Support vulnerable families in rural Afghanistan

Despite the landlocked geographical placement of Afghanistan, the country is not lacking physical sources of water as it enjoys a vast quantity of rivers originating from the Hindu Kush mountain range.

Sadly however, this natural water endowment does not translate into an abundance of resources. 

Due to decades of conflict and instability and two years of successive droughts, Afghanistan instead finds itself desiccated with a severe water insecurity and worsening water supply networks. With the number of natural disasters increasing in Afghanistan , including climate change induced disasters, such as drought, water paucity has worsened, with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) now projecting that 79% of the population have insufficient access to water for their daily needs, including drinking and bathing.

But the implications seep far further than thirst and cleanliness. A lack of water means that the produce from the agricultural sector is drying up, exacerbating the rapidly rising cases of food insecurity across the country and thus exacerbating the number of families in humanitarian crises. This means that currently, 84% of women-headed households are unable to put enough food on the table on a daily basis for themselves and their families. 

As well as assisting families to meet their basic needs now, Afghanaid also supports communities with longer term solutions to help them become more resilient to crises in the future, and therefore start to sustainably rebuild their lives.

Take Ishaq, a 41-year-old farmer living in Shahristan district, Daykundi province, who knows the effects of water scarcity all too well. Ishaq has been unable to grow sufficient crops to feed his family or to make a living, meaning that he has no way of earning a sustainable income. “Our farms were unproductive each year as a result of a shortage of agricultural water in the summer, which was a major problem for us,” Ishaq told us.

When Afghanaid visited Ishaq’s village, his community identified themselves as in need of urgent help and advised us that constructing a new reservoir would strengthen the agricultural livelihoods on which they depend.

Reservoirs are incredibly valuable assets for generating sustainable solutions to water management problems. They are able to promote sustainable usage of water through storing the excess water in winter gathered from the snow melt travelling down from the mountains. This means there is a stockpile supply of water all year round which can match demand in times of higher need. The long term implications of the reservoir are vast, improving water supply, agricultural production and in turn, the prospects and livelihoods of agricultural workers and their families.

The local ownership approach we embed into each of our projects is key to the sustainability of our work and it meant that we were able to provide new job opportunities to residents who worked as labourers during its construction, providing immediate financial relief to vulnerable families whilst taking pride in and ownership of the new infrastructure.

This support has meant that farmers like Ishaq are equipped to tackle food insecurity and support their families and wider communities through farming once more. “We'll be able to cultivate crops twice a year!” Ishaq told us proudly due to the now well-managed supply of water. 

Thanks to your help, we’ve been able to help more families like Ishaq, running a natural resource management project in northeast Afghanistan, which saw 13,500 families gain access to better managed natural resources, reducing the incidence rate of landslides and flash floods, and increasing household incomes.

Please continue to generously support our work so that we can enable more people to envisage a brighter future for themselves, their households and their communities.

Shakila* and her family have lived in a rural and remote province of mountainous Afghanistan for 25 years. Sadly, her and her childrens’ lives have continued to be marred by the devastating death of her husband, who was unfortunately killed in a roadside mine accident 18 years ago.

Despite the social and economic obstacles facing a single mother in Afghanistan, Shakila’s resilient determination ensured she was able to find work. Her employment as a cleaner for other families meant that she could supply her children with the basic necessities and provide them with an education. 

This resilience however, was once again tested when a deadly flood hit their remote, rural village.  Shakila and her children left their house to see that the cruel flood had covered their entire neighbourhood, sweeping away Shakila's home and her dreams for herself and her family. The family - who had already lost so much - were forced to find shelter wherever possible, even in tents. 

When Afghanaid visited Shakila’s village, she immediately identified herself as in need of urgent help. As part of Afghanaid’s emergency shelter assistance programme, we have been rebuilding and restoring homes across the village, helping over 320 households affected by this flood to access safe shelter. 

This support has meant that Shakila’s family now have a secure place they can call home.

