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Children in Afghanistan are living in a fragile state affected by conflict, yet face the additional threat of disasters which can devastate their lives. Afghanistan is often affected by natural disasters, typically severe winters, earthquakes, and seasonal flooding and drought. Currently the capacity of the Government to respond to such emergencies is severely limited and the planning and communication systems that are needed to launch timely responses are ineffective. These disasters are relatively small scale and localised in comparison

to some of the major disasters that have occurred globally over the last decade. They thus tend to fall below the radar of public recognition: nonetheless they are devastating to those they affect. Every year emergencies contribute to deaths, injuries, diseases, the loss of hundreds of homes, thousands of hectares of productive land and thousands of livestock within the remote northern provinces of Afghanistan. Children’s lack of knowledge regarding disaster and disaster preparedness poses a significant threat to their well-being.

AfghanistanDRR IN

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Save the Children’s Presence in AfghanistanSave the Children believe that the most effective way to have an impact on disasters and to improve the situation of many of the most vulnerable people, particularly children, is to work directly with communities and local governments to develop Early Warning System, an Emergency Preparedness Plan and Risk Reduction Programs that enable communities to plan for, mitigate and respond effectively to disaster conditions as they occur. Over the past 3 years in Afghanistan, Save the Children has implemented 5 DRR programs with over $3.6 million USD from various donors such as AusAID, IrishAID, OFDA, Germany Federal Foreign Office and Save the Children Italy and Germany for our DRR activities. Collectively, the programs have reached approximately 30,000 children directly. We have focused strongly on the safety, protection, and rights of children in emergencies and improved the preparedness and response of communities to disaster events.

PreparednessSave the Children is establishing non-food item (NFI) stockpiles at the strategic location (district, provincial and regional level) to protect remote, inaccessible communities in the event of a natural disaster. This is being established through the OFDA DRR project ‘Building a culture of resilience in Afghanistan’s Provinces’ in Kabul, Balkh, Faryab, Bamian, Urozgan, Kandahar, Sar-I-Pul, Jawzjan and Samangan provinces and should be complete in 2011. Communities were involved in the development of risk maps, and mitigation projects in more than 90 communities. In addition, key disaster risk preparedness messages in community were disseminated.

Cash for workSave the Children created ‘cash for work’ projects in the form of canal cleaning of reservoirs, bridges, agricultural lands, road rehabilitation through the DRR project in Bamian, Faryab and Sar I Pul provinces. The DRR project in Bamian and Faryab provinces trained women in gabion weaving through which this is used in the construction of gabion walls. In addition, women and men in Bamian and Faryab provinces also made mattresses, quilts and pillows to be stored by Save the Children and distributed to disaster affected populations.

DRR and EducationSave the Children has shown a strong commitment to ensuring the participation and leadership of children in DRR. Save the Children has incorporated disaster preparedness formally and informally through education programs. These programs teach children how to protect themselves and offer children opportunities to spread information and raise awareness of DRR issues.

Top: Tajala is in grade six in Jalalabad in Eastern Afghanistan. She is a member of the Student Council in her school. She thinks the Violence Free School project that Save the Children has implemented in the school has changed a lot of things.

Bottom: Boys take water from a new well built with Save the Children’s support, Guldara District, Afghanistan.

Cover: Child stands outside the school where there is a health education session organised by Save the Children in Sayed Abad village, Sar-i-Pul province, Northern Afghanistan.

Capacity buildingThe team in Afghanistan have been very engaged in national level advocacy and have a strong relationship with the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authorities (ANDMA). The team has also actively participated in the process of launching the Afghanistan National DRR Platform and they are one of the main actors in the Afghanistan INGO DRRC. We worked to strengthen capacity at the provincial and district levels (including local governments and NGOs) and established strong foundations at these levels to make the national DRR priorities a reality.

DRR and HealthSave the Children ran activities that raised awareness about the threats to psychosocial well-being of children and how to help them cope with the effects of an emergency, as well as developing strong coordination and referral mechanisms before and after the occurrence of an emergency.