The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday approved $400 million in grants to protect the welfare and livelihoods of vulnerable people in Afghanistan, particularly women and girls, and ease the adverse impact of the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
In a statement issued by the bank, the support, to be delivered through the United Nations, will address emergency food needs, enhance domestic food production for medium-term food security, and provide core health services for the people.
The Expanding Essential Food Security and Health Services Project (Support for Afghan People) will provide off-budget direct financing to three UN agencies, helping to bridge the financing gap for immediate support.
Afghanistan has faced an unprecedented humanitarian crisis compounded by climate change and intense droughts, floods, and earthquakes. An estimated 85% of its population live below the poverty line and women and children are disproportionately affected with many women-led households suffering a lack of food and reduced access to services given women’s restrictions on movement outside their homes.
Wednesday’s decision comes at a critical time for Afghanistan after the UN World Food Program (WFP), warned just two days ago that it was facing a critical funding shortage and was in a “desperate situation” as it expected funding to run out by next month.
ADB said however that in order to address food security, a $100 million grant will enable the WFP to provide critical food assistance to more than 1.32 million acutely food-insecure people, prioritizing women-headed households and highly vulnerable groups.
The WFP will also implement Food Assistance for Training initiatives to help equip mainly women with employable and entrepreneurial skills, and alternative livelihoods along the agricultural value chain, such as fruit and vegetable processing. This will support women’s potential for more sustainable livelihoods and income.
Another $100 million grant will enable the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to provide agricultural production support to more than 309,000 farm households for the cultivation of wheat, summer crops, vegetables, and livestock protection. Smallholders including women-headed households will receive high quality agricultural inputs such as climate-resilient seeds. More than 2.1 million people are expected to benefit from the FAO support, the ADB said.
A third grant, of $200 million, will go to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) so it can expand existing support and provide core health services in 10 provinces across the country covering about 7.5 million people. This includes basic health services such as newborn and maternal care, and essential hospital services, including nutrition and surgical care. The World Bank will support the same health services in Afghanistan’s 24 other provinces.
According to the ADB, this move will be implemented in close coordination with the UN, World Bank, and other partners, and the project will contribute to the international community’s ongoing efforts to support the people of Afghanistan and prevent the country from falling into universal poverty.
The grants are financed by the Asian Development Fund which supports ADB’s poorest and most vulnerable developing member countries.
The ADB also said that the project will be implemented outside the Taliban’s systems and in line with ADB’s approach to fragile and conflict-affected situations. Third-party monitoring firms will be engaged by the UN agencies to monitor implementation and verify the delivery of support to target beneficiaries.
This project builds on ADB’s existing $405 million grant project, approved in January 2022, to support food security, essential health and education services for the people of Afghanistan via the UN. More than 75% of this funding has already been disbursed, ADB stated.
