formal and community-based child protection systems. Forced return has also increased the risk of family separation and deportation of Unaccompanied and Separated Children (UASC).

Recurrent climate disasters and population displacements are the primary non-conflict drivers, accelerating harmful coping mechanisms like worst forms of child labour, school dropout, child labour and child/forced marriage, which follow a predictable seasonal pattern. The ongoing massive population movements across Afghanistan borders with Iran and Pakistan have, since the beginning of 2025, caused undocumented returnees, border capacity strains and a surge in Unaccompanied and Separated Children (UASC) including children on the move. Explosive Ordinance (EO) incidents impacting over 80% of children, remaining the leading cause of child casualties, compounded by access limitations to basic human services.

Humanitarian needs are most severe for specific vulnerable groups:

• Adolescent Girls (10-17): Face the highest severity due to the education ban for girls and 3.4m out of school children leading to severe psychosocial distress and increased risk of child marriage (projected at 38.9% by UNICEF MICS, 2023). DfA restrictions on female aid workers are a major access barrier to this population group.
• Adolescent Boys: Face exploitation, child recruitment into armed forces and high rates of child labour (projected at 19.4% by UNICEF MICS, 2023). Adolescent boys face pressure to become primary income earners.

Other factors that adversely impact children include:

• The De facto Authority (DfA) ban on girls’ education/schooling above grade six. Increase in the rates / number of children out of school is estimated to be 5.6million in 2025, an increase from 4.4million in 2024.
• Other DFA bans, restrictions and discrimination against women and girls, restriction of freedom of movement hinder access to basic services, further exacerbating psychological distress for children and their families. These challenges require humanitarian interventions to address needs of both children and their families.
• Undocumented /irregular migration cross border in search for employment opportunities/child labour for children.
• Limited access to basic social services, children's education, and health services. These are not a priority to some families due to levels of poverty.
• Economic stagnation leading to low household incomes, and vulnerabilities hence exposing children to CP risks. Afghans are most likely to experience moderate stress levels (44%), regularly burdened by multiple challenges such as lack of money, failure to find work, or concerns about personal health. 26.7 percent of parents/caregivers have high levels of stress (25.7percent among men and 26.6 percent among women according to UNPFA Report, 2024).
• Harmful coping mechanisms by families including separating children for studies/education outside thier households or country, accepting child marriage, child labour, and collecting of scrap metals which exposes children to explosive ordinances and other injuries and physical danger.
• Children with Disabilities: Experience compounded access barriers due to inaccessible infrastructure and reduced female aid worker presence.

Different groups most vulnerable to Child Protection risks are children in most vulnerable families (households with persons with disabilities, elderly headed households, households headed by a person with life threatening issues, child headed households, female headed households, new IDP in slow and sudden onset natural disasters, new undocumented cross border returnees, refugees and asylum seekers.) 80 percent of children from these households informed the needs severity and targeting for CP responses and only 20% of adults in areas of severity scale 3 and 4 are considered much as in case of occurrence of disaster in the rest of the 170 districts under severity scale 1 and 2.

Most children, especially girls from ages 6-17yrs are most at risk across all population groups due to general DFA ban on education for girls above grade six, ban on women from work and in public spheres, discrimination and restriction of freedom of movement for women and girls, and their families. Children (6-17yrs) who have dropped out of school in 2025 are estimated to be over 5million. All these vulnerable children and their families are more exposed to risk like violence, abuse, neglect, and exploitation. These vulnerabilities will increase caseload for Child Protection programme intervention in 2026.

Afghanistan continues to struggle with the heavy legacy of landmines and explosive remnants of war, and the last year has added new layers of risk. The eastern-region earthquake, repeated floods, ongoing drought, and the large number of returnees being forcibly returned from Iran and Pakistan have pushed families into unsafe areas where explosive hazards are common. Many people are moving to damaged buildings, abandoned military sites, or unmarked land, increasing the chances of accidents. Despite progress in some areas, overall needs have grown because new hazards are being reported faster than they can be cleared.

Looking ahead to 2026, seasonal patterns will continue to shape the risks. As people become more mobile in spring and summer working on farms, rebuilding homes, and collecting water or firewood their exposure to mines and ERW increases. Floods can move unexploded items into new locations, creating fresh dangers. In winter, clearance teams face limitations, slowing the pace of work just when some families are forced to explore new areas to find fuel and income.

Where needs are greatest

The east (Nangarhar, Kunar, Laghman) has some of the most urgent needs due to the earthquake, which left many homes collapsed and scattered ERW in the rubble. The south and southwest remain heavily contaminated from past fighting, and farmers cannot safely access land they depend on. Border provinces and districts hosting returnees are also high-risk because families often settle in unsafe or unfamiliar locations. The escalating tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan leading to death and injury of women and children.

