The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Tuesday, April 30, approved an $84 million grant from the International Development Association for the Afghanistan Community Resilience and Livelihoods Project.
This funding complements an additional $70 million from the Afghanistan Resilience Trust Fund, the World Bank said.
The project, which began in 2022 with a $265 million grant from the ARTF, aims to support livelihoods in rural and urban areas, provide social grants for women and the most vulnerable, and strengthen community institutions for inclusive service delivery.
With the new funds, the project will expand its activities in more rural and urban areas, enhance livelihood opportunities for women, increase efforts to build climate resilience, and offer employment and services to returning Afghan migrants.
“In the past 18 months, the project has established an effective service delivery platform and operational model at scale for delivering jobs, providing essential services and assets, and importantly, reaching women,” said Melinda Good, World Bank Country Director for Afghanistan. “With the additional financing, the project will continue its essential work in all six regions of the country, 26 of the 34 provinces, 67 rural districts, 6,200 rural communities, and eight major cities.”
To date, the project has provided short-term employment to over 776,000 households, benefiting approximately 5.4 million Afghans. About 92,200 vulnerable households have received cash transfers or in-kind social grants, many of which are female-headed or include disabled members. Roughly 7.4 million Afghans have gained access to services such as roads, sanitation, and water supply, and more than 2.1 million community members have received training in health and nutrition, climate change effects, and disaster risk management.
Additionally, the project has fostered a market for local civil works and helped preserve the capacities of local contractors developed over the last two decades. An estimated 2,200 highly skilled market-driven jobs have been created.
The project is implemented by UNOPS, which coordinates with international and local NGO partners and local private sector contractors to conduct activities in rural and urban areas.
