Dry spell in the province of Ghor and several neighboring districts

- FSAC operational response plan –

Issue 1 (8 Sep. 13)

FOREWORD

The present document compiles all collected data that could support the food security related humanitarian response in the areas that are affected by extensive crop failures and dry spells. It is meant to guide FSAC partners in delivering timely, relevant and coordinated assistance according to good practices. FSAC does recognize the paper is still missing information about key operational issues. This is a work in progress. This first issue will be upgraded once critical information deriving from on-going assessments and meetings are received. Your feedback is highly appreciated.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. CONTEXT2. FSAC APPROACH3. NEEDS ANALYSIS4. RESOURCES AND CAPACITIES5. PLANNED INTERVENTIONS6. MONITORING OF THE IMPLEMENTATION STAGE7. ANNEXES

1. CONTEXT

a) Introduction

Assessments conducted by several stakeholders including WFP/Fewsnet, ANDMA, Caritas Germany and ACF show that Ghor Province as well as some neighboring provinces are faced with an exceptionally poor wheat crop performance and poor pasture conditions.

Ghor, eastern Farah and the north-western districts of Daykundi are mountainous and at high altitude, forming part of a single livelihood zone (West-Central Highlands Agropastoral

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Livelihood Zone) 1. Livelihoods in this zone are based on a mixture of rain-fed and irrigated agricultural production, and animal husbandry. The zone is dominated by rangelands that are used by the zone’s residents and by Kuchi Pastoralists during the summer months. Cattle, small livestock and poultry are the dominant livestock kept by households, though poorer households own fewer cattle. This zone is even at risk of food insecurity in a normal year.

In 2013, poor snowfall during winter time, poor germination rates due to extreme below average temperatures during spring cultivation, less irrigated wheat plantation due to a sharp increase of poppy cultivation2 and poor rainfalls during wheat crop growing stages are the various causal factors that explain the poor wheat crop performance. In addition, The extremely poor poppy harvest did not support the livelihoods of the farmers (casual labour during poppy harvest is an important source of income for many households in Ghor). Moreover, the poor pasture conditions have negatively affected the physical conditions of livestock, as well as the market prices for livestock and meat. Assessments show that the very fragile local livelihoods will suffer from this shock and communities will increasingly rely on negative coping mechanisms to counter the effects.

A qualitative appraisal by Fewsnet and WFP estimates that in 2013 cereal food sources will decrease by 30 % for irrigated wheat crops and by 80% for rain-fed wheat. While the mid and better-off wealth group still has cereal stocks from last year’s bumper3 harvest, poor household rely seasonally on market purchases. In spite of the significant crop failures, Ghor wheat flour prices are likely to stay within normal seasonal patterns since the province is linked with regional and national markets.

However, poor households may not be able to afford the prices because of low incomes from livestock and labor wages. Crop failures and poor pasture conditions in most districts of Ghor province, the northwest districts of Daykundi Province and Eastern Farah Province will increase the food insecurity of most vulnerable households; and with no humanitarian support, these populations will either be facing food consumption gaps with high acute malnutrition or be able to meet only minimum food needs by quickly depleting their livelihood assets.

b) Mandate and role of the Food Security and Agriculture Cluster (FSAC)

FSAC is led by FAO and WFP, and is co-chaired by Islamic Relief. Its mandate in Afghanistan is to provide an action-oriented forum for bringing together national and international humanitarian partners to improve the timeliness and effectiveness of humanitarian assistance for the lives of crisis-affected population in Afghanistan. In particular, FSAC helps to ensure coherent, coordinated and integrated humanitarian responses that are driven by evidence-based assessments of food security needs of the crisis-affected population.

1 Fewsnet, livelihood zoning, 2011 2 This statement only regards the province of Ghor3 In Daikundi province, 2012 wheat crop harvests in districts of Ashtarlay and Sang-e-Takht were already poor

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In line with this mandate, since early July 2013, FSAC has been conducting and/or contributing to food security appraisals and assessments, and facilitated meetings among Government representatives, national and international humanitarian actors to share information and reach consensus over a joint response to the shock affecting vulnerable populations in Ghor province and neighboring districts4. In the months to come, FSAC will continue to ensure coordination among all actors, identify and monitor humanitarian needs, monitor implementation of the humanitarian response, conduct gap analysis and support resource mobilization efforts to fill humanitarian gaps.

c) Available sources of information (qualitative appraisal, assessments, meetings, press release etc.)

Ghor: Assessments and qualitative appraisals have been implemented by Fewsnet/WFP (July 2013), the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Agency (ANDMA, based on a decision by the Provincial Governor, August 2013), the Statistics Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL, August 2013) and FAO (August/September 2013). The findings of these assessment show that the dry spell had a significant negative impact on rain-fed and – to a lesser extent – irrigated wheat production, pastures and grazing lands as well as livestock body conditions. The Fewsnet/WFP appraisal indicates decreased income from labour, reduced meat and livestock prices and above seasonally-normal selling of livestock. See annex 1 for a detailed list of all assessments. Situation updates have been produced by Catholic Relief Services (CRS, July), Action Contre La Faim (ACF, July) and UNOCHA (August). They are available upon request.

Northern Daykundi: The two Northern districts of Daykundi, Sangi Takht and Ishtarlay form part of the same livelihood zone as Ghor (livelihood zone 15, West-Central Highlands Agropastoral Zone). Caritas Germany conducted an assessment in the valleys of Sai, Sheikh Ali and Jengan in July 2013. The assessment shows significant crop failures due to lack of water and pest, as well as worsening livestock body conditions. Preliminary findings of an ACF assessment in August 2013 in Bagalkandow and Qochangi valleys in Ashterlay district show significant crop losses of at least 50 % according to the perceptions of farmers in interviews, as well as decreasing livestock prices and pest infestations. See annex 1 for details.

