Humanitarian Action Plan 2009-MYR

The Afghanistan Humanitarian Action Plan (HAP), which outlines the humanitarian community’s plans for 2009, has been revised at mid-year to request nearly $666 million for 146 projects by 39 NGOs and 8 UN agencies. As of now, the support provided by the international donor community to projects within the HAP amounts to $452 million (or 68% of the revised requirements). As part of the Mid-Year Review (MYR), humanitarian partners have re-prioritised HAP projects for urgent consideration by the donor community, with a special emphasis on NGO projects, which are the least funded.

Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis is currently defined by some of the following statistics:

There are 235,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Afghanistan and 2.6 million registered Afghan refugees in the region;
An estimated 7.4 million people (31% of the population) are food-insecure, of whom 5.8 million are in rural areas and 1.6 million in urban areas;
400,000 Afghans are seriously affected by natural disasters each year;
15,000 people die of tuberculosis each year and one woman dies every half hour from pregnancy complications;
Two million primary school-age children are not in school—of whom 1.3 million are girls.

The crisis has multiple sources. The ongoing conflict and spreading insecurity affect both Afghans’ access to basic services and humanitarian organizations’ access to those in need. These conflict-based needs are deepened by the extreme chronic vulnerability and deep poverty of much of Afghanistan’s population. Afghanistan is also highly prone to natural disasters: spring flooding in the north and north-east of the country exacerbated the already difficult situation of more than 22,000 households, resulting in loss of lives and productive assets.

Among the humanitarian needs described in the 2009 HAP, the food aid component has been almost fully funded, allowing WFP and its partners to distribute 115 MT of food to 3.7 million people. However, donor response to other needs has been poor. In order to continue assisting the Government of Afghanistan in addressing identified gaps, the need remains for continued funding of non-food humanitarian projects in the HAP, including the following priority areas:

Health: Health is the worst-funded sector, with donor contributions covering only 4% of requirements, despite the severe health crisis illustrated by a maternal mortality rate of 1,600/100,000, an under-five mortality rate of 191/1000 live births, and an infant mortality rate of 129/1000 live births.
Shelter and Non-Food Items: To date in 2009, UNHCR and its partners have provided assistance to 212,000 winter-affected families and to displaced people in Helmand, Kandahar, and Kunar. However, after the recent floods an estimated 25,000 people in the north are in urgent need of adequate shelter before the winter.
Nutrition: Forty-four therapeutic feeding centers are providing emergency treatment of the most severe cases of malnutrition in 33 provinces, but there are not enough funds to treat all affected children or to address the underlying causes of malnutrition.
Water and sanitation: So far this year, 780,000 people have been provided with safe drinking water under HAP projects. However, because of a lack of funds over 1 million people are still in need of WASH assistance, mostly in areas affected by drought and floods.
Protection: Critical activities in need of funding support include protection monitoring, reintegration assistance for returnees, safe houses for victims of trafficking and sexual abuse, support and rehabilitation for street children and victims of conflict, livelihood programmes for widows and other women at risk, and mine clearance.
Agriculture: While food assistance has been well-funded, activities to improve food security and strengthen livelihoods among the 70% of the population dependent on agriculture in rural remote areas have received little donor support.