Support vulnerable families in rural Afghanistan

Rahima*, a resilient mother of five from a remote mountain village, has faced immense challenges since losing her husband and becoming the sole provider for her family. Raising three sons and two daughters, she struggled to make ends meet, compounded by Afghanistan's recent economic crisis and the growing impacts of climate change. Although Rahima owns some land and almond trees, a rarity for female-headed households in Afghanistan, persistent droughts have wiped out her crops, leaving her unable to rely on their yields. Though her neighbours offer support, in recent years they have been unable to help as they once could, meaning she and her children often went without food. Her children fell ill, but without money for healthcare, Rahima's family was facing a really challenging time.

Recognising the hardships faced by female-headed households like Rahima's, Afghanaid launched an emergency cash assistance project in her area. "The head of our Community Development Council informed me about the project," Rahima recalled. She enrolled, receiving a cash payment to cover her family’s most pressing needs. "With this money, my children now have access to bread and food, and they have recovered their health with medicine and nourishment," she shared. Cash assistance has proven to be vital in humanitarian efforts, providing immediate relief to families while maintaining their dignity and supporting local markets. For Rahima, this aid was a lifeline, enabling her to care for her children and help her get back on her feet. Although she never had the chance to learn to read or write, Rahima is determined to ensure her children receive an education. With two of them already attending school, she hopes continued support will allow all of them to enroll. "If I continue to receive such support and grow my income, I will send all my children to school," she told us confidently.

Another mother, Bas Gul*, also found herself head of her household after her husband Wei Min was left disabled following an accident while working in a coal mine. She worked tirelessly, cracking almonds and doing short-term jobs to support her family. "Life was very difficult," she recalled, especially as increasing restrictions on women in her area made finding steadier work extremely challenging. In January, Afghanaid staff visited her village to explain the emergency cash assistance project. Recognizing Bas Gul's needs, they enrolled her in the program, providing her with 8280 Afghanis to meet her family’s urgent needs.

"After receiving the cash, I quickly bought food for the children, ensuring we had enough to get through the winter," Bas Gul said. For women like her, cash assistance is essential, allowing them to meet their immediate needs and regain a sense of control over their future. Now that her family is no longer facing hunger, Bas Gul plans to continue with work she can find, save for the future, and find a way to create a job for her husband. "With this support, we can provide for our family and look toward a more secure future," she shared.

In both Rahima and Bas Gul’s stories, emergency cash assistance has been crucial in helping these resilient women rebuild their lives, supporting their families' well-being, and giving them hope for a better future. Afghanaid continues to work alongside families like theirs to ensure that, beyond humanitarian assistance, they receive longer term support to build thriving livelihoods.

*Names have been changed to protect their privacy.

In October last year, a series of four powerful earthquakes, measuring 6.3 magnitude on the Richter scale, shook Western Afghanistan, with the epicentre striking Herat province.

Recent statistics show that around 1500 Afghans were killed and injured in these earthquakes, with over 175,000 people in nine different districts being directly affected. Entire villages in these areas were flattened, and homes, possessions and in some tragic cases, people, were buried in the debris. The majority of those affected were women and children as, due to the initial earthquake striking in the middle of the day, when most male family members were working rural jobs in neighbouring fields, women were primarily at home doing household chores and caring for their children, which left them more vulnerable when buildings collapsed. UN officials have reported that, devastatingly,  90% of those killed were women and children. 

At the time of the quakes, Afghanaid’s Director of Programme Implementation and Quality, Abdul Rahman Tariq, stated: “This is another devastating event in the ongoing humanitarian emergency in Afghanistan. Currently, 90% of the population is affected by poverty. This means many families in this remote area of the country would have already been struggling to find food, employment, and stay out of debt. Now, they have been hit with one of the worst earthquake disasters we've seen in years.”

10 months on from this destructive disaster, we have been able to assess the impact of our cash assistance response, enabled by your donations, which supported families who were hit by the earthquakes to buy the necessities they needed, keep a roof over their heads and help them start to rebuild.

Jamila and her family were among those affected by the deadly earthquakes in Herat province, whose house crumbled as the quakes relentlessly shook their village.  With Jamila’s home and possessions lost, and the danger of more buildings in her area collapsing amidst the aftershocks, her family were one of many others forced to spend several cold nights sleeping in the open air in makeshift tents and shelters.

“When the earthquake happened, we were at home. Our houses were cracked and destroyed, we didn't have a tent and so we lived in the plains with my children,” Jamila told us.

The effects of natural disasters in Afghanistan vary hugely from household to household and in the case of earthquakes, this is often due to the difference in materials used for different houses and buildings. Some of the poorer areas experienced more devastation due to the fact that the houses there are constructed from mud-brick, as opposed to concrete, thus being a weaker, more vulnerable structure. It was therefore imperative that the humanitarian responses were flexible, to ensure that our urgent assistance reflected this variation of experience. 

This is why, when Afghanaid partners arrived in the district, vulnerable families like Jamila’s were able to sign up to receive cash assistance to gain immediate relief. Afghanaid and partners recognised the value of getting cash to families in crisis, quickly. This is because the flexibility offered by unconditional cash enabled residents of these areas to respond to the unique challenges and needs they have. From food to shelter to household goods, their biggest priorities vary - and direct cash ensures they can execute their judgement on what is most appropriate for their families, and also meet multiple needs at once.

For Jamila, the cash assistance was a lifeline for the varied needs of her children. "I used the donated money to treat my children - we went to the doctor when they got sick, we bought fuel such as firewood, and we used the money to buy our food and cover expenses."

Jamila hopes that these cash donations will continue so that they can rebuild their lives to the way that they were before the earthquakes. She recognises her power and resilience as a woman and mother, declaring, "I am a strong woman and I hope I can build the future of my children."

With your support, since October we've helped over 1,400 families like Jamila’s in Herat access much needed cash to meet their needs and survive the winter. We're working hard to ensure that, as well as meeting their urgent needs now, we continue to support them so that they can also start to rebuild their homes, their livelihoods and their hopes for the future.

We’ve made a film about the earthquakes and our cash response - watch it here to find out about how you’ve supported other families’ like Jamila’s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZcGcpVihYA