APPENDIX 3
Memorandum submitted by United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF)
WHAT ARE
THE ONGOING
HUMANITARIAN NEEDS,
HOW ADEQUATELY
ARE THEY
BEING ADDRESSED
AND FOR
HOW LONG
WILL HUMANITARIAN
ASSISTANCE BE
REQUIRED?
Afghanistan still faces numerous humanitarian
challenges. Almost one third of the Afghan population is dependent
on some form of emergency assistance. Overall socio-economic vulnerability,
caused by the cumulative effects of war, destruction, drought
and displacement, are likely to endure for at least the next five
years.
Drought has caused decreased agricultural production,
losses of land and assets, livestock depletion and a rise in individual
and family debt. These factors have severely weakened household
coping strategies and heightened food insecurity. Rates of chronic
malnutrition among children are extremely high, child labour is
increasing, and there is a return to poppy production in some
areas. In many parts of the country, challenges to household livelihoods
are compounded by landmine/UXO contamination, which will restrict
access to markets and basic services, particularly during the
winter months.
Natural disasters such as earthquakes, locust
infestation and floods have added to the plight of the Afghan
people and placed additional strains on available humanitarian
resource.
These humanitarian challenges are compounded
by the additional pressure created by returning refugees and IDPs.
The number of assisted returns from neighbouring countries has
reached over 1.7 million, well in excess of the figure anticipated
for the year. In addition, 900,000 IDPs have returned to their
areas of origin. These refugee and IDP returns are placing particular
strains on urban areas, such as Kabul and Jalalabad. Such large-scale
demographic movements will continue to put pressure on available
resources and services.
In the current environment, the humanitarian
needs of children and women are particularly acute. There is a
high prevalence of stunting and micronutrient deficiencies among
children. Thousands of children are still dying from vaccine preventable
diseases. Nearly half of all deaths among women between the ages
of 14 and 50 are from maternal causes.
While three million children were able to return
to school between March and September 2002, there is still a need
for 80,000 classrooms in Afghanistan. 44 per cent of existing
schools have no water. 82 per cent have no sanitation facilities.
The approaching harsh Afghan winter brings another
set of challenges. 600,000 families, many female-headed, need
assistance to survive the coming winter.
The Afghan Transitional Administration (ATA),
the humanitarian community and donors have responded to humanitarian
needs as quickly and effectively as possible. While much has been
done, much more humanitarian assistance is needed for at least
the next five years as Afghanistan's institutions and infrastructure
develop enough to meet the basic needs of the Afghan people. The
more significant constraints affecting an adequate response to
the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan include:
— The relative slow-down in donor assistance
that occurred in the second quarter of 2002.
— The chronic lack of capacity in many
line ministries which limits the potential of effective partnership
and strategic planning.
— Continuing insecurity within Afghanistan;
military action places barriers to humanitarian activities, restricts
movement of supplies and personnel, and impedes monitoring and
evaluation.
ARE HUMANITARIAN
NEEDS AND
RECONSTRUCTION EFFORTS
ADEQUATELY RESOURCED?
The UNAMA Update of Urgent Humanitarian and
Recovery Needs report "Afghanistan: ITAP[20]
and Beyond" notes that the total financial requirements for
Afghanistan in 2002 are US $1,604,220,000. As of July 2002, there
was a shortfall of US $777,070,000. US $397,700,000 were needed
to meet priority areas in the third quarter of 2002 alone.
| Priority Areas based on the National Development Framework
| Total Requirements (as list in ITAP) (US $million)
| Total Committed (US $million)
| Unmet Requirement (US $million)
| Priority need for 3rd Quarter of 2002 (US $million)
|
| Refugee and IDP Return | 274.301
| 129.64 | 144.661 | 70.0
|
| Education and Vocational Training | 99.989
| 44.121 | 55.868 | 35.0
|
| Health and Nutrition | 187.109
| 61.969 | 125.14 | 60.0
|
| Livelihoods and Social Protection | 623.363
| 408.665 | 214.698 | 100.0
|
| Culture, Heritage, Media and Sport | 21.31
| 3.528 | 17.782 | 6.0
|
| Transport | 51.058 | 0.001
| 51.057 | 10.0 |
| Natural Resources Management | 82.708
| 54.002 | 28.706 | 28.7
|
| Urban Management | 75.264 |
15.369 | 59.895 | 30.0
|
| Public Administration | 31.193
| 3.332 | 27.861 | 25.0
|
| Security and the Rule of Law | 100.992
| 61.700 | 39.292 | 25.0
|
| Outside of NDF Coordination and Support Service
| 56.933 | 44.823 | 12.11
| 8.0 |
| TOTAL | 1,604.22
| 827.15 | 777.07
| 397.7 |
Priority funding needs for programmes benefiting children
and women for the remainder of 2002 are as follows:
| Project | Beneficiaries/coverage
| Amount Required (US$) |
| Purchase and delivery of school supplies for March 2003 school year
| 600,000 primary and 150,000 secondary school children
| 10,000,000 |
| Winterisation | 600,000 families
| 2,500,000 |
| Safe Motherhood Initiative |
| 3,000,000 |
| Expanded Programme on Immunisation | six million children under five
| 5,000,000 |
| Nutrition | 375,000 people |
1,000,000 |
| Sanitation and hygiene | 1,450 schools
| 2,000,000 |
| Reintegration and protection of child soldiers and other water-affected young people
| Child soldiers and other water-affected young people
| 500,000 |
| TOTAL | | 24,000,000
|
The lack of resources is weakening the capacity of the humanitarian
community to deliver the assistance that is still needed in Afghanistan:
The lack of funds to pay teachers' salaries has forced schools
to close in some areas, depriving thousands of children of their
right to go to school.
WFP reports that it will only be able to meet 45 per cent
of its aid commitments in northern Afghanistan.
Assistance packages for returning refugees have been cut
because there were not enough supplies to cover the needs of the
unexpectedly high number of returnees.
A persistent fear within the humanitarian community in Afghanistan
is that if they are unable to meet the humanitarian needs of vulnerable
populations, Afghans will again feel compelled to seek assistance
and greater security in neighbouring countries as refugees.
IS THE
CO -ORDINATION
BETWEEN DONORS,
NON-GOVERNMENTAL
ORGANISATIONS
AND THE NEW
ADMINISTRATION HELPING
TO ENSURE
THAT HUMANITARIAN
NEEDS AND
RECONSTRUCTION EFFORTS
ARE CARRIED OUT
EFFICIENTLY AND
EFFECTIVELY?
Co-ordination is improving between the UN community, the
international and national NGOs, donors and the Afghanistan Transitional
Authority. Several steps have been taken to promote better coordination:
— UN programming has been modified to better reflect
the National Development Framework presented by the Afghan Transitional
Authority in April 2002.
— Programme Groups have been formed to bring together
all actors in each programme area. A lead ministry guides each
Programme Group, and is technically supported by a Programme Secretariat,
normally a United Nations Agency, multi-lateral institution or
a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) appointed to support and
help manage the Programme Group.
— The Programme Secretariat is tasked with assisting
the government in developing strong operational coordination mechanisms,
providing technical support in drawing up the National Development
Budget, and channeling resources to national capacity building.
The UN is supporting national authorities to assume an increasingly
important role in coordination. At the sub-central level, there
are signs of a transition from UN-coordinated regional coordination
bodies of the past to government-led provincial coordination bodies.
Increasing numbers of UN personnel are located in government
offices. They support the administration in developing policies,
activities and administrative capacity.
The UN is helping government institutions to develop national
information, vulnerability analysis and nutrition surveillance
systems and to track donor support and aid flows. These are all
functions that the UN itself was performing less than 12 months
ago.
UN Agencies have also placed staff members in sister agencies
to ensure better coordination on crosscutting issues and initiatives.
The current Winterisation programme is a good example of
how increased coordination between the humanitarian community
and the ATA is helping to ensure that humanitarian needs are met.