Southern Bamyan: Medair carried out an assessment in Legane area of Waras district in Bamyan province in June 2013. According to the assessment, surveyed households show Food Consumption Scores above the national and provincial average. See annex 1 for details.

Eastern Farah : no information is available.

Ongoing or pending assessments:

4 For a list of meetings in which FSAC was involved to date, see annex 3.

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FAO post-harvest assessment for FAO wheat seed distribution project. Quantitative assessment covering 5 % of the 15,000 FAO beneficiaries across the 10 districts of Ghor. Results available in the end of September.

Seasonal Food Security Assessment: Led by FSAC and implemented by CHA, covering Chaghcharan (14 communities), Charsada (2 communities), Tulak (4 communities) and Taywara (8 communities). Results will be made available in late September or early October.

Rapid assessments by ACF and Caritas Germany in Northern Daykundi: Both agencies are currently conducting further assessments, using a common rapid assessment form to ensure comparability of their results. First results will be made available by mid-September.

Other resources used to inform the emergency response:

National Risk and Vulnerability Assessments conducted in 2011/2012 (publication forthcoming) and 2007/2008 (http://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/ena/wfp213398.pdf)

FSAC 2011 Drought Impact Assessment (http://home.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/ena/wfp243035.pdf)

FSAC 2012 Emergency Food Security and Livelihood Assessment

d) Positioning of the government on the severity of the disaster

The Afghan authorities, particularly ANDMA in Ghor, have been instrumental in improving coordination and dialogue between FSAC members and provincial authorities. FSAC is thankful to ANDMA for the efforts it has deployed to come up with evidence-based information for a better targeted and more effective humanitarian response in Ghor. FSAC has also been meeting on several occasions with the Director of Provincial Affairs, MAIL, in Kabul to ensure joint planning and common priorities at the national level. In discussions with NGOs and provincial authorities, the term ‘drought’ has been frequently used. However, since the government has not yet officially declared a drought, FSAC does not use this terminology and rather characterizes the prevailing situation in terms of ‘crop failures’ and ‘dry spell.’

2. FSAC approach

a) Consider short-term and livelihood recovery interventions

Quick and timely food assistance will be instrumental to ensure that the most severely affected populations receive food packages before the wintertime. Severely affected households that won’t have enough food stocks to make a living until the end of the wintertime might have no other choice than migrating and become displaced. Such a scenario

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shall be avoided, particularly because it would make the resumption of the traditional sources of livelihood more difficult at spring time. Small scale displacements have already been confirmed by the work of the NGOs in the district assessment5.

The bad pasture conditions and the very poor crop harvests will negatively impact the capacities of the most affected households to feed their livestock until spring time and prepare the land for the next cropping season. It is therefore highly important that FSAC partners engage timely in early recovery activities and ensure that local populations will avoid depleting to a great extent their livestock and will have the capacities to resume agriculture activities in spring 2014.

In addition, access to wheat seeds for next year’s planting season will be extremely limited, due to lack of seed retention capacities in 2013 and lack of money for market purchases. Wheat seed distributions will therefore be important to ensure that crop production can resume next year in areas where water supplies are sufficient.

FSAC considers as instrumental that humanitarian responses contributes to more resilient local livelihoods. Partners with strong experience in disaster risk reduction, particularly with good technical background in natural resource management and conservation agriculture need to complement traditional humanitarian interventions with innovative activities.

b) Provide a needs-based assistance, considering coping capacities of populations

In a slow-onset disaster like a dry spell, humanitarian needs are often complex, and different households will show different levels of capacities to deal with a shock. Last year’s economic conditions were above normal due to a bumper harvests in most parts of the country. Good wheat harvests and pasture conditions, favorable market prices for on-farm laborers supported poor households in partly rebuilding the assets that were depleted following the 2011 drought. It allowed the better-off families to increase their wealth, selling out animal produce and wheat grains to markets.

Better-off households will be able to cope with crop failures and reduced income from livestock by living on their assets and food stocks. Although this category of population will likely be depleting their assets, they will not experience food insecurity, nor adopt negative coping mechanisms. Households at the other end of the spectrum (i.e. those with few assets, very limited access to land, few livestock etc.) are much more vulnerable. Their food stocks will be depleted at a much quicker rate, which will require them to revert to negative coping mechanisms. In short: while every household might be exposed to the shock, household vary in terms of their coping capacities. FSAC partners should therefore differentiate households in terms of their levels of coping capacity and give priority to those that have low coping capacity.

5 PDMC drought assessment in 10 districts, August 2013

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c) Humanitarian agencies provide assistance to complement the assistance provided by the government of Afghanistan

Concerning the request for assistance and aid from international and welfare organizations in emergency disasters, the Disaster Management Law6 stipulates that it is the responsibility of the Disaster Management High Commission to request for assistance and aid from international and welfare organizations in emergency disasters. It also mentions that “The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan based on full support of the decisions of the UN in regard to disaster management, provides assistance to the relevant UN agencies” 7.

The Afghanistan inter-agency Emergency Response Preparedness Working Group consists of government officials and humanitarian stakeholders, including UN agencies and nongovernmental organizations. They have recently developed standard operating procedures which have been endorsed by the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT). The procedures clearly show roles and responsibilities for Inter-Agency members and identify thresholds for response.

The situation in the province of Ghor matches with the calamity stage while the situation in the neighboring provinces of Daykundi, Bamyan and Farah are still being monitored. The standard operating procedures mention that line ministries and ANDMA are requested to use their contingency/emergency response funds and stocks to respond in close coordination with National Disaster Management Committee (NDMC), HCT and the humanitarian organizations, as well as link with development actors for further developmental planning.