Shakila told us, “I am thankful to Afghanaid for their financial and technical support, and for helping me survive. I am happy that now we own our own shelter, and can live without any shock and stress because Afghanaid was there to support us.”

 A year and a half after the Taliban’s return to power, the Afghan economy is on the brink of collapse, with 97% of the population now living below the poverty line and without access to basic necessities. Global political issues such as the conflict in Ukraine have forced food and gas prices to immeasurable highs, and a third consecutive drought is looming meaning food shortages in the coming year may be even more acute. To make things even more challenging, climate change is increasing extreme weather in Afghanistan, meaning harsh winters are now the norm: temperatures in Afghanaid’s operational areas have recently plummeted to below -35 degrees celsius. 

Considering this melange of challenges, combined with the continued fallout of 4 decades of sustained conflict and an increasing number of natural disasters, Afghanistan is now facing one of the world's most acute internal displacement crises. It is estimated that over 5.8 million people in the country are internally displaced in Afghanistan, facing the brutal weather and acute humanitarian emergency without the security of a place to call home. 

Thanks to your help, over the past year, we've supported over 12,830 people by building or repairing their homes, helping villages like Shakila’s once decimated by conflict or natural disasters to start anew. Please continue to support our work so that we can reach more people with the urgent assistance they need to live safely and start to rebuild their lives.

*We have changed Shakila's name to protect her identity.

Fatima lives with her son, daughter, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren in a remote village in Afghanistan. Now 70-years old, Fatima has lived in this village for her whole life, and has witnessed many changes over the decades. Her husband had lived here by her side until three years ago, when sadly he fell ill and passed away.

Following her husband’s death, the family were forced to live on one income. Working as a labourer, Fatima’s son’s income can be very insecure, with many jobs drying up as a result of ongoing economic crisis and the oncoming winter season. The money he earns is often not enough to properly feed a family of eight, or make sure they have enough fuel and heating equipment for the harsh winter months. During the winter months, he is also unable to supplement his income with farm work until spring comes.

The isolated nature of Fatima’s village also makes it much harder to source the essentials they need. “The market is very far away,” she told us, “it costs 150 Afghanis to go to market and 150 Afghani to return, so we cannot afford to go and buy items that we need. The land closer to the city is too expensive, so we have to live here.”

When Afghanaid visited Fatima’s village, she immediately signed herself up to receive winterisation support. A key component of our work in the winter months, our winterisation projects work to ensure vulnerable families have what they need to stay healthy and strong throughout winter, and to increase their resilience when the temperature begins to drop. Necessities like blankets, lamps and stoves provide a lifeline for these families. 

Fatima told us how important this support was to her: “Afghanaid helped us with items for the winter season like blankets, gas stove and solar power. And I am very happy and used these items well in winter. Thanks a lot Afghanaid for helping us with these items because in the war I lost my home appliances and I didn’t have anything to use.”

In Afghanistan, nearly 8.6 million children live in homes that do not have enough blankets to go around. With support from people like you, Fatima was able to keep her grandchildren warm in the cold winter months, ensure her family stayed safe and warm, and begin to rebuild their lives after the tumultuous events of the past 12 months. We’ve supported over 1.57 million people across Afghanistan with emergency humanitarian support since the Taliban takeover. Your generosity ensures we can reach even more vulnerable families this winter.

Sayed and his wife live with their five children in Badakhshan - a mountainous region in northeastern Afghanistan. Whilst beautiful, in the most remote districts of Badakhshan, winter is the most difficult time of year. This winter proved even tougher than previous, with the cost of food and essentials skyrocketing, and many humanitarian organisations forced to halt their programmes since the events of August 2021. For many families here, much-needed support is in short supply.

Whilst life is tough in these areas, in the past Sayed’s family has managed to get by. Their home, which Sayed built himself, protects them from the worst of the winter storms. However in 2021, the harsh winter conditions meant that Sayed, alongside many others who survive by finding daily work on other people’s land, was left without a source of income. As a result, the family was pushed into an increasingly difficult situation.