The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) has
taken the lead role in winter planning. Each UN agency is tasked
with a particular area to coordinate. UNAMA has organised winter
task forces in all the regions, which are identifying stocks of
non-food items held by UN agencies and NGOs. Contingency plans
for distribution of winter supplies are being drawn up on a decentralised,
regional level.
WHAT CONSTRAINTS
DOES THE
DIFFICULT OPERATING
ENVIRONMENT PLACE
ON DEVELOPMENT
WORK? HOW
DOES THIS
AFFECT THE
EXPECTATIONS OF
WHAT CAN
BE ACHIEVED
IN THE
NEXT FIVE
TO TEN
YEARS IN
AFGHANISTAN?
All humanitarian actors are facing institutional challenges.
These include the unstable political situation, the large numbers
of returnees and the need for actors to get timely and sustainable
results.
Continued military activity within Afghanistan restricts
the movement of supplies and personnel, and interrupts programme
implementation, monitoring and evaluation. This does not help
in the building of confidence with local communities, and limits
the potential of capacity building exercises. There is also growing
uneasiness about other parts of the region.
Slow progress and resource constraints have made it very
difficult to improve the infrastructure and transport services
in the country. This has created barriers for international trade,
national integration and reconstruction. It has also hampered
the delivery of assistance and development programme implementation.
The lack of human resource capacity within the government
ministries is the greatest impediment to development work at this
stage. The Afghan Transitional Authority wants real commitment
from the international community to build national capacity. They
also want to see a movement of resources away from the international
agencies towards Afghan institutions. The UN has responded to
this with its own plan for transition. The blueprint for this
transitional process includes:
— accelerated support for capacity development of
national, provincial and municipal counterparts;
— accelerated agency secondments to key national
and local government departments, and support for human resource
development in those entities;
— improved information sharing—and an expectation
that UNAMA will give priority to information management systems
development within the Transitional Administration;
— accelerated decentralisation of resources;
— increased integration of sub-national programming
around shared priorities agreed with national counterparts;
— greater flexibility in decisions about resource
allocations, to facilitate prioritisation at sub-national level
with counterparts (Afghans, UNAMA and UN agencies);
— where and when possible, procuring supplies locally
and promoting the use Afghan contractors and operational counterparts;
— improved UN internal efficiencies, increasing
cost-effectiveness and a move towards shared systems, services
and premises;
— increased Afghanisation of positions currently
occupied by expatriates;
— greater inter-agency cooperation and cross-posting
of staff between agencies; and
— common UN premises at provincial levels, possibly
with provincial administrations, so that the latter can benefit
from shared communications and other facilities.
Until these constraints are overcome, it will be increasingly
difficult to place the rehabilitation, reconstruction and development
of Afghanistan fully in the hands of the Afghans. External guidance
and assistance will be required for the foreseeable future, until
a full generation of Afghans is ready and able to lead and administer
national institutions.
ARE LOCAL
PEOPLE, PARTICULARLY
WOMEN, BEING
GIVEN SUFFICIENT
OPPORTUNITY TO
PLAY A
SIGNIFICANT PART
IN THE
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
OF THEIR
COUNTRY AND
ARE THEY
BEING EMPOWERED
TO DO
THIS EFFECTIVELY?
Cultural barriers still prevent all members of society from
playing a significant part in the future development of Afghanistan.
This is particularly true of women. Preliminary data indicate
that only 30 per cent of the teachers and students that returned
to work in education through the Back to School programme were
women and girls. Reports also indicate that in some parts of Afghanistan
campaigns were carried out to persuade parents not to send female
members of household to schools.
There is a critical need to support the advancement of women
and their integration in the recovery process. The establishment
of the Ministry of Women's Affairs (MOWA) was a major achievement
of the Interim Authority. But it needs to be supported further
with significant material and technical assistance, including:
— Strengthening MoWA's organisational structure
and knowledge base, its capacity for analysis, planning and coordination,
and its expertise in the area of gender and women's rights.
— Strengthening MoWA's outreach and delivery of
services to women, women's groups and NGOs.
— Support MoWA's efforts to promote women's participation
in the civil service, politics and legal reform.
UNICEF
October 2002
20
Immediate and Transitional Assistance Programme. Back
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