Projekte

Kurzbeschreibung:

Projektziel

UNHCR in Pakistan aims to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on Afghan refugees by strengthening education and WASH interventions in refugee villages.

Erwartete Ergebnisse

Under its 2021 response plan, UNHCR aims to achieve the following key results in the sectors education and WASH in the context of UNHCR’s response to COVID-19 in Pakistan:

1) Access to education improved or maintained

2) Potable water supply improved or maintained

Zielgruppe

Austria's contribution of EUR 1m will benefit a total of 461,650 persons of concern.

Education sector

- 37,000 refugee students and 650 teachers received personal protective equipment, including face shields, in refugee village schools

- 37,000 refugee students and 650 teachers benefit from the promotion of distance learning and training in refugee villages

- 18,000 refugee students and 300 teachers benefit from the construction/rehabilitation of classrooms

- 12,000 students and 250 teachers benefit from improved WASH facilities in refugee village schools

WASH sector

- 9,000 refugees participate in hygiene promotion sessions held in refugee villages

- 530 members of community-based water management committees in refugee villages benefit from capacity-building

- 424,000 refugees benefit – both directly and indirectly – from the combination of hygiene promotion sessions conducted, enhanced water management committees, strengthened communal water

The project locations where activities will be implemented are the 54 refugee villages scattered across the provinces of Balochistan (10 refugee villages), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (43 refugee villages) and Punjab (1 refugee Village).

UNHCR will work with implementing partners in the framework of this project.

Education sector:

• NGO Initiative for Development and Empowerment Axis (IDEA)

• NGO International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC)

WASH sector:

• NGO Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP)

• NGO Water, Environment and Sanitation Society (WESS)

UNHCR also works closely with its main counterparts in Pakistan’s Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) and the Commissionerates for Afghan Refugees (CAR), including at the provincial level.

Maßnahmen

Activities may include:

1) Access to education improved or maintained

- Procurement of personal protective equipment, including face shields, for students and teachers in refugee village schools

- Procurement of ICT materials and internet access

- Construction/rehabilitation of classroom blocks

- Enhancement of WASH facilities at refugee village schools.

2) Potable water supply improved or maintained:

- Hygiene promotion session at community level

- Capacity building of water management committees

- Repair/maintenance of WASH infrastructure in refugee community

- Water quality testing

- Installation of communal handwashing stations with soap supply

Hintergrundinformation

The current situation in Afghanistan continues to be uncertain due to increased violence and the slow pace of the peace talks. Coupled with lack of basic services and livelihood opportunities and temporary border closures due to COVID-19, low number of returns of Afghan refugees from Pakistan to Afghanistan were recorded in 2020. Moreover, because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan, voluntary repatriation was suspended in March following the Government’s instructions on the temporary closure of the border. Since the repatriation programme resumed in August 2020, approximately 1,000 have returned to Afghanistan as of November 2020. In 2019, fewer than 4,000 refugees returned to Afghanistan, of which some 56 percent were female and 44 per cent were male. Today, the majority (69 per cent) of registered Afghan refugees live in urban and rural areas alongside their Pakistani hosts, with the Government of Pakistan allowing access to local services including in the sectors of health and education, despite the strain placed on available resources. At a time when the world struggled to urgently address health needs due to COVID-19, there were hardly any reports of discrimination or negative sentiments towards refugees in public health facilities. In government hospitals, refugees have received equal treatment as nationals, often at no cost.

UNHCR has increased its efforts to reach out to the private sector and development actors, and this is generating multi-year funding. These efforts have been carried out with a view to contributing to the Support Platform for the Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees and complement ongoing regional projects. Besides its regular activities, UNHCR carried out a number of COVID-19 related activities including the repair and rehabilitation of water and sanitation facilities in schools, the cash distribution to vulnerable refugee families and the provision of personal protective equipment to partners and government health facilities. The COVID-19 pandemic may continue to impact the implementation of planned activities in the next year.