Providing timely, dignified cash assistance to families displaced by armed conflict in Khost Province
TYPE: Emergency Relief – Unrestricted Cash Assistance under the DERF Rapid Response Mechanism
IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD: 8 February 2026 – 8 June 2026
GEOGRAPHICAL FOCUS: Alisher and Gurbuz Districts, Khost Province, Afghanistan
DONOR: Danish Emergency Relief Fund (DERF), administered by CISU
GRANT HOLDER: Rebuild Aid Forening, Denmark
LOCAL IMPLEMENTING ORGANISATION: Saifrood Unity and Aid Organization (SUAO)
TARGET GROUP: 350 conflict-displaced and highly vulnerable families across 11 affected communities
Project Overview
Escalating armed clashes and insecurity along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border forced hundreds of families to leave their homes and seek safety in Khost Province. Families arriving in Alisher and Gurbuz Districts had experienced sudden displacement, interruption of livelihoods and loss of access to food, healthcare, shelter and other essential services.
Many displaced households had left their communities with little time to prepare or carry personal belongings. Their ability to meet basic needs was further limited by disrupted local markets, reduced income opportunities and uncertainty about when they would be able to return home.
Women, children, older persons, persons with disabilities and female-headed households faced particularly serious protection and economic risks.
In response, Saifrood Unity and Aid Organization implemented a rapid emergency intervention in partnership with Rebuild Aid Forening and with financial support from the Danish Emergency Relief Fund. The project provided unrestricted cash assistance to 350 conflict-displaced families across 11 communities in Alisher and Gurbuz Districts.
The assistance enabled each family to prioritise its most urgent needs while maintaining dignity, choice and control during a highly uncertain period.
Humanitarian Context
Border communities in Khost Province experienced severe disruption as armed clashes damaged livelihoods, restricted movement and forced families to leave their homes.
Displaced households faced several overlapping humanitarian challenges:
- Loss of regular income and livelihood opportunities
- Limited access to food and essential household supplies
- Inadequate temporary shelter
- Difficulty accessing medicine and healthcare
- Transportation costs associated with displacement
- Separation from community and family support networks
- Increased debt and financial pressure
- Protection risks affecting women, children and vulnerable individuals
- Uncertainty about return, relocation and longer-term recovery
The sudden nature of the displacement left many families with little capacity to meet even their most immediate needs. A rapid and flexible response was therefore essential to prevent further deterioration.
Geographic Coverage
The intervention reached 11 conflict-affected communities in:
- Alisher District
- Gurbuz District
These areas received displaced households from border locations affected by armed clashes and insecurity.
SUAO’s local field access and relationships with community structures enabled the project to identify affected settlements, reach vulnerable families and maintain communication throughout implementation.
Target Population
The project supported 350 conflict-displaced families assessed as facing severe humanitarian vulnerability.
Priority was given to households including:
- Women and female-headed families
- Young children
- Older persons
- Persons with disabilities
- Individuals with serious medical needs
- Households without regular income
- Families lacking adequate temporary shelter
- Families with limited community or family support
- Households that had received little or no other assistance
- Families facing heightened protection concerns
Beneficiary selection was based on documented humanitarian need rather than political, ethnic, personal or community affiliation.
Rapid Needs Assessment and Registration
SUAO deployed field teams to the affected communities to conduct household registration, needs assessments and vulnerability verification.
The assessment process examined:
- Circumstances and timing of displacement
- Household size and composition
- Shelter conditions
- Access to food and drinking water
- Income and livelihood status
- Health and medical needs
- Presence of children, older persons or persons with disabilities
- Access to other humanitarian assistance
- Protection concerns
- Ability to meet immediate household expenses
Information was reviewed and cross-checked in coordination with community representatives and relevant local authorities to support fair and transparent selection.
Community consultation contributed important local knowledge, while SUAO retained responsibility for applying the vulnerability criteria and verifying final beneficiary eligibility.
Unrestricted Cash Assistance
The project provided emergency unrestricted cash assistance to all 350 selected families.
Rather than distributing identical relief packages, the cash-based approach recognised that displaced households had different priorities.
Depending on their circumstances, families could use the assistance for:
- Food and drinking water
- Temporary shelter or accommodation
- Medicine and healthcare
- Transportation
- Clothing and essential household items
- Children’s immediate needs
- Crisis-related debt
- Other urgent expenses associated with displacement
The unrestricted modality enabled affected families to make decisions according to their own needs and circumstances.
This approach supported dignity and self-reliance while reducing dependence on externally determined assistance packages that might not have addressed each household’s actual priorities.
