Executive summary​

 

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Ground Truth Solutions (GTS) and Salma Consulting, supported by UN Women through the Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Working Group, spoke to almost 4,000 women and men living in Afghanistan. Two rounds of household surveys and focus group discussions took place in October–December 2022 and February– March 2023. In these conversations, we collected communities’ views on how aid is provided, how gender norms and restrictions affect access to humanitarian assistance, and the extent to which aid takes into account the distinct needs and social norms of women and men in Afghanistan.

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We collected our second round of data after the nationwide ban on women non-governmental organisation (NGO) workers, but just before this ban was extended to Afghan women working for the United Nations. The findings provide timely insight into the perceptions of women accessing aid without the availability of women aid workers. Understanding access barriers for women and what communities think should happen can help humanitarians engage and reach women and girls with vital assistance.

 

 

Main findings: Perspectives from community members in Afghanistan​

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• There is a stark rise in people who say their needs are not met, and women highlight that they cannot access aid from women. Apart from these two exceptions there are no major differences in perceptions of aid in this round compared to the first round of data collection before the ban on women working for NGOs. It is important to note that women were often excluded from aid and engagement even before the ban. Men most need cash, food assistance, and education, while women mention the need for items such as clothes and sewing machines as well. People remain unsatisfied with how humanitarian organisations select people to receive aid. Concerns include inappropriate selection criteria, corruption, community leaders recommending their relatives, and the failure to use women’s knowledge to identify other vulnerable women in the community.

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• Women generally feel safe accessing aid, but have concerns about distances, physical transportation, and associated costs. After the ban, they are additionally concerned about the absence of women aid distributors, which increases stress and anxiety. Women mention instances of verbal abuse at distribution sites. Men NGO staff and women all say they feel discomfort and concern about their security when engaging with one another during humanitarian aid distribution and follow-up. Men feel less safe accessing aid and those living in central and south-eastern Afghanistan feel least safe. The vast majority of women and most men are against the ban, which they believe results in vulnerable women missing out on aid and a decrease in foreign aid.

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• Women’s specific needs are unmet by humanitarian aid. Humanitarian organisations rarely provide gender-specific aid – such as menstrual hygiene resources, nappies, and baby formula. Men do not always know the needs of women and girls and as such are not an appropriate source of information. Women say that they are most aware of the variety of support their households need. They want to be asked about their households’ most urgent needs, especially if cash is not provided.

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• Households seek more long-term support to strengthen household resilience. People want assistance to help them earn an income. The only option that many people have to meet their households’ needs is to adopt harmful coping mechanisms, from taking loans to sending children to work or letting daughters marry early. Aid can help prevent this. The use of coping mechanisms has become more extreme as aid packages have become smaller in recent months.

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• Both men and women find women providing feedback through male family members most suitable. They also support women-to-women channels;3 around half of the men and women we spoke with say that women should provide feedback to other women in their community. Hotlines remain unpopular, people prefer to speak face-to-face. Women and older people, especially those living in rural areas, lack access to phones.

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• Communities are motivated to help ensure vulnerable women benefit from aid. This can include selecting women from their community to support organisations to engage with women in the community, and allocating men to collect aid on behalf of women who could otherwise not access aid. Gaps in aid that is responsive to the specific differences and varying needs of women and men predate the ban on women in NGOs. Organisations often lack the capacity, knowledge, and resources to adequately design and implement such programming.