Who is most affected

• Children, especially boys, continue to make up the largest number of casualties because they often play outdoors and may pick up or tamper with explosive items out of curiosity.
• Returnees are particularly at risk since many are unaware of the dangers in their new communities.
• Farmers and laborers face hazards while tending fields or rebuilding livelihoods.
• Women and girls often miss out on risk education sessions due to social restrictions, leaving them less informed about how to protect themselves and their families.
• People with disabilities and older people face challenges reaching safe areas or reporting hazardous items.

Response strategy

• Provide specific support through Individual Protection Assistance, including provision of essential protection-related kits or items,
• Provision of financial, cash or voucher / CVA assistance for protection outcomes,
• Provision of legal assistance, including on legal identity,
• Provision of legal counselling to individuals,
• Provide psychosocial and Social-Emotional Support Activities for Men, Women, Children, Adolescents, and Caregivers,
• Implement referral actions to respond to critical protection risks,
• Provide support, coordination and initiatives to strengthen collective advocacy on protection,
• Implement and support case management actions,
• Monitoring and consultation activities, including incidents, protection, human rights violations or displacement,
• Provide capacity support to members of community mechanisms, including local structures and networks,
• Deliver targeted protective information and guidance sessions on protection risks and response,
• Provide training and capacity building to local, national or other bodies on service provision
• Specific activities to address Gender Based Violence (GBV) include; GBV case management, referrals (including cross-sectoral), multisectoral services including health and MHPSS, wellbeing support for women and girls, awareness activities, dignity kit programming, and some limited cash based on plans of partners to trial GBV-specific cash for protection. Those targeted are considered to be those at risk of GBV amongst shock-affected populations, especially where severity of GBV need is 4 or above.
• Child Protection workstream 2026 Strategy prioritizes prevention, mitigation and response to child protection needs focusing on high-severity scale areas of 3 and 4 and addressing risks based on boundary setting for 2026 prioritization, psychological distress, child marriage, child labour, and Unaccompained and Seperated children (UASC). Targeting is focused on adolescent girls, adolescent boys, and children with disabilities. This includes children on the move as a result of displacement including IDPs and cross border returnees, and overall people with acute needs to ensure that girls and boys at-risk have access to well-coordinated, age, gender, and disability-sensitive child protection services (CP case management, cross border referrals, family tracing and reunification MHPSS and strengthening formal and community based child protection structures).

Priority Activities and Modalities:

The response will consider the global guidance on activity prioritization considering the humanitarian landscape, hence, prioritized activities are:

• Provision of integrated case management individualized support (identifications/documentation, interim and alternative care, cash for protection, Family tracing and reunifications, rehabilitation, reintegration services) and utilization of child protection Information management Systems (CPIMS+).
• Provision of cash for protection intervention to enhance resilience of vulnerable families at risk of protection risk. This cash for protection will be for supporting families with children exposed to protection risk to mitigate harmful coping mechanisms and other vulnerabilities children within the household might be exposed to.
• Provision of Mental Health and Psychosocial support for children and parents/caregivers by establishing Child friendly Safe spaces to offer children a safe environment for structured PSS (recreation and learning) Plus referral to specialized mental health services.
• 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 under the protection cluster through dedicated child protection workstream and the proposed area based coordination at the subnational level. The new coordination mechanism will improve capacity for services delivery, integration, multi sectoral services mapping and referral pathways for services delivery to children, resource mobilization and advocacy for children needs.
• To address DfA constraints on access and mobility restrictions (especially for women/girls), the Workstream will expand mobile teams, use mass media for prevention messaging, and strengthen virtual support/referral via child helplines and AWAAZ. Develop contingency plans to scale up remote support if access declines further.

In 2026, the Mine Action response will focus on helping people live, move, and work safely. The main priorities are:

• Teaching communities how to stay safe through risk education, especially in earthquake-affected areas, places receiving returnees, and districts where floods may have moved unexploded items.
• Surveying and marking dangerous areas so families know where they can walk, farm, or rebuild their homes.
• Clearing mines and explosive remnants of war from places that people depend on everyday farmland, roads, schools, water sources, and areas where humanitarian partners operate.

The modalities will include;

• Direct teams for clearance and EOD. These are highly trained teams will remain the backbone of survey and clearance work because of strict safety requirements.
• Mobile EORE and Quick Response teams allow us to reach remote areas, newly displaced populations, and fast-changing environments.

