Projects

Short Description:

Overall goal

Provision of emergency assistance to refugees and host community members in Pakistan that have been affected by the recent floods, including core relief items, cash-based assistance, as well as early recovery interventions.

Expected results

R1: Refugees and host community members receive urgent core relief items

R2: Refugees and host community members living in vulnerable conditions

receive cash-based assistance

R3: Early recovery is provided for persons living in the flood areas

Target group / Beneficiaries

The programme will reach 300.000 individuals in total (50,000 households; approximately 20% refugees and 80% host communities).

The Austrian contribution will reach 30.000 beneficiaries (R1: 10.000, R2: 12.000, R3: 8.000).

Activities

R1: In response to the floods, UNHCR is mobilizing a large-scale transfer of some 1.2 million relief items from various stockpiles across the globe as well as from local suppliers for around 50,000 flood-affected households. In particular, refugees and host community members will benefit from the provision of tents, buckets, blankets, jerry cans, plastic tarpaulins, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, solar lamps, kitchen sets and other core relief items. With ADA’s funding, around 10,000 persons will receive urgently needed core relief items.

R2: UNHCR will provide emergency cash-based assistance to the most vulnerable persons affected by the ongoing floods. The cash intervention will serve to help refugees and host community members meet the most pressing basic needs in a dignified manner and help reduce protection risks. So far, more than 1,400 households have been identified as possible beneficiaries of the cash assistance in flood-affected provinces, and UNHCR and its partners are in the process of conducting further assessments to select and target additional beneficiaries. In total, ADA funding will help support 12,000 individuals with emergency cash-based assistance.

R3: Under this activity, UNHCR will be supporting schools, health, and communal infrastructure in refugee hosting villages by rehabilitating, reconstructing or upgrading those facilities. UNHCR will also be providing material support such as furniture, medical supplies and medical equipment as needs are identified. With ADA funding, around 8,000 persons will be able to benefit from early recovery initiatives in the areas of education and health.

Context

Severe monsoon rains have been causing widespread flooding and destruction across Pakistan since early July. Central and southern parts of Pakistan, including the two main refugee hosting provinces – Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - are among the hardest hit. Some 72 districts have been declared ‘calamity-hit’ and around 33 million people are affected countrywide with half a million displaced. Pakistan is also home to some 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees and has been a generous refugee host for more than 40 years, with around 415,000 Afghan refugees living in the flood-affected areas. Five refugee-hosting villages in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – Haijizai, Khazana, Kheshgi, Munda, Utmanzai - were declared flood emergency zones. The humanitarian situation in Pakistan has deteriorated further over the past weeks as heavy rains continue to cause flooding, and landslides resulting in displacement and damage across the country.