FSAC is ready to assist the government of Afghanistan upon request within the limits of available capacities and according to humanitarian principles. Considering the situation, in addition to short-term food assistance, it is anticipated that most vulnerable local populations would also need receiving wheat seeds and animal feed. FSAC would therefore mobilize the existing food stocks to complement the wheat grains strategic reserves of the GIRoA, as well as animal feed and wheat seeds to complement government distributions. Additional resources will need to be mobilized to cover the potential gaps, particularly with regard to livelihood recovery activities in 2014.

Several meetings already gathered government representatives and representatives of humanitarian agencies to ensure joint programming and close coordination. It is important that services and good, particularly food rations, are harmonized.

d) Consider cross-cutting issues

FSAC has committed in the 2013 CHAP process to address gender, environmental and resilience issues throughout food security interventions.

6 Chapter 2, article 8, clause 6 about the responsibilities and authorities of the Disaster Management High Commission7 Chapter 4, article 18, under the miscellaneous support of the UN Decisions

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Gender: A few sets of tools, including protection checklists, targeting methodology, do no harm/do some good activities, etc. have been developed8 in the past months to support FSAC partners improving their practices with regard to accountability to affected populations, particularly most vulnerable households. A report about existing practices related to beneficiary feedback and complaint mechanisms in Afghanistan has also been shared with FSAC partners. Partners that will respond to the humanitarian needs in the districts that are affected by the dry spell are strongly encouraged to implement good practices with regard to gender and protection; and if necessary to refer to the developed tools.

Environment: FSAC also committed to develop environmentally sound food security interventions in order to limit negative impact on natural resources. The 2013 CHAP document mentions that conditional food assistance should incorporate simple environment action plans developed with communities and local authorities. Activities can include environmental rehabilitation and natural resource management that can increase the resilience of communities.

Resilience: Starting after the winter, food and cash for assets projects should focus on sustainable livelihoods to build resilience, e.g. agro forestry and sustainably managed water for irrigation. Projects should incorporate techniques which improve food security and environmental sustainability and reduce vulnerability to disasters including hillside terracing, better storage and transmission of water and introduction/encouragement of hardy plants and tree stock adapted to tougher environmental conditions. Agro-based communities should be assisted with improved yielding plant varieties suited to the region, elevation, soil types and with multi-use functions in mind (fuel, fodder, food, and anchoring soil).

3. NEEDS ANALYSIS

a) Caseload of people affected by the dry spell/crop failuresANDMA in Ghor suggests that 81,624 families are affected to varying degrees by the current dry spell in the province. Using an average number of 6 household members, this would add up to 491,712 individuals. Compared to the population of 668,000 (official projection of the Central Statistics Office for 2013-2014), this would mean that 74 % of the population is affected by the dry spell9.

However, ANDMA figures do not show how severely the population is affected, and they do not categorize or rank households in terms of their exposure to the shock or coping capacity. Therefore, FSAC does not consider the number of affected people produced by ANDMA as an accurate reflection of humanitarian needs in Ghor. Caseloads indicating humanitarian

8 http://afg.humanitarianresponse.info/clusters/Food%20Security%20and%20Agriculture/Gender-Protection-Age-Disabilities-Tool-Kit9 ANDMA Ghor does not use the CSO population projections, but an average of CSO and RRD figures. According to this methodology, the population of Ghor stands at 705,242, resulting into 69 % of the population affected by the shock.

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needs need to take into account the varying degrees of coping capacity of households of different wealth groups and the different degrees of exposure to the shock that occurred in Ghor. To date, FSAC has not been able to come up with a caseload figure indicating needs due to lack of credible and representative data at village and district level.

Table 1 below shows the number of affected people at district level according to ANDMA Ghor.

Total population (CSO-RRD average)

Population affected

Total population

(CSO offi cial projections 2013-2014)

Population affected

1 Chaghcharan 760 78% 165,900 129,402 133,900 104,442 1 Pasaband 450 75% 98,881 74,161 93,800 70,350 1 Du Layna 120 74% 36,992 27,374 35,600 26,344 1 Charsada 81 75% 27,967 20,975 27,100 20,325 2 Saghar 111 65% 32,062 20,840 34,300 22,295 2 Taywara 350 70% 86,950 60,865 90,400 63,280 2 Shahrak 203 68% 72,300 49,164 59,100 40,188 2 Tulak 168 67% 41,940 28,100 50,800 34,036 3 Dawlat Yar 160 57% 32,200 18,354 32,300 18,411 3 Lal Wa Sarjangal 670 55% 110,050 60,528 110,700 60,885

Total 3,073 705,242 489,763 668,000 460,556

Population affected using CSO-RRD population

average (ANDMA)

Population affected using CSO projections for 2013-

2014

Table 1: Number of people affected by the drought in Ghor (source: ANDMA, August 2013)

Vulnerability ranking

District # villages% vulnerable

to food insecurity

The National Risk & Vulnerability Assessment (NRVA) looks at the kilocalorie (Kcal) intake and breakdowns the surveyed populations into five different food security status : very severely, severely, moderate, borderline food insecure and food secure. Because of very pressing needs for a response, WFP accepted to share only preliminary and rough results for the province of Ghor. No similar information is yet available for the affected districts in the provinces of Daikundi, Bamyan, and Farah or any other province in Afghanistan. The expected release of NRVA results will ease a great deal the development of a sound response. FSAC considers that most populations are affected to the dry spell and that not all of them need humanitarian assistance. Very severely, severely, moderate and partly borderline food insecure populations are considered as in need of external assistance from GIRoA, UN agencies and NGOs ; in other words these populations do not have the capacities to cope with the situation. On the contrary, FSAC considers that food secure populations – according to NRVA results – will be able to cope with the dry spell, selling assets with no consequence upon their food security status and their capacities to recover from the shock. Please refer to

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the below table for an estimate about the caseloads of in need population living in 8 districts of Ghor province :