Complementarity:

• Protection will conduct information management assessments to identify gaps and provide analysis on both humanitarian and BHN needs.
• The response integrates with Basic Human Needs (BHN) by linking cash recipients and households facing protection risks to livelihoods and food Security interventions.
• Centrality for protection of children including through mainstreaming and integrated approaches especially with other clusters such as education, WASH, health, nutrition, food security and livelihood that will be leveraged upon for access and mitigating vulnerabilities of children/families.

Targeting and prioritisation

• The protection cluster will prioritize people in severity scales 3 and 4 districts noting that most people are affected by multiple protection risks. The peopled targeted, already exposed to severe risks which could worsen in case they are not addressed. Prioritisation of GBV activities is closely linked to severity of need (severity mapping, by province, based on secondary data review and triangulated with expert judgment) and shock-affected populations, with a view toward ensuring the reach of the highest severity as a first priority. Focus remains strictly on the 240 districts classified at Severity Scale 3 (Critical) and 4 (Extreme), particularly those affected by recurrent drought, flood emergencies, and high concentrations of undocumented returnees.
• If only 50% of the requirements is received: the focus will be primarily on populations assessed to be in Severity 4 with some Severity 3 depending on partner presence and capacity in key locations; the cluster will mainly target returnees, refugees, female and child headed households, IDPs, undocumented returnees, refugee returnees, and persons facing critical protection risks. Immediate and life-saving protection activities will take precedence over longer-term prevention and empowerment programming. 2.3 million people will miss protection services including children and urgently needed lifesaving GBV services.

If only 25% of the required funding is received: interventions will target the most marginalized geographical areas and only focus on districts in severity scale 4 i.e. those facing multiple protection risks. Specific categories to be prioritized will include children, persons with disabilities, older persons, victims of landmine/ERW incidents, survivors of violence, abuse and exploitation and other grave violations. Interventions will be focused on emergency, lifesaving, one-off, high-reach interventions to meet immediate needs. Efforts will be made to enhance integrated programming with BHN partners as well as other clusters where possible. This may result in about 3M targeted individuals missing assistance.

Promoting Accountable, Quality and Inclusive Programming

In preparation of the HNRP, the protection cluster consulted partners across all regions to determine severity of needs and key priorities. The response activities are aligned to the Global Protection Cluster (GPC) revised list of standard activities and indicators, enriching the clusters’ response strategy. The cluster will continue to support partners in enhancing. Strong emphasis is placed on age, gender, disability and other diversities as part of the mainstreaming and integration of protection in the humanitarian and BHN response. The cluster will collaborate with the Disability and Inclusion Working Group (DIWG) on capacity building and support the review of assessment tools to ensure that disability is well integrated. For GBV, direct consultation on the topic can be challenging due to cultural and safety / security reasons. Therefore, proxy indicators can be used. Data collection was done which included a substantial community-level component through early 2025, which informed the PiN and target calculations. In addition, regular assessments including the Community Voices, Awaaz feedback, and others, are used. As key aspects of the response (e.g., PSS and case management / referrals) involve individual consultation modalities, this takes into account the various specific needs of the individuals served. The primary target groups for the interventions are women and girls. Disability inclusion as a critical component, will be integrated including through assessments and ensuring accessibility / disability inclusion including through the incorporation of DI into standards and guidance developed / disseminated by the GBV AoR. GBV referral pathways are integrated with PSEA referral pathways.

The cluster embeds AAP across the response:

• Consultation and Decision-Making: Partners conduct continuous, targeted consultations with the people we serve (especially female-headed households with restricted movement) via sub-national structures. Local actors and community volunteers are integrated into service delivery decision-making to tailor services, ensuring cultural relevance and local ownership.
• Feedback Mechanism: the cluster will continue to utilize the national AWAAZ platform alongside partner-specific feedback and complaint mechanisms. All Post Distribution Monitoring (PDM) reports and feedback data are systematically reviewed to inform course correction (e.g., adjusting mobile team routes, decentralizing services closer to female beneficiaries’ homes).
• People-Centered Features: Response design is fundamentally driven by the need to reach vulnerable families where access is severely restricted, prioritizing decentralized and home-based service delivery (MHPSS, parenting sessions).
• Women and Girls Inclusion: The cluster promotes the mandatory recruitment of female staff and volunteers to ensure direct access to women and adolescent girls, circumventing DfA restrictions. Programming focuses on providing MHPSS and Cash for Protection specifically targeted at mitigating the risks arising from the education ban and economic vulnerability.
• Disability Inclusion: Targeting includes 15% of children with disabilities. Partners are required to adapt programming through: use of accessible, community-based facilities; home visits for case management; and integrating disability-sensitive communication into awareness campaigns. Targeted capacity building is provided to field teams on adaptive programming.
• Other Groups of Concern: Undocumented Returnees are a priority, addressed via rapid FTR and integrated case management at border and transit points, mitigating the immediate risk of trafficking and exploitation.

