Proposals for a safety net in Afghanistan: Developing humanitarian transfers for resilience

While armed conflict has mostly disappeared since August 2021, any gains from increased peace have been undermined by economic collapse and the political rigidities of a fundamentalist de facto authority (DFA). Humanitarian transfers of food, cash and other ‘in-kind’ aid have scaled up significantly since 2021. However, the question now arises as to how to plan for the medium to longer term. This Policy Brief offers key recommendations for Humanitarian and other actors in Afghanistan.

This study was commissioned by the World Food Programme (WFP) office in Kabul with a view to informing its engagement in the social protection sector in the humanitarian, development and peace nexus in Afghanistan. It was informed by discussions with WFP staff across multiple programmes and divisions, as well as its regional bureau in Bangkok and headquarters in Rome.

The study began prior to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, and was reformulated and repurposed to reflect the changing socio-political situation.