The Danish Refugee Council is to distribute food to the most vulnerable households in the largest informal settlement in Kabul. The distribution is possible through a partnership with the World Food Programme in Kabul.

30,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are today living in informal settlements in Kabul and its surroundings. The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is now expanding the assistance to the most vulnerable households in Chara-e-Qamber, the biggest of these settlements with approximately 5,000 IDPs. 

Starting on July 11th, DRC is now partnering with the World Food Programme (WFP) in order to provide nutritional support to the participants of the ongoing skill training programme in Chara-e-Qamber, since they will not have the possibility to work while participating in the training. 120 men and 80 women will receive food parcels for their family. Approximately 1,200 IDPs will benefit from an improved nutritional situation.

“This key partnership with WFP allows us to expand our assistance programme to the most vulnerable internally displaced people living in the informal settlements in Kabul, thus assisting them more efficiently, while promoting their self-reliance and self-confidence, although challenges remain enormous,” says Stefano Cordella, DRC Country Representative in Afghanistan.

The IDPs in Kabul are either displaced people fleeing conflict, returned refugees unable to reintegrate in their places of origin or economic migrants. They have come to Kabul looking for a viable place to live, but unable to pay the upward-spiralling rents in Kabul, they put up tents in occupied public buildings or in informal settlements like Chara-e-Qamber.

“The vast majority of families in the settlement continue to live below the poverty line and face serious sanitation and health problems. Children and women are the two main groups deprived of their basic human rights,” says Stefano Cordella.

DRC - with the support of the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) – has since the beginning of this year been implementing a skill training programme in Chara-e-Qamber with the objective of providing the participants with skills aiming at employment and self-employment, thus creating the conditions for voluntary return and - where possible - for self-reliance in a sustainable livelihood.

The goal of DRC’s work in Afghanistan is to promote durable solutions to refugee and displacement problems, on the basis of humanitarian principles and human rights. In Afghanistan, DRC focuses mainly on livelihood and infrastructure support to the increasing number of returnees and IDPs squatting in the informal settlements and slum areas of Kabul, where living conditions are deplorable and health hazards accelerated due to poor shelter, lack of access to basic necessities, and scarce employment opportunities.

Through a participatory- and community-based approach, DRC also aims at enhancing the protection capacities of urban communities hosting IDPs and returnees. In addition, DRC organizes the Afghan Diaspora Fund in Denmark via a grants facility to take part in the support to sustainable livelihoods of compatriots in Afghanistan. DRC’s activities in Afghanistan also take place within the framework of Danish Demining Group and DACAAR.

For any information about the work of DRC in Afghanistan, please contact: Stefano CORDELLA, DRC Country Representative at: stefano.cordella@drc.dk, and/or Kirsten NIELSEN, DRC Livelihood Project Manager at: kirsten.nielsen@drc.dk.

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