PROTECTION FROM SEXUAL EXPLOITATION AND ABUSE (PSEA)

• PSEA Integration: PSEA is a non-negotiable requirement for all partners. The cluster maintains PSEA Focal Points within its coordination structure and works within the PSEA Network to harmonize referral pathways and ensure a victim-centered response that prioritizes the safety and needs of the survivor above all else.
• Awareness and Advocacy: Due to DfA bans on overt PSEA awareness, the cluster integrates messaging on aid worker accountability and reporting misconduct into routine community dialogue and non-PSEA titled capacity building for local actors. Advocacy efforts continue with relevant ministries to lift restrictions on public PSEA information.

GBV Risk Mitigation: All interventions integrate GBV risk mitigation: Child Friendly Spaces adhere to lighting and safety standards; Cash for Protection includes sensitivity analysis to prevent intra-household violence; and all social workers are trained on confidential and ethical referral for GBV survivors.

Links to basic services and basic human needs (BHN) programmes

The cluster recognizes that humanitarian needs are reducing and, this is compounded by reducing funding for humanitarian assistance. The cluster will enhance collaboration with BHN partners to ensure that improved access to services for those most in need. The below activities are proposed for basic human needs partners to address.

1. Establish and/or strengthen collaborative information management processes.
   1. Establish and facilitate services for women and girls especially for their empowerment to enable them to reduce the challenges they currently face due to increased restrictions. Activities, can include, supporting for mothers with children under 5 years through provision of cash and non-cash assistance, women headed households, widows, and child headed households.
   2. Supporting families with children at risk of and or street children, begging,
   3. Strengthening social welfare systems and workforce, including social welfare support.
   4. Support birth registration and civil documentation systems.
   5. Enhance access to justice, including for children, and monitoring and improving detention conditions.
   6. Investment in poverty reduction initiatives so that families do not resort to negative coping mechanisms.
   7. Activities to address the root causes of GBV, including gender discrimination, are especially challenging in the present context. However, significant investment would be needed in systems-strengthening and environment-building as a complement to the humanitarian GBV response.
   8. Child protection outcomes in Afghanistan are inseparable from the ability of children and caregivers to access basic services and basic human needs (BHN) assistance. Across all provinces and regions, evidence from the 2026 HNRP analysis shows that economic stress, displacement, drought-related livelihood erosion, returnee inflows, and weakening social protection systems continue to drive harmful coping mechanisms including child labor, early marriage, family separation and untreated psychosocial distress. Therefore, BHN interventions that reinforce family stability, reduce economic pressures and restore access to services are not only complementary to child protection objectives but they are a prerequisite to maintaining safe family environments and protecting children from acute protection risks.
   9. The cluster will work closely with clusters delivering cash and voucher assistance (CVA), food security, WASH, health, education and shelter to ensure that people including children living in districts with the highest intersectoral severity benefit from an integrated and equitable package of support. This includes prioritization of newly returned families from Iran, Turkey and Pakistan, IDPs, households headed by women, families with children with disabilities and families in areas exposed to recurrent shocks (drought, sudden-onset disasters, AWD outbreaks and winter isolation).
   10. Joint identification of children and families at high protection risk in BHN programmes: This activity will ensure BHN services proactively identify and prioritize households where children face heightened protection risks.
   11. Integration of protection-sensitive referral pathways into BHN programming: We will ensure that there is a guarantee that families targeted through BHN services can access CP case management, MHPSS and GBV services without delay.
   12. Child safeguarding training for BHN partners: Reduce risk of harm during programme delivery and promote safe environments at service delivery points.

Coordinated winterization and emergency response prioritizing children at risk: Prevent separation, exploitation, and protection incidents during acute shocks.

Cost of response

Mixed approached were used to determine the cost of protection response including consultation with partners through a costing survey, and analysis at national and sub-national levels. In some instances, there are slight changes in activity costing rates for the past 2 years.

In 2026, the protection cluster will require 136.5.M USD to provide support to 5.M people. The average cost per person for protection is 27 USD, and primary cost drivers for protection activities are staffing, community-led protection, case management, distribution of dignity kits, civil documentation and legal assistance, as well as protection monitoring and assessments.