Table 2: Total estimated food insecure population potentially requiring food assistance

Districts Number of population Number of HHs

First most affected districts Chahar Sadra 15,424 2,203Chaghcharan 51,997 7,428Pasaband 18,444 2,635Du Lina 7,022 1,003Sub-total 92,887 13,270Second most affected districts

Taywarah 16,783 2,398Tolak 8,341 1,192Saghar 6,362 909Shahrak 10,988 1,570sub-total 42,474 6,068Less affected districtsLal-o Sarjangal

To get completedDawlat YatSub-totalTOTAL 135,361 19,337

Further details about the number of very severely, severely, moderate food insecure populations are available in annex 4.

b) Targeting methodology

The various assessments10 agree that districts in the province of Ghor have not been equally exposed to the dry spell and crop failures. The districts of Charsada, Chaghcharan, Pasaband and Du-layna have been particularly exposed to the shock (ranked as “1” in table 1), while the two eastern districts of Lal Wa Sarjangal and Dawlat Yar have been less hit by the crop failures and are of lower priority for a humanitarian intervention (ranked “3” in table 1). The four western districts of Taywara, Shahrak, Tulak and Saghar are ranked as medium priority (ranked “2”).

In the province of Daykundi, only the two districts of Ashtarlay and Sangi Takht are reported as affected by a similar situation11. In Bamyan, only a small part (Legane) of Waras district is currently reported to be affected. No information have been received about the situation in the province Farah.

10 WFP/Fewsnet assessment, ANDMA assessments11 According to Caritas Germany first findings (following first days of assessment and discussions with project partners present in the area), around 2'500 families would be affected (to varying degrees) by the dry spell in 11 different valleys of Sangi Takht and Ishterlay, representing around 40% of the population in these areas.

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WFP technical staff shared a detailed methodology for a rapid community assessment, consisting of six steps12. It has been jointly developed with some INGOs present in Ghor province. This rapid community assessment intends to select higher vulnerable (geographical) clusters for intervention. In the province of Daykundi, Caritas Germany is also using the same methodology to prioritize the most impacted areas.

The selection of most vulnerable households (very severely and severely food insecure) will be derived from secondary information, particularly from NRVA 2011/12, NRVA 2007/08, FSAC 2011 Drought impact Assessment and FSAC 2012 Emergency Food Security and Livelihood Assessment. The rationale for using these criteria are:

chronic food insecurity is very high among the poor poor and food insecure households have much lower resilience to cope with

shocks though they may have the same level of exposure as the food secure/better-off households

their resources and stock are faster depleted. They easier slip into a severer category of food insecurity, and earlier adopt unviable (distress) coping strategies.

4. RESOURCES AND CAPACITIES

a) Mapping of actors

A number of national and international humanitarian agencies intervening in the food security and agriculture sector have already developed a significant experience in food security in the province of Ghor and northern Daikundi, particularly World Vision International, ACF, CHA, CoAR, Madera, Afghanaid and Caritas Germany. Medair has extensive experience implementing food security projects in southern Bamyan. See annex 2 for a complete mapping of actors active in Ghor.

Caritas Germany alongside two national partners (RORA, RCDC) has been implementing a food security program in Ashtarlay and Sangi-Takht districts of Daykundi province. ACF has also activities in the district of Astharlay. Other agencies, that do not implement food security interventions are also present in the province of Daykundi and may eventually take part in the response in their respective sectors of expertise. PU-AMI intervenes in the health sector while Oxfam GB has been implementing an NSP intervention. Medair is present in Waras district of Bamyan province and might contribute to the response in this area.

b) Resources available as of early September 2013

12 6 steps are classification of sub-livelihood zone, geographical cluster classification, vulnerability assessment, analysis, response and household selection.

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Three NGOs (Madera, Afghanaid, CHA) have been implementing a wheat seeds spring distribution program with the financial support of FAO in 2013 (see table below). The programme is currently in its last stage of implementation (distribution of urea fertilizer). FAO does at this stage not have resources to continue its programme after November 2013.

Table 2: Direct beneficiaries of FAO wheat seed distribution programme in Ghor, Nov. 2012

DistrictImplementing partner

Grand TotalAfghanAid CHA MADERA

Chaghcharan 2,400 2,400Chahar Sadra 1,300 1,300Dawlat Yar 1,300 1,300Du Lina 1,300 1,300Lal Wa Sarjangal 1,600 1,600

Pasaband 1,600 1,600Saghar 1,300 1,300Shahrak 1,300 1,300Taywarah 1,600 1,600Tolak 1,300 1,300Grand Total 5,500 3,900 5,600 15,000

To date, no NGO has secured the funds to be able to respond to the current situation in Ghor and two of them plan to draft project proposals very soon. ACF is in the process of formulating an early recovery proposal covering the eastern part of Du Laina district and the Western part of Chaghcharan district. World Vision International is planning to prepare a proposal for winter seeds distribution in the district of Chaghcharan. Afghanaid, Madera, CHA, STARS have not shared any plans for intervention in a near future. However, most of these organizations are already partly operating as implementing partners for WFP and FAO agencies in the province of Ghor, and are definitely instrumental to reach all parts of the province.

UN agencies: The UN agencies whose mandate is related to food security have either available capacities or are planning to raise surge resources very soon. WFP is already planning to provide food assistance to about 50,000 people in the province of Ghor, and might consider complementing MAIL wheat grains to ensure food rations are harmonized.

GIRoA: The Government has strategic wheat grain reserves in all provinces. About 2,800 MT of wheat grain are stocked in the city of Chaghcharan and MAIL has committed to use these reserves. It can also potentially mobilize additional reserves from Kabul. MAIL has 2,000 MT of wheat grain reserves in both Daykundi and Bamyan provinces that it could also totally or partly mobilize to respond to food insecurity. Additionally, MAIL plans to distribute wheat seeds for irrigated and rain-fed lands. Funds have already been transferred and the distribution will take place in all provinces, including those that are hit by the dry spell and

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crop failures. The GIRoA does not have any animal feed in stock and has requested support from FAO in mid-August.

