SITUATION OVERVIEW
In Afghanistan, 2015 was a year marked politically by the presidential elections, and subsequent drawn out processes that led to the formation of the national unity Government. It was the year in which Afghan security forces took full responsibility for the security and protection of the population. It was marked by the fall and capture of the city of Kunduz by the Taliban on 28 September, the subsequent devastating air strike on the MSF hospital, and a month later by a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Badakhshan.
The humanitarian situation was defined by the increase in the geographical spread and intensity of the conflict; characterised by more land based attacks, and a year in which 23 district administrative centres were taken over at one time or another by insurgents (compared to 4 in 2014). Largely as a result of this, the number of civilian casualties in 2015 reached a record 11,000 (3,545 civilian deaths and 7,457 people wounded, with children paying a particularly heavy toll). Humanitarian activities continued to be defined by response to acute needs arising from the conflict, particularly provision of emergency assistance to the wounded and to the internally displaced, as well as responding to the families affected by numerous natural disasters.
In 2016 humanitarian assistance was delivered through provision of immediate life-saving care to the war wounded; emergency survival supplies of food, water and shelter to the hundreds of thousands of people who fled their homes in fear for their lives and safety (over one hundred thousand people fled from Kunduz), to supplementing the provision of healthcare to an estimated 36% of the population unable to access public health services and responding to a range of natural disasters, particularly the Jurm earthquake, which left 130,000 people in need of humanitarian assistance.
As the year drew on, a war being waged by an increasingly beleaguered Afghan army and police force, gave way to a worrying trend in the erosion of respect of international humanitarian law, a set of rules that seek to limit the effects of conflict on the civilian population. 2015 saw a 47% year on year increase in the number of conflict-related incidents where hospitals, clinics and health personnel had been deliberately targeted. To address this, the Humanitarian Coordinator has decided to set up a high level working group on Protection of Civilians in 2016 to examine and advocate for policy and strategic changes to try to reduce the impact of the conflict on civilians.
Thanks to the generosity of donors, over $431 million of humanitarian assistance was provided in 2015. The tightly focused Afghanistan 2015 Humanitarian Response Plan, concentrating on life saving assistance, was one of the two best funded appeals globally reaching 70% of requested funding. One of the recent successes in Afghanistan has been well resourced emergency supplies of non-food items, water & sanitation items and shelter supplies with donors having provided means for agencies to buy and keep sufficient emergency stocks in country. This prepositioning for emergencies has meant that the predictable humanitarian needs have been met without the need for airlifting in additional supplies from outside the country at the last minute at significant cost. It will be important for these emergency stocks and reserves to be maintained in 2016 and beyond, as there is no expectation of humanitarian needs decreasing.
Despite these successes, challenges remained in both understanding the priorities and in accurate and timely assessment of needs for humanitarian assistance. No national level humanitarian needs assessments were carried out in 2016, with the exception of the seasonal food security assessment (SFSA 2015). The 2016 Humanitarian Response Plan was therefore not based on the solid evidence underpinned by needs assessment. The lack of a standard set of (sectoral) needs assessment tools and a common approach critically undermines our ability to understand the humanitarian priorities and to respond where needs are highest. As a recent survey amply demonstrated, many needs assessments are indeed carried out in the field all over the country, but as they are not comparable, standardised or inter operable, their results cannot be compared or aggregated to understand the overall picture and prioritise allocation of minimal resources. Responding to both the Kunduz displaced and the Badakhshan earthquake revealed the inadequacy of current needs assessment processes for IDPs and natural disasters. Substantial inflation in the numbers of people initially reported as requiring assistance became apparent following later household level assessments where far fewer people were found to be in need than funds had been allocated to assist.
The 2015 Humanitarian Architecture Review was a substantial review of the humanitarian coordination architecture in the country carried out by OCHA this year. Overall, it revealed a disconnect between the field and national level structures, a lack of standardised tools, and a duplication in coordination systems for natural disasters and conflict induced internally displaced people.
To address some of these findings, UNHCR and OCHA agreed to transfer the coordination of humanitarian assistance for IDPs to OCHA in 2016, reducing the duplication of coordination mechanisms. Further, the Humanitarian Country Team instructed the establishment of a needs assessment working group, to agree common national level needs assessment tools and ways of working. This work is now being taken forward, and together with a strong focus on emergency and disaster response preparedness and risk management, humanitarian partners are working together to improve their ability to deliver timely assistance where it is most needed, and to most efficiently make use of limited resources.