Bibi Jan, a disabled woman from Sayel Khel District in Parwan Province, received cash assistance from FAO. ©FAO/NAC

The people in Sayed Khel district of Afghanistan’s Parwan province, north of Kabul, are employed mainly in agricultural farming and are casual labourers. The major source of water for irrigation in the district, which is surrounded by mountains, is now that slowly melts during the spring and summer months. However, the successive droughts across the country and the ongoing economic crisis have led to low crops and unprecedented lack of employment opportunities for residents in the area.

37-year-old Bibi Jan is a disabled woman in Sedukan village of Sayel Khel who lost the ability to walk after she fell off the roof of her house three years ago. She lives with her three daughters and her husband, a casual worker who doesn’t earn enough to regularly feed his family because of the decline in work in the local market.

“We were living in very poor economic conditions. I suffer from a chronic disease and can’t walk. With my health problems and the economic challenges, life has been very difficult for me and my family,” said Bibi Jan who felt almost helpless when FAO staff met her prior to the delivery of unconditional cash transfer.

She always wished to build a better life for the family but her husband’s income from seasonal labour couldn’t even cover their basic expenditures. She has to receive routine treatment for her backbone pains, which costs more than 2 000 Afghanis a month – an amount that is very high for a family like Bibi’s.

Her daughters, aged 8, 10 and 12, wanted to study together with other girls from the village at the nearby girls’ school. However, this dream cannot be actualized because they have to stay home and help their ill mother with house chores.

In February 2022, female staff of FAO implementing partner Norwegian Afghanistan Committee visited Bibi’s house when they were surveying households for emergency assistance and identified her as a beneficiary to receive cash assistance. The unconditional cash transfers are provided to vulnerable, food-insecure households, prioritizing landless households as well as those headed by women, people with disabilities and the elderly to boost their income by USD 100. This is to improve their access to nutritious food and basic items by putting the much-needed cash in their pockets.

Bibi received 8,840 Afghanis (USD 100) from FAO, with funding from Denmark, which covered for her family’s basic food necessities and her surgery. She did the backbone operation at a governmental hospital for free but the medication needed for the operation costed her 8 000 Afghanis.

“I was able to pay for my operation. I am very happy now as I feel better every day,” she said with a smile on her face.

Unconditional cash transfers are provided to vulnerable, food-insecure households, prioritizing landless households as well as those headed by women, people with disabilities and the elderly to boost their income and improve access to basic items through increased availability of cash. It gives families the flexibility to prioritize their needs.

In total, FAO provided cash transfers of USD 100 each to 174 vulnerable families in Parwan province in 2022.