World Vision International: At the time of writing this response plan, WVI has resources to provide food and other supplies to 161 schools, including 1,000 teachers/support staff and 22,000 children. WVI distributes monthly rations including 1 kg rice, 1 kg peas, 1 kg oil as an incentive for parents to send their children to school.

ACF: Implements the ECHO-funded Emergency Response Mechanism in Ghor province. The ERM provides resources for immediate rapid assessments and response to emergencies, as well as coordination.

Afghan Red Cross : Food and no-food items for 200 families

Department of disaster management : 3000,000 Afghanis emergency fund

c) Plans for fund raising

Donors that are engaged in funding humanitarian interventions were contacted for preliminary information:

ECHO considers that the province of Ghor is geographically covered by the already ECHO-funded Emergency Response Mechanism through ACF, and is not planning at this stage to provide ad-hoc funding. Although this mechanism is not meant for food aid, activities such as distribution of non food items and cash-based interventions are eligible. Besides, Caritas Germany is receiving ECHO support to implement a food assistance intervention in the two districts of Ishtarlay and Sangi Takht of Daykundi province. ECHO mentioned that new caseloads could be added to the populations that suffered from a localized dry spell last year.

USAID/Food for Peace has funding tools available if impacts of the dry spell/crop failure in Ghor province overwhelm existing capacities.

OCHA would be ready to provide support through the Emergency Response Fund (ERF), provided activities match with eligible criteria. The ERF tool focuses on the humanitarian interventions that are life-saving oriented and would not consider livelihood recovery interventions. The ERF tool might be appropriate to respond quickly to very local needs (eg. Eastern Farah, Southern Waras, Northern Daikundi) where interventions can be handled by a few agencies, with few coordination challenges.

FAO: Currently completing an assessment, and will decide on funding proposal based on assessment results.

ACF: Will prepare early recovery proposal for the East of Du Lina and West of Chaghcharan.

WorldVision International: Working on proposal for seeds distribution for Chaghcharan.

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5. PLANNED INTERVENTIONS

FSAC interventions between October 2013 and September 2014 (12 months)

Short-term interventions Livelihood recovery interventions

General food distributions to respond to urgent food needs during the winter/lean season 2013/2014

Fodder distributions to ensure sufficient animal feed during the winter months of 2013/2014

Wheat seeds distributions to ensure resumption of agricultural activities for planting season 2014

Conditional food assistance (including cash/voucher) in 2014

Resilience-building (cross-cutting issue):

Food and cash for assets activities to build resilience (i.e. water management) and reduce vulnerability to disaster (i.e. better storage and transmission of water, introduction of hardy plants)

a) Short-term interventions

Short-term interventions will take the form of general food distributions to fill the critical food needs of the most food insecure and vulnerable households during the coming winter and leans season. This will address expected significantly reduced food availability in local markets during the winter and lean season (November to March) as well as an expected increase in food prices caused by very limited physical access to/in Ghor between November and March.

Food assistance needs to be distributed to most food insecure households by late November 2013 to ensure needy populations will not be food insecure during the wintertime. At spring time, another assessment will determine whether food assistance needs to be continued in 2014 and in which form.

Food assistance faces challenges particularly with respect to the selection of villages. There is lack of quantitative data at village level to accurately rank villages in terms of their vulnerability and exposure to the shock. In addition, there is a very high number of villages (3,073 villages).

Therefore, a combination of factors and assumptions will be used to select villages, including: i) percentage of rain-fed cultivated area among total cultivated lands of the most recent crops (if DAIL or other agencies can provide village-level data); ii) presence and capacities of partners (I/NGOs); iii) security and accessibility; iv) logistics efficiency.

Food actors also face challenges when it comes to data at household level to quantify the level of the impact of the shock and in establishing up-to-date vulnerability criteria specifically for

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this shock. Therefore, vulnerability criteria will be derived from the National Risk and Vulnerability Assessments 2011/2012, 2007/2008, the FSAC 2011 Drought Impact Assessment and the FSAC 2012 Emergency Food Security and Livelihood Assessment.

Humanitarian actors have agreed to harmonize their food packages based on the WFP package which covers 1,216 Kcal/person/day, and includes 50 kg of wheat grains, 3.7 kg of oil, 6 kg of pulses and 0.5 kg of iodised salt. WFP has selected its implementing partners to deliver food in the province of Ghor and already moved its food stocks from Kandahar to Hirat warehouses.

GHOR province : At this stage, the only resources available for short-term food transfers are coming from WFP and the Government. With 1,758 MT of food items, WFP has sufficient resources to cover 50 % of the dietary needs of 4,931 families for 4 months, and for 3,146 families for 3 months (wheat grains, oil, pulses and salt) ; while the Government has a strategic grain reserve of 2,800 MT.

WFP has the capacity to cater to the very severely and severely food insecure households. According to NRVA preliminary results for the province of Ghor, 8,077 households (or 48,460 individuals) fall into this category. WFP can at this stage not cater to the moderately food insecure or borderline food insecure households. However, the 2,800 MT GIRoA strategic wheat grain reserves will potentially cover the food needs of the moderately food insecure populations. For further details, please refer to annexes 4 and 5. There is currently a gap in humanitarian response capacities mostly for the group consisting of the borderline food insecure households that need to be filled through the mobilization of additional financial resources. Further discussions need to take place with MAIL to harmonize wheat packages.

DAIKUNDI province : the GIRoA has 2,000 MT strategic wheat grain reserves in Nili, it could mobilize to support most food insecure populations in the province while WFP may consider implementing a winterization program. Details about winterization programs will be made available in the second issue.