Key Project Activities
The intervention included:
- Rapid assessments in conflict-affected and displacement-receiving communities
- Registration and verification of displaced households
- Vulnerability-based beneficiary selection
- Community awareness and information-sharing
- Delivery of unrestricted emergency cash assistance
- Coordination with provincial and district authorities
- Engagement with community elders and development councils
- Monitoring of cash delivery and beneficiary receipt
- Post-distribution follow-up
- Complaints and feedback management
- Protection-sensitive engagement with vulnerable households
- Documentation of results, challenges and operational learning
Community Engagement
SUAO maintained close communication with affected communities throughout the project.
Before the delivery of assistance, beneficiaries and community representatives received information about:
- The purpose of the project
- Eligibility and vulnerability criteria
- Registration and verification procedures
- The nature of the cash assistance
- Distribution arrangements
- Beneficiary rights
- Complaints and feedback channels
- Prohibition of fees, favours or unofficial payments
Community engagement helped reduce misinformation, manage expectations and strengthen confidence in the selection and delivery processes.
It also provided opportunities for families to raise concerns, clarify procedures and contribute feedback on implementation.
Coordination with Local Stakeholders
The project was implemented in coordination with:
- Provincial authorities
- Alisher and Gurbuz district officials
- Relevant security and administrative institutions
- Community elders
- Community development councils
- Local representatives
- Other relevant humanitarian stakeholders
Coordination supported access to affected locations, verification of displacement information and safe organisation of project activities.
It also helped reduce the risk of duplication and improved communication between humanitarian actors, authorities and displaced communities.
Protection and Safeguarding
Protection considerations were integrated throughout registration, verification, cash delivery and follow-up.
Special attention was given to households whose members could face barriers in accessing assistance, including women-headed households, older persons and persons with disabilities.
The project sought to ensure that:
- Assistance was provided impartially and respectfully
- Vulnerable individuals could participate safely
- Personal information was handled confidentially
- No beneficiary was required to provide payment or favours
- Distribution arrangements did not expose families to unnecessary risk
- Complaints could be submitted safely and confidentially
- Safeguarding, exploitation and abuse concerns were referred through appropriate channels
- Assistance did not contribute to discrimination or community tension
These measures supported safer and more equitable access to humanitarian assistance.
Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning
SUAO integrated a structured Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning framework throughout the project.
Monitoring activities included:
- Verification of household registration data
- Review of vulnerability assessments
- Monitoring of assistance delivery
- Confirmation of beneficiary receipt
- Field visits to affected communities
- Follow-up interviews with selected households
- Review of access and protection concerns
- Monitoring of complaints and feedback
- Documentation of implementation challenges
- Analysis of lessons for future emergency interventions
The purpose of monitoring was not to control how families used unrestricted cash. Instead, it assessed whether assistance was delivered safely, fairly and efficiently and whether it helped households respond to urgent needs.
Information gathered through the MEAL process supported programme quality, donor accountability and institutional learning within SUAO.
Post-Distribution Monitoring
Following the delivery of assistance, SUAO conducted post-distribution follow-up with beneficiary households.
The Post-Distribution Monitoring process examined:
- Whether beneficiaries received the intended assistance
- Whether the delivery process was safe and accessible
- Whether families experienced barriers or delays
- The main categories of needs addressed through the cash
- Beneficiary satisfaction with registration and delivery
- Awareness of complaints and feedback mechanisms
- Any protection, fraud or safeguarding concerns
- Remaining humanitarian needs
- Recommendations for improving future cash responses
The monitoring process helped SUAO assess the relevance and accessibility of the intervention while identifying areas for future improvement.
Verified PDM findings may be incorporated into the project page or final learning materials when the complete analysis is available.
Accountability to Affected Populations
Accountability to affected communities was maintained throughout the project cycle.
Beneficiaries received clear information regarding:
- Selection criteria
- Assistance procedures
- Distribution arrangements
- Their entitlement to receive assistance without charge
- Confidentiality of their personal information
- Available reporting and feedback channels
Affected families could submit questions, feedback or complaints through SUAO’s established Complaints and Feedback Mechanism.
Feedback was documented and reviewed according to its nature and sensitivity. Serious concerns relating to fraud, corruption, exploitation, abuse or staff misconduct were handled through confidential and authorised reporting pathways.
This approach recognised displaced families not merely as recipients of assistance, but as individuals with the right to information, participation and accountability.
Main Results
The intervention achieved the following results:
- 350 conflict-displaced families received emergency unrestricted cash assistance.
- Families across 11 communities in Alisher and Gurbuz Districts were reached.
- Households gained greater ability to meet immediate needs including food, shelter, healthcare, transportation and household expenses.
- Vulnerable families maintained greater dignity and choice during displacement.
- Immediate risks of hunger, inadequate shelter and further humanitarian deterioration were reduced.
