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Update on UNHCR's Shelter Programme

Crisis in Afghanistan, 2 February 2009

UNHCR Kabul Press Information, 2 February 2009

KABUL, Afghanistan, 2 February 2009 – Despite the difficult security conditions prevailing in parts of Afghanistan, UNHCR has completed nearly 100 per cent its shelter programme for the vulnerable returning refugees and internally displaced persons just as the winter weather across the country sets in.

More than 10,000 families- numbering some 60,000 individuals- mainly returnees in the rural provinces of Afghanistan, where a high proportion of returnees have settled down, benefited from the agency's shelter programme.

Launched in 2002, UNHCR's shelter programme is designed to help the most vulnerable households – especially widows, the disabled, or elderly. The shelter beneficiaries are a mix of recent returnees (2008) as well as IDPs.

Last year, UNHCR assisted more than 280,000 registered Afghans to repatriate from neighbouring Pakistan (278,000) and Iran (3,000). Many of them have returned to their places of origin, but some are unable to go back to their villages as they have no land, shelter or job opportunities.

The UNHCR shelter assistance is a community based programme. Eligible families are provided with shelter packages which include essential construction materials such as tools, wooden beams, a door, two window frames and nails to build a two-room house. Each of the 10,000 shelters has cost around 1500 dollars.

The regional breakdown of the shelter allocation in 2008 was as follow: East: 4,200, North: 2,100, Central: 2,100, Southeast: 1,000, West: 500, Central Highland: 100.

Overall, across the country since 2002, more than 180,000 families- around 1.2 million people- who otherwise would have not been able to live in their own homes, have been assisted to rebuild their lives after years of conflict. This is one of the largest UNHCR's programmes in Afghanistan.

UNHCR activities inside Afghanistan including the shelter and reintegration projects will continue in 2009. The shelter programme which has resulted in tangible changes in the lives of poor returnees, will see a further 10,000 shelters constructed in 2009.

UNHCR has allocated some 14 million dollars for its shelter programme in 2009 that will support 10,000 families in building their own shelters. This is expected to benefit approximately 60,000 individuals in provinces where returns remain high and where eligible returnees meet the criteria.

In spite of UNHCR's reintegration efforts such as shelter, water, returnee monitoring, coexistence and income generating projects to help make the return of Afghans sustainable, there are still gaps and there are many settlements sites where recent returnees from Pakistan are living on desolate, desert land and makeshift shelters.

The sustainability of returns and their successful reintegration in Afghanistan has a direct link to the improving economics in rural areas and provision of employment opportunities. Improved security conditions as well as better socio-economic conditions are key influential factors for sustainable return which needs long-term development projects nationwide.

More than 5.6 million Afghans have returned home since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001. Among them, over 4.3.5 million have repatriated with UNHCR assistance, mostly from Pakistan, Iran and other countries.

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Shelter

One of the first things that people need after being forced to flee their homes, whether they be refugees or internally displaced, is some kind of a roof over their head.

Rebuilding Lives in Afghanistan

With elections scheduled in October, 2004 is a crucial year for the future of Afghanistan, and Afghans are returning to their homeland in record numbers. In the first seven months of 2004 alone, more than half a million returned from exile. In all, more than 3.6 million Afghans have returned since UNHCR's voluntary repatriation programme started in 2002.

The UN refugee agency and its partner organisations are working hard to help the returnees rebuild their lives in Afghanistan. Returnees receive a grant to cover basic needs, as well as access to medical facilities, immunisations and landmine awareness training.

UNHCR's housing programme provides tool kits and building supplies for families to build new homes where old ones have been destroyed. The agency also supports the rehabilitation of public buildings as well as programmes to rehabilitate the water supply, vocational training and cash-for-work projects.

Rebuilding Lives in Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Rebuilding a War-Torn Country

The cycle of life has started again in Afghanistan as returnees put their shoulders to the wheel to rebuild their war-torn country.

Return is only the first step on Afghanistan's long road to recovery. UNHCR is helping returnees settle back home with repatriation packages, shelter kits, mine-awareness training and vaccination against diseases. Slowly but surely, Afghans across the land are reuniting with loved ones, reconstructing homes, going back to school and resuming work. A new phase in their lives has begun.

Watch the process of return, reintegration, rehabilitation and reconstruction unfold in Afghanistan through this gallery.

Afghanistan: Rebuilding a War-Torn Country

Home Without Land

Land is hot property in mountainous Afghanistan, and the lack of it is a major reason Afghans in exile do not want to return.

Although landless returnees are eligible for the Afghan government's land allocation scheme, demand far outstrips supply. By the end of 2007, the authorities were developing 14 settlements countrywide. Nearly 300,000 returnee families had applied for land, out of which 61,000 had been selected and 3,400 families had actually moved into the settlements.

Desperate returnees sometimes have to camp in open areas or squat in abandoned buildings. Others occupy disputed land where aid agencies are not allowed to build permanent structures such as wells or schools.

One resilient community planted itself in a desert area called Tangi in eastern Afghanistan. With help from the Afghan private sector and the international community, water, homes, mosques and other facilities have sprouted – proof that the right investment and commitment can turn barren land into the good earth.

Posted on 31 January 2008

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