BAMYAN province : the GIRoA has 2,000 MT strategic wheat grain reserves in Nili, it could mobilize to support most food insecure populations in the province while WFP may consider implementing a winterization program. Details about winterization programs will be made available in the second issue.

FARAH province : WFP may consider implementing a winterization program. Details will be made available in the second issue. No other information are available.

b) Livelihood recovery interventions

Livelihoods in the affected areas depend largely on agriculture (growing of wheat, vegetables) and pastoralism (goats, sheep etc.). Most of the agricultural lands are rain-fed, there are very few irrigated lands. For further information about the land use, please refer to annex 6. This means that especially households in the lower wealth categories have very low resilience to

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external shocks. Livelihood recovery interventions will be necessary to ensure resumption of agricultural activities.

Livelihood interventions will include:

Wheat seed distributions: It is expected that farmers will have very limited to no resources to purchase seeds in spring 2014 as they will have spent most of their income and assets on food. There is therefore a need for humanitarian actors to support farmers through the provision of seeds.

A seed protection component might be necessary to ensure seeds are not eaten by households before planting. Close coordination with actors providing food assistance will therefore be needed.

Land preparation usually takes place in April, and planting is in May. However, planting before the winter (winter seeds) usually results in a better yield than planting in spring. Harvest for both, winter and spring seeds, is between August and October.

Wheat seed distributions will allow households to resume agricultural activities in spring 2014 in areas where water resources are available. Wheat seed distributions will target food insecure households with access to arable land. Targeting criteria for wheat seed distributions are yet to be agreed among humanitarian actors and with national and provincial authorities.

Given low resilience of communities, any wheat seed distribution programme must include a component to enhance resilience of communities. Resilience is, alongside gender and protection, one of the cross-cutting themes of the CHAP 2013. Resilience can be enhanced through the distribution of more drought-resistant varieties of wheat seeds and training to improve planting techniques.

The GIRoA has planned extensive wheat seeds distributions for rain-fed and irrigated areas. Distributions will take place all provinces, including in those that are currently hit by the crop failures and dry spells. DAIL will consult PDMC and provincial governors for the selection of recipients. The government believes that planned distributions will not suffice to meet all needs.

Planned wheat seeds distributions from MAIL

Provinces Seed (MT) DAP (MT) Urea (MT) Estimates of recipients

Ghor 70 70 140 2800

Daikundi 44.65 44.65 89.3 1786

Bamyan 41.7 41.7 83.4 1668

Farah 103 103 206 4120

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As a result, humanitarian stakeholders are invited to complement MAIL distributions, especially providing agriculture packages in rain-fed areas. FSAC is requesting MAIL to provide details whenever possible about the district breakdown of these provincial distributions.

Provision of animal fodder: Small livestock are key assets for households. Due to lack of adequate pasture and fodder, households have started to sell their livestock at very low market prices. This has considerable depleted assets, and therefore constitutes a negative coping mechanism. In addition, the incidence of livestock disease has increased, caused by lack of water.

To protect livelihoods and ensure that herds are not reduced at unsustainable rate, interventions to facilitate access to animal fodder must be considered. This will protect families from selling livestock at below average market prices and hence protect them from an unsustainable depletion of assets.

The GIRoA mentioned it has no animal fodder/animal feed stocks and requested support from FAO.

c) Resilience-building

Starting after the winter, food and cash for assets projects should focus on sustainable livelihoods to build resilience, e.g. agro forestry and sustainably managed water for irrigation. Projects should incorporate techniques which improve food security and environmental sustainability and reduce vulnerability to disasters including hillside terracing, better storage and transmission of water and introduction/encouragement of hardy plants and tree stock adapted to tougher environmental conditions. Agro-based communities should be assisted with improved yielding plant varieties suited to the region, elevation, soil types and with multi-use functions in mind (fuel, fodder, food, and anchoring soil).

d) Challenges

Physical access: Ghor, Daikundi and Bamyan provinces are marked by harsh and long winters with heavy snowfalls, and poor road infrastructure. This means that physical access to remote communities is seasonally limited. During winter, especially between January and March, mountain passes are often closed. For humanitarian actors this requires speedy delivery of food and agricultural inputs ahead of the winter. For further details about the situation in the Western Region, please refer to annex 7.

Poor road infrastructure: Road infrastructure is bad throughout the province. The district of Lal Wa Sarjangal can be better reached from the East (Bamyan). Some NGOs rely on air services to travel to Lal Wa Sarjangal.

Security: Humanitarian access is limited outside of the provincial capital due to deteriorating security since the end of 2012. Access to Pasaband, Taywara, Dawlat Yar, Charsada and Du

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Lina is affected by landmines and AGE activities. Tribal disputes instigated mainly by AGE leaders cause the majority of displacements. Increased numbers of conflict-induced displacement have been reported. In the province of Daikundi, the security situation is rather good and most affected areas are likely to be accessible for the humanitarian aid.

6. MONITORING OF THE IMPLEMENTATION STAGE

Reporting system: Reporting at FSAC level is done to ensure that sufficient information is available as a basis for coordination among all actors as well as to inform gap analysis. FSAC will use its cluster reporting tools to receive timely information on activities of all humanitarian actors in Ghor. This will help produce regular updates and 3Ws.

Moreover, through its members on the ground and regular missions to Ghor, FSAC will collect information about challenges and progress of implementation of this response plan. Information will be synthesized at national level and regular updates prepared for national stakeholders.

Information will be disseminated through FSAC mailing lists and at FSAC meetings (both at regional and national level), including ad-hoc meetings and regular coordination meetings. Regular updates will also be provided for the online humanitarian portal.

