In an effort to better assist the most vulnerable households in the largest informal settlement in Kabul, the Danish Refugee Council is to distribute winter aid.

While winter is approaching, the Danish Refugee Council  (DRC) started distributing firewood and waterproof sheets to the over 1,000 families living in Chara-e-Qamber, the largest informal settlement in Kabul. The winter assistance has been helped along by generous donations from private Danish donors.

These families are either displaced people fleeing conflict or returnee refugees unable to reintegrate in their places of origin. The Afghan winter is hard and cold, and these people live in tents or houses made of mud. They depend on the winter assistance to keep warm and cook,” says Stefano Cordella, DRC Country Representative in Afghanistan.

Right now there are more than forty tent- and mud house-settlements in Kabul. With over 90 percent of the displaced population planning to enduringly settle in the urban environment, displacement from rural to urban areas tends to be permanent, due to a more secure environment and perceived better livelihood opportunities. Still the displaced families living in urban informal settlements tend to be extremely vulnerable. Access to income opportunities, food, housing, healthcare and other basic services represent the most recurrent challenges. 

“Our experience over the last year of work in Kabul informal settlements shows that people are not willing to return to their places of origin and need to be assisted in reintegrating, unless we are able to ensure the necessary durable conditions for return, primarily in terms of security and livelihood conditions”, says Stefano Cordella.

The experience by DRC is supported by a recent study from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Bank, carried out to better understand the conditions and characteristics of internally displaced households living in urban areas in Afghanistan.

The study shows that ‘conflict-induced displacement, limited reintegration opportunities for returning refugees, the rapid growth of cities and proliferation of informal settlements constitute an enormously complex challenge’ for authorities and both humanitarian and development actors. Among other relevant conclusions, the study urges to ‘go beyond a purely humanitarian approach and looking for sustainable solutions for internally displaced persons in informal settlements’.

“The goal of DRC’s work in Kabul aims to promote sustainable and durable solutions focusing on livelihood support to the increasing number of displaced people. And we plan to expand our assistance in 2012 to the displaced populations of the five largest informal settlements in Kabul and in two reintegration sites in the surrounding of the capital,” says Stefano Cordella.

The expansion is possible through support from the Danish and Swedish International Development Agencies (DANIDA and SIDA), and in close cooperation with UNHCR and other key UN agencies.

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.

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