The cluster will address disability and gender-specific needs. Changes in operational costs have been factored into costing due to the restrictions on female staff, including the use of Mahram, segregated transportation, and designated workspaces. All core activities now include this adjustment to better support different categories of people including children with disabilities, while adult-focused activities incorporate the increase to address the needs of female-headed households. Additionally, separate funds have been allocated for children’s winter clothing as part of in-kind assistance, following a standard package for winter needs.

Cluster Severity and PiN Calculation Methodology

Protection undertook the following steps to determine severity of needs, and the PiN

1. Severity ranking: this was by sub-national coordinators and partners to determine severity of needs across all districts in Afghanistan, using the 15 Global Protection Cluster (GPC) protection risks to generate district specific scores.¹
   1. Calculation of severity: The GPC Information Management (IM) team calculated the average severity for each district based on the average scores.
   2. The average scores were then applied to the population estimates provided by OCHA to determine the number of people exposed to protection risks within the overall affected population in each district, focusing specifically on the identified protection risks.
   3. The estimated number of people exposed to risks was cross-tabulated with JIAF household severity data to further determine district-level severity.
   4. Unified district severity was determined by correlating household-level severity (from the Whole of Afghanistan Assessment (WOAA)) with district-level severity based on the identified 15 protection risks using an assessment matrix. The assessment matrix uses three categories: safety, participation in activities, and access.
   5. The overall severity was established by generating an average score from the three pillars, corroborated with the ranking scores of the 15 protection risks, enabling the extraction of household-level severity.
   6. To calculate the Population in Need (PiN) at the district level, Household level data and district severity risks were analyzed. Each severity level was assigned a percentage based on a defined formula.
   7. For the IDP PiN calculation, the protection cluster utilized district-level population data regarding individuals exposed to various risks. From this, risks were identified based on the 15 GPC protection risks. The WOAA helped in determining the percentage of the population responded during the assessment to generate the PiN.
   8. The PiN was categorized across various population groups.

The overall PiN for protection consists of the sum of the population scoring levels 3, and 4.

Needs Analysis, Response Monitoring Strategy and Data Gaps

The protection cluster will continue to use protection monitoring tools and will work with partners to expand coverage across all the districts to improve the identification of needs while Child Protection needs will be monitored through the child protection situation monitoring established in 2025. The cluster will also continue strategic collaboration with research agencies such as ACAPS to conduct thematic studies on key protection issues as a measure of deepening understanding of protection risks. In addition, in 2025, the cluster developed and deployed a Rapid Needs Assessment (RNA) tool that has enabled conducting emergency assessments and analysis to guide programming and advocacy.

Monitoring progress and quality of the response will be done against the annual targets using the selected indicators on a monthly and quarterly basis, through the 5W reporting tool. For child protection, the Child Protection information management system (CPIMS+) will be utilized. At the beginning of the year, the cluster will develop a simplified indicator explainer. All partners will continue to be oriented/trained in the 5W reporting system. To improve the quality of reporting, dedicated bi-annual consultations on 5W reporting and HNRP reporting requirements will be organized at national and sub-national levels. Monitoring processes will be further enhanced through field visits to support evidence-based reporting. Service mapping will be enhanced to highlight available services and gaps in the different geographical locations and use the information for evidence-based planning and reporting. The safety of partners’ data will be ensured by following the cluster information sharing protocol (addendum). The Protection Cluster will also conduct its annual Cluster Coordination Performance Monitoring (CCPM) and use the results to develop corrective actions.

The cluster will continue to emphasize that partners ensure Age, Gender and Disability (AGD) principles and indicators in all projects. PSEA will be enhanced through continuous training and ensuring that PSEA is a standing agenda during the monthly protection cluster meetings. The cluster will sustain engagement with the DFA at national and sub-national level to build understanding and acceptance of protection and negotiating for quicker approval of MoUs.

Community Engagement: the cluster will continue to engage with local communities and community-based organizations to collect information and feedback on all protection issues through the situation monitoring tool for communities to provide necessary and real time information. These local partners can serve as important sources of data and provide insights into the situation on the ground for appropriate redress. In addition, some partners are supporting national organizations for example through, grant agreements, community-led initiatives etc.

CP situation and 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: the cluster will work on data from various sources/sectors including local and international NGOs, UN agencies, and other studies in the country to develop a comprehensive picture of the child protection situation. Based on data-sharing agreements and standardized data collection tools in place.

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:

To mitigate monitoring challenges in the context of de facto authorities, development program challenges, sanctions, funding, 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 females.
• 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.

These challenges will be addressed 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.