Coordination activities: FSAC will facilitate coordination both between humanitarian actors and the Government and among humanitarian actors. Coordination activities will aim to ensure a well-funded and well-implemented humanitarian response among all actors. The FSAC coordinator will directly supervise the implementation of the humanitarian response on behalf of the cluster. Details (frequency, location, monitoring tools, etc.) about effective coordination with national authorities still need to be agreed upon with ANDMA and MAIL. Monthly FSAC national meeting will be used to inform the broader FSAC membership about the humanitarian response. Ad-hoc meetings between all stakeholders will be convened as needed. Coordination will take place at national level between humanitarian stakeholders and authorities and at sub-national levels. At regional level, FSAC regional co-leads and NGO co-chairs will provide regular updates at the monthly coordination meetings in Hirat for the provinces of Ghor and Farah and in Kabul for the provinces of Daikundi and Bamyan. At provincial level, FSAC will select partners that are volunteers to act as FSAC focal points for this particular humanitarian response. In close contact with the FSAC coordinator, these agencies will convene ad-hoc meetings on operational issues (humanitarian gaps and duplication) and participate regularly in the OCT meetings convened by local organizations. A list of all focal points for the humanitarian response is in annex 8.

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ANNEX 1: ASSESSMENTS

Title and date

Fewsnet/WFP qualitative appraisal, July 2013

Available http://afg.humanitarianresponse.info/sites/default/files/Ghor%20province%20harvest%20monitoring%20and%20food%20security%20update%20final_No_logo.pptx (presentation)http://afg.humanitarianresponse.info/sites/default/files/Afghanistan_OL_07_2013_2.pdf (full report)

Method Key informant interviews with provincial, district and village authoritiesFindings Significantly reduced wheat harvest

Reduced income from agricultural labour Below average livestock conditions, increased incidence of livestock

disease, high number of livestock sales, reduced milk production, reduced meat and livestock prices

Title and date

Assessment by Afghanistan National Disaster Management Agency (ANDMA), August 2013 (Provincial Governor’s Decision issued on 1392/5/14)

Available Upon requestMethod Teams of NGO and local government representatives conducted key informants

interviews/focus group discussions in 328 villages across GhorFindings Significant crop failures across all districts for rain-fed (between 55 and

85 %) and irrigated lands (between 25 and 74 %) Increased livestock selling (above normal) Fodder and grazing areas affected between 40 % (lowest, in Lal Wa

Sargangal) and 70 % (highest, in Chaghcharan)

Title and date

Assessment by the Statistics Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), August 2013

Available Upon requestMethod Key informants discussions at provincial and district levelFindings 50% of irrigated and 70% of rain-fed wheat cultivation areas affected by

the dry spell Increased incidence of pest disease Low cereal stock availability

Title and date

Assessment of agricultural damages by FAO, August/September 2013

Available Upon requestMethod Structured key informants interviews with district officials across all 10 districts of GhorFindings Not yet available

Title and date

Medair needs assessment report: An assessment of the food security of the population of Legane, Waras District, using food security indicators (June 2013)

Available Upon requestMethod Household survey, key informants interviews, focus group discussions, community

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visitsFindings Food consumption score of surveyed population worse than average for

province and national average Household dietary diversity is poor – diet lacks proteins and diversity Majority of households adopt negative coping strategies Spending on food as a % of total household spending is higher than

national average

Title and date

Caritas Drought Assessment – Districts of Sangi Takht and Ishtarlay, Daykundi (July 2013)

Available Upon requestMethod Discussions with local communities and field observationsFindings Significant crop failures due to lack of precipitation

Increase in agricultural diseases, including rust, locust and worms Lands cultivated with improved wheat seeds less affected than lands with

normal wheat seeds Loss of livestock

Title and date

ACF Preliminary Findings on Ashterlay Dry Spell. Areas covered: Bagalkandow and Qochangi Valleys

Available Upon requestMethod To be confirmedFindings Perceived crop loss of at least 50 % compared to last year

Decrease in livestock prices Pest infestations

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ANNEX 2: MAPPING OF ACTORS IN GHOR

Mapping of actors with operational presence in the districts of Ghor (September 2013)D

istr

ict

Num

ber

of a

ctor

s

AC

F

Afg

hana

id

CH

A

CoA

R

CR

S

Isla

mic

R

elie

f

Mad

era

STA

RS

Wor

ldV

isio

n

Chaghcharan 7              

Chahar Sadra 2                

Du Lina 4              

Shahrak 4                

Taywarah 3                

Pasaband 2                

Tolak 3                

Saghar 3                

Lal Wa Sargangal 4                

Dawlatyar 4              

Legend:

 Food transfers   Agriculture &

livelihoodsNational SolidarityProgramme

 Education   Nutrition   Multi-sectoral

(ERM)

Notes:

CHA does not have a permanent office in Dawlatyar district Madera is reporting considerable access difficulties for Pasaband district Global Partners works in Chaghcharan supporting a nursing school ACTD is BPHS implementer for the MoPH ARAA/ANSARI looks at displacement and is IP for UNHCR

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ANNEX 3: FSAC COORDINATION MEETINGS

Meetings convened or attended by FSAC on humanitarian response and situation in GhorDate and venue

FSAC role Meeting Participating organisations

Notes

1 August,

MAIL, Kabul

Facilitation Inception coordination meeting with Director of Provincial Affairs, MAIL

2 (FSAC, MAIL) To acknowledge the need for a close collaboration between FSAC and MAIL and prepare a joint response

1 August

WFP, Kabul

Facilitation Coordination meeting UNOCHA, FSAC leadership (co-chairs, NGO co-chair), FSAC secretariat

5 (UNOCHA, FSAC, FAO, WFP, Islamic Relief)

To prepare for meeting with government (Director Provincial Affairs) on 4 August and discuss coordination mechanisms