- Transparent registration and verification strengthened community confidence.
- Protection considerations improved access for women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities.
- Community feedback and monitoring supported accountable implementation.
- SUAO strengthened its capacity in emergency cash programming, MEAL, PDM, beneficiary verification and humanitarian coordination.
Humanitarian Impact
The intervention provided immediate financial relief to families who had been displaced by armed conflict and had lost access to their normal sources of income and support.
Cash assistance gave households the flexibility to respond to their own priorities. A family requiring medicine could seek healthcare, while another could purchase food, secure temporary shelter or pay for transport.
For women-headed households, older persons and families caring for persons with disabilities, this flexibility was particularly important because their needs could not always be addressed through standardised relief packages.
The assistance helped reduce the risk that families would be forced to:
- Sell remaining productive assets
- Take on unsustainable debt
- Reduce food consumption
- Neglect healthcare needs
- Move again under unsafe conditions
- Depend on harmful or exploitative coping mechanisms
The intervention therefore supported both immediate survival and the protection of household dignity during displacement.
Locally Led Humanitarian Response
SUAO led implementation through its local teams, operational experience and community relationships in Khost Province.
Its responsibilities included:
- Field assessments
- Beneficiary registration and verification
- Community engagement
- Coordination with local stakeholders
- Cash-assistance delivery arrangements
- Monitoring and household follow-up
- Complaints and feedback management
- Post-Distribution Monitoring
- Protection-sensitive implementation
- Documentation and reporting
SUAO’s local presence supported faster access, greater community acceptance and a response adapted to the realities of conflict-displaced families.
Partnership
The project combined the complementary strengths of its partners.
Saifrood Unity and Aid Organization led field implementation, community engagement, beneficiary assessment, assistance delivery, monitoring and accountability.
Rebuild Aid Forening served as the Danish grant holder and provided grant management, donor compliance, financial oversight and technical support.
DERF, administered by CISU, provided the rapid and flexible humanitarian financing required to respond during the critical period following displacement.
The partnership demonstrated how international emergency funding, diaspora engagement and local humanitarian leadership can work together to reach vulnerable communities efficiently and accountably.
Institutional Strengthening and Sustainability
Although the project was designed as a short-term emergency intervention, it strengthened local humanitarian systems and capacities that continue beyond the project period.
The intervention enhanced SUAO’s experience in:
- Conflict-sensitive programming
- Unrestricted cash assistance
- Displacement assessments
- Beneficiary verification
- Community accountability
- Protection mainstreaming
- Coordination with local authorities
- MEAL and Post-Distribution Monitoring
- Complaints and feedback management
- Emergency preparedness
The systems and learning developed through the project will support faster and more effective responses to future displacement and conflict-related emergencies.
The project also strengthened working relationships between SUAO, local authorities and community structures, contributing to more coordinated humanitarian action in Khost Province.
Lessons Learned
Unrestricted cash supports dignity and relevance
Conflict-displaced households have different needs. Flexible cash assistance enables each family to prioritise the expenses most important to its safety and recovery.
Local access is essential in rapidly changing emergencies
SUAO’s local presence and community relationships enabled timely assessments and direct communication with affected families.
Transparent selection strengthens community confidence
Clear criteria, household verification and community information reduce misunderstanding and help assistance reach those facing the most serious risks.
Protection must be integrated throughout implementation
Women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities may experience particular barriers and require deliberate measures to ensure equitable access.
Post-distribution monitoring strengthens future responses
Follow-up after cash delivery provides critical information about accessibility, satisfaction, protection concerns and remaining needs.
Accountability is more than reporting
Affected communities must receive information, have opportunities to participate and be able to raise concerns safely throughout the project cycle.
Strong partnerships enable rapid action
The combination of DERF funding, Rebuild Aid’s grant management and SUAO’s local capacity made it possible to respond quickly in a complex border environment.
Conclusion
The project “Emergency Response for Conflict-Displaced Families Along the Afghanistan–Pakistan Border” provided timely and dignified assistance to 350 vulnerable families across 11 communities in Alisher and Gurbuz Districts.
Through unrestricted cash assistance, transparent beneficiary selection, protection-sensitive implementation, community engagement, MEAL, Post-Distribution Monitoring and accessible accountability mechanisms, the project helped displaced households meet urgent needs and regain a degree of control during a period of instability.
The intervention demonstrated the importance of locally led humanitarian action and showed how strong partnerships can deliver effective emergency support in fragile and conflict-affected border communities.
Through the collaboration between Saifrood Unity and Aid Organization, Rebuild Aid Forening and DERF/CISU, affected families received assistance that reduced immediate hardship, protected dignity and supported their first