Our team in Badakhshan supported Sayed’s family through the winter and we recently caught up with him to see how they are getting on. “During the winter we are always jobless because it is in the summer that people need workers,” Sayed told us. “Last year we didn’t have anything to eat, and couldn’t afford what my children needed for their education. We really didn't have anything.”

Undeterred by difficult conditions or treacherous journeys, Afghanaid ensures that even the most remote villages receive emergency assistance when they need it most. When our team reached Sayed’s village, his family was identified as one in need of support, and they quickly received the necessities required to get through the winter, including fuel, rice, cooking utensils such as pots and pans and blankets. 

“Before Afghanaid came here our situation was very bad. If we had not received this assistance, we would have travelled to Iran or some other country to look for work. Thanks to Afghanaid we were able to stay in our home.”

Whilst summer often means greater access to work for labourers like Sayed, demand for job opportunities is currently higher than ever, which complicates his search for an income. “Sometimes I will find work in this village and sometimes I go to the centre of the province”, Sayed told us. He is willing to travel wherever it takes to ensure he can support his family: “Wherever I can find work, I will go.”

Whilst Sayed and his family are no longer in need of emergency assistance, there are still complex, long-term difficulties facing rural families like theirs, which they need support navigating. Extreme food shortages are still ongoing, disasters such as droughts and floods are increasing in severity and frequency, and the repercussions of the economic collapse are still playing out across the country. 

Families like Sayed’s need sustained support to ensure their future is guaranteed. With your help, we can work with communities to strengthen livelihoods, making sure that families can rely on a stable income and have access to secure food sources.

Abdul-Alim* lives in a remote mountainous village with his wife and their three young children. When their first child was born, Abdul-Alim built a house for the family. It took him just two months to build it and the family have lived there ever since.

Many people in this village are farmers, others are shepherds. Abdul-Alim normally works as a labourer, finding daily work in his village and the surrounding area. “Over the winter I struggle to find work, and right now I have none. I am waiting for spring," he said.

Life was already tough in remote areas of Afghanistan, but the past seven months have been incredibly challenging for families like Abdul-Alim's. Economic collapse and drought has resulted in 80 per cent of the population facing debt and millions of Afghans facing the prospect of starvation. 95 per cent of the population are not eating enough food. "The thing we needed most was food. We didn't have anything to eat. We sold our home appliances and belongings to be able to afford some food, and we were about to start selling our clothes too." 

Many families have been forced to resort to desperate measures like selling their homes after their belongings run out, and travelling to other areas in search of a better life. For Abdul-Alim, this would have meant selling the family home he built with his own hands.

Providing essentials to those who need it most

"Then, I heard Afghanaid was supporting families like mine and I immediately signed up. In January we received cash to cover the cost of essentials and I do not know what we would have done without it. Thanks to this help I was able to buy things like oil, rice, sugar and other food for my family to eat. The money was enough to get my family through the winter. Now I hope to be able to find work in spring," he said.

“If I can find work, I can earn a small amount of income each day to support my family, but there was a drought and a war and everyone is in a bad situation, so there will be a lot of people looking for work and I don't know if I will find enough. Maybe some days I will be lucky."

There is no power in the village but with support from Afghanaid, Abdul-Alim has also been able to buy a small solar panel for his home.

Outside the village and along the road leading back to the provincial centre, farmers have started preparing the land for spring, when they will plant tomatoes and a crop called firola - a medicinal herb that they can get a higher price for at the market.

Soon, there will be some relief as winter passes. For these families, they survived it with Afghanaid’s support, but the challenges they face are long term and will require sustained support.

Looking ahead

Helping families fulfil their basic needs is a crucial first step in helping them rebuild their lives. Thanks to the generosity of the public to our ongoing appeal, we have provided over 634,100 men, women, boys, and girls with emergency humanitarian assistance since August 2021. Come spring, Afghanaid will also be working with communities across the country to get agriculture going again, to strengthen their resilience to face future crises, and to once again begin to support themselves.

*Please note: we have changed his name to protect his privacy. 

Links:

• Read our full update on food insecurity in Afghanistan