Restoring Dignity, Protection and Hope for Families Returning Home
TYPE: Emergency Relief – Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance and Civil Documentation Support (DERF Rapid Response)
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 8 August 2025 – 8 December 2025
GEOGRAPHICAL FOCUS: Herat Province (Herat City and Karokh District)
DONOR: Danish Emergency Relief Fund (DERF) through CISU
IMPLEMENTING PARTNER: Rebuild Aid (Denmark)
LOCAL IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATION: Saifrood Unity and Aid Organization (SUAO)
Project Overview
During 2025, Afghanistan experienced a dramatic increase in the forced return of Afghan nationals from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan. Thousands of families crossed the border each week, many arriving without personal belongings, financial resources or valid identity documents. After years of living abroad, many suddenly found themselves back in Afghanistan with no housing, no income and no immediate support network.
Women, children, older persons, persons with disabilities and female-headed households were among those facing the highest protection risks. Many families were forced to sleep in temporary shelters or overcrowded accommodations while trying to rebuild their lives under extremely difficult circumstances.
Recognising the urgent humanitarian situation, Saifrood Unity and Aid Organization (SUAO), in partnership with Rebuild Aid and with financial support from the Danish Emergency Relief Fund (DERF), implemented a rapid emergency response combining Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) with civil documentation support, enabling families to meet their immediate needs while restoring access to their legal rights and essential public services.
Humanitarian Context
The sudden influx of deported families placed enormous pressure on already vulnerable host communities across Herat Province. Families often arrived after exhausting journeys through border crossings without food, transportation, medicine or safe accommodation.
Many returnees had lost or been separated from their Afghan national identity cards (Tazkira) during deportation procedures. Without legal documentation, they faced significant barriers to accessing healthcare, education, humanitarian assistance, employment opportunities, banking services and freedom of movement.
The response therefore addressed both immediate humanitarian needs and longer-term protection concerns by combining unrestricted cash assistance with legal support.
Target Population
The project reached 280 forcibly deported Afghan families identified as the most vulnerable through transparent vulnerability assessments.
The intervention included:
- Female-headed households
- Families with young children
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Households without income
- Individuals lacking civil documentation
- Families with urgent protection concerns
Distribution locations included:
- 196 families in Herat City
- 84 families in Karokh District
Project Activities
SUAO deployed trained field teams immediately after the project commenced to conduct rapid needs assessments and beneficiary registration.
Major activities included:
- Registration and verification of recently deported families
- Household vulnerability assessments using predefined humanitarian criteria
- Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) enabling families to prioritise their own urgent needs
- Legal counselling regarding civil documentation
- Assistance with replacing or obtaining Afghan Tazkira
- Coordination with local authorities, community elders and relevant humanitarian actors
- Continuous field monitoring throughout implementation
- Post Distribution Monitoring (PDM)
- Community feedback and complaints management
Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance
Rather than providing predetermined relief items, the project delivered unrestricted cash assistance, allowing families to decide how best to respond to their own priorities.
Depending on household circumstances, assistance was used for:
- Temporary shelter
- Food
- Medicine
- Transportation
- Household essentials
- Children’s immediate needs
- Debt repayment related to displacement
This flexible approach respected the dignity and decision-making capacity of affected families while ensuring assistance remained relevant to diverse household needs.
Civil Documentation Support
Legal identity is essential for rebuilding lives after displacement.
SUAO therefore established dedicated support for returnees who had lost access to their Afghan national identity documents.
The project successfully assisted 200 individuals in initiating or completing procedures to obtain or recover their Tazkira through coordination with relevant government institutions.
Restoring civil documentation enabled beneficiaries to regain access to:
- Humanitarian assistance
- Healthcare
- Education
- Employment opportunities
- Banking services
- Freedom of movement
- Other essential government services
Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL)
A comprehensive MEAL framework was integrated throughout the project to ensure assistance remained effective, accountable and responsive to beneficiary needs.
Monitoring activities included:
- Regular field monitoring visits
- Beneficiary verification
- Distribution supervision
- Data quality checks
- Household follow-up visits
- Outcome monitoring
Project information was continuously reviewed to identify implementation challenges, improve operational efficiency and ensure compliance with humanitarian standards and donor requirements.
Lessons learned during implementation have since been incorporated into SUAO’s emergency response procedures, strengthening preparedness for future humanitarian operations.
Post Distribution Monitoring (PDM)
Following each cash distribution, SUAO conducted Post Distribution Monitoring (PDM) with a representative sample of beneficiary households.
The objective was to understand:
- How cash assistance had been used
- Whether assistance met priority household needs
- Beneficiary satisfaction
- Protection concerns
- Accessibility of the assistance process
- Any unintended consequences or implementation gaps
PDM findings showed that beneficiaries primarily spent the assistance on food, temporary accommodation, transportation, medicine and other urgent household expenses.
Most participants reported that unrestricted cash assistance allowed them to make informed decisions according to their own circumstances and significantly reduced immediate financial stress during the critical first weeks following deportation.
The findings also provided valuable recommendations that informed future programming and strengthened SUAO’s cash assistance methodologies.
Accountability to Affected Populations
SUAO maintained a strong commitment to accountability throughout the project.
Beneficiaries received clear information regarding:
- Eligibility criteria
- Selection procedures
- Distribution schedules
- Complaint and feedback channels
- Confidentiality of personal information
Community members were able to submit feedback, suggestions and complaints through established accountability mechanisms.
All feedback was documented, reviewed and addressed according to SUAO’s Complaints and Feedback Mechanism, contributing to greater transparency, community trust and continuous programme improvement.
Protection and Safeguarding
Protection considerations were integrated across all project activities.
Field teams received guidance on safeguarding principles, confidentiality and respectful engagement with vulnerable populations.
Special attention was given to:
- Female-headed households
- Children
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Individuals lacking family support
The project promoted safe, dignified and equitable access to assistance while respecting humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.
Results
The project successfully achieved its objectives by providing immediate humanitarian assistance while supporting longer-term recovery.
Key achievements included:
- 280 deported families received Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance.
- 196 families were supported in Herat City.
- 84 families received assistance in Karokh District.
- 200 individuals received support to obtain or recover their Tazkira.
- Immediate risks of homelessness, hunger and secondary displacement were significantly reduced.
- Families regained greater access to public services and legal rights.
- SUAO strengthened its institutional capacity in cash programming, protection, MEAL, accountability and emergency response.
Humanitarian Impact
The project demonstrated that rapid, locally led humanitarian action can restore dignity and stability for families experiencing forced displacement.
By combining unrestricted cash assistance with civil documentation support, the intervention addressed both immediate survival needs and the underlying barriers preventing families from rebuilding their lives.
Beyond assisting 280 vulnerable families, the project strengthened SUAO’s organisational systems in humanitarian coordination, accountability, MEAL, protection and cash programming. The experience enhanced the organisation’s preparedness to respond to future emergencies and reinforced the value of partnerships between local organisations, diaspora-led initiatives and international donors.
The collaboration between Saifrood Unity and Aid Organization (SUAO), Rebuild Aid, and the Danish Emergency Relief Fund (DERF) demonstrates how locally driven humanitarian action, supported by international partnerships, can deliver timely, accountable and life-saving assistance to vulnerable communities across Afghanistan.