4 August

MAIL, Kabul

Facilitation Coordination meeting with Director of Provincial Affairs, MAIL

4 (UNOCHA, FSAC, WFP, MAIL, Islamic Relief)

To agree principles of coordination and set the way forward

13 August,

OCHA, Kabul

Participation Coordination meeting (UNOCHA-led)

N/A To exchange information between clusters on Ghor response

15 August

WFP, Kabul

Facilitation Technical meeting 8 (STARS, CoAR, ACF, WFP, FSAC, Caritas Germany, Madera, Afghanaid)

To define household and village targeting criteria, discuss harmonised food package and district ranking

25 August

MAIL, Kabul

Facilitation Coordination meeting with Director of Provincial Affairs, MAIL

3 (FSAC, WFP, FAO)

To take stock of progress to date

25 August,

UNOPS, Chaghcharan (Ghor)

Participation Coordination meeting with NGOs in Ghor (UNOCHA-led)

12 (CHA, AAD, CRS, ACF, CGVDSO, ARAA, WFP, FSAC, GP, WVI, STARS, UNOCHA)

To discuss quality and findings of 2nd ANDMA assessment

26 August,

Office of Provincial Governor, Chaghcharan (Ghor)

Participation PDMC meeting PDMC members including provincial authorities and NGOs active in Ghor

Findings of 2nd ANDMA assessment

Creation of Technical Working Group to define caseloads

26 August,

MAIL, Ghor

Participation Coordination meeting with MAIL

3 (FSAC, UNOCHA, MAIL)

To prepare for PDMC meeting

27 August Participation Coordination meeting with head of ANDMA in Ghor

3 (FSAC, UNOCHA, ANDMA)

To discuss details of PDMC Technical Working Group

1 September, WFP office, Kabul

Facilitation Coordination meeting with FSAC partners

9 (STARS, CHA, WorldVision, Madera, ACF, Islamic Relief, Afghanaid, FAO, WFP)

To analyse 2nd ANDMA assessment

To plan way forward for humanitarian response

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ANNEX 4: ESTIMATED BENEFICIARIES OF INITIAL FOOD ASSISTANCE IN GHOR– BEFORE WINTER TIME

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ANNEX 5 : ESTIMATED WFP INITIAL FOOD ASSISTANCE IN GHOR – BEFORE WINTERTIME

ESTIMATED BENEFICIARIES AND TONNAGES for food assistance in drought-affected districts of Ghor province (5 September 2013)

Districts

Very severely and severely food insecure population (NRVA 2011/12 Preliminary Results, March 2013) Emergency Food Ration

Total MT requiredNumber of

people Number of HHs

Duration of food

assistanceMonths*

Wheat (278 gram/person/

day)

Pulses (33 gram/person/

day)

Cooking Oil (21 gram/person/

day)

Salt (3 gram/person/

day)FIRST Category districts (high priority)

Chahar Sadra          5,726          954  4 Dec 2013 - Mar 2014               191.02                     22.67                     14.43                       2.06  230.19

Chaghcharan       17,390      2,898  4 Dec 2013 - Mar 2014               580.13                     68.86                     43.82                       6.26  699.08

Pasaband          4,685          781  4 Dec 2013 - Mar 2014               156.29                     18.55                     11.81                       1.69  188.34

Du Lina          1,784          297  4 Dec 2013 - Mar 2014                  59.51                        7.06                       4.50                       0.64  71.72

Sub-total Cat 1 29,585 4,931 4 Dec 2013 - Mar 2014 986.96 117.16 74.55 10.65 1,189.32

SECOND Category districts (medium priority)

Taywarah          4,517          753  3 Jan-Mar 2014               113.02                     13.42                       8.54                       1.22  136.19

Tolak          2,324          387  3 Jan-Mar 2014                  58.15                        6.90                       4.39                       0.63  70.07

Saghar          1,712          285  3 Jan-Mar 2014                  42.83                        5.08                       3.24                       0.46  51.62

Shahrak          2,957          493  3 Jan-Mar 2014                  73.98                        8.78                       5.59                       0.80  89.15

Sub-total Cat 2 11,510 1,918 3 Jan-Mar 2014 287.98 34.18 21.75 3.11 347.03

THIRD Category districts (low priority)

Dawlat Yar          1,831          305  3 Jan-Mar 2014                  45.81                        5.44                       3.46                       0.49  55.20

Llal Wa Sarjangal          5,534          922  3 Jan-Mar 2014               138.46                     16.44                     10.46                       1.49  166.85

Sub-total Cat 3 7,365 1,228 3 Jan-Mar 2014 184.27 21.87 13.92 1.99 222.05

TOTAL 48,460 8,077   Dec 2013 - Mar 2014 1,459 173 110 16 1,758

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ANNEX 6 : SUPERFICIES IN IRRIGATED AND RAIN-FED AGRICULTURE LANDS AND RANGELANDS

Province Districts Irrigated agriculture land (km2) Rain-fed agriculture land

(km2) Rangelands (km2)

Ghor

Chaghcharan 67.8 369.7 6812.7

Chahar Sadra 27.7 101 1103.7

Dawlat Yar 38.46 135.23 1489.5

Du Lina 45 89.7 4335.35

Lal Wa Sarjangal 128.5 83.37 3559.8

Pasaband 94.9 81.9 4103.9

Saghar 24.8 0.6 2135.7

Shahrak 55.2 27.4 4114.2

Taywarah 52.4 78.5 2213.2

Daikundi Ashatarlay 52 4.65 1235.2

Sang-e-Takht 55.5 96.6 1738.9

Bamyan Waras 171.2 9.2 6235

Farah Pur Chaman 83.2 5 4584Source : Land cover Atlas of the IRoA (GIRoA, FAO, EC)

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ANNEX 7 : PHYSICAL ACCESSIBILITY DURING WINTERTIME

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