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Safeguarding agriculture-livelihoods and rebuilding near-term resilience of drought-impacted vulnerable and food insecure households in Afghanistan

Tags
Countries Afghanistan
Start date 06/07/2020
End date 21/04/2022
Status Completed
Donor United States of America
Recipient / Target Areas Afghanistan
Budget 2 000 000 USD
Project Code OSRO/AFG/006/USA
Objective / Goal The objective of the project is to overcome the persisting adverse effects of the 2018-drought and precipitation deficit of winter 2019/2020 on 11 250 smallholder and food-nutrition insecure rural households by providing time-critical and agricultural season-sensitive support to safeguard their agricultural livelihoods and build near-term resilience.
Beneficiaries 118 097
Activities

To achieve the objective, the project planned to directly support households  through:

  • Output 1: providing livestock protection packages and training to households.
    The project provided 5 300 households with 760 tonnes of concentrate animal feed and 15.90 tonnes of high-quality seeds for fast-growing fodder crops. Each of the initially targeted 3 000 households were provided with 100 kg of concentrate animal feed and 3 kg of high-quality seeds for fast-growing fodder crops, while the additional 2 300 households in Laghman province were provided with 200 kg of concentrate animal feed and 3 kg of high-quality seeds. Moreover, to ensure the best utilization of the distributed inputs, the project trained all beneficiaries under this output on good practices for livestock management.
  • Output 2: providing wheat cultivation packages and trainings to  households.
    The project provided 3 000 smallholder households with a total of 150 tonnes of certified wheat seeds. Each beneficiary household received 50 kg of certified wheat seeds to cultivate 2 jeribs (0.4 hectares) and produce 1.2–1.4 tonnes of wheat, sufficient to provide a stable supply of wheat and additional income for a family of seven for a year. Moreover, to ensure the best utilization of the distributed seeds, FAO trained all beneficiaries on good practices for wheat cultivation.
  • Output 3: providing households with backyard vegetable production and poultry production packages and trainings.
    The project provided 2 250 households with backyard vegetable cultivation packages and poultry production packages. Women and female-headed households, as well as landless people and/or people with disability were prioritized as direct beneficiaries in the distribution of backyard poultry packages.
  • Output 4: assisting households through cash-based interventions.
    The project provided 3 000 households with cash-based assistance in the form of cash-for-work or
    unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) in Badakhshan province (1 000 households in Shuhada and Wardooj districts); Laghman province (1 000 households in Mehtarlam district); and Nuristan province (1 000 households in Parun district).
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Challenges and lessons learned

Impediments/constraints:
The conflict between the Government of Afghanistan and the armed opposition groups in Badpakh district of Laghman province and in Kamdesh and Waygal districts of Nuristan province challenged the implementation of some project activities. In order to address this challenge, FAO and implementing partners consulted and coordinated closely with community elders and Shuras in the targeted areas to ensure the smooth implementation of the project’s activities

Elements of success:
Selecting the right implementing partners was a key element of success. All implementing partners of this project have a rich knowledge of the areas at community and village levels. Therefore, FAO maintained and received regular information concerning the security situation and needs of the targeted communities. The implementing partners conducted a door-to-door beneficiary profile survey in the villages, which ensured the most appropriate selection of vulnerable households that needed assistance. Furthermore, coordination with other humanitarian organizations that are active in the targeted areas, and the other service providers was also an element of success, as it helped avoid duplications and enabled the humanitarian partners to support vulnerable households in the targeted areas in a coordinated manner. Additionally, coordination at local government level was another element of success. FAO and implementing partners worked closely with the established shuras/councils, community elders and leaders in the project areas.

Addition information is available here: https://www.fao.org/publications/card/ar/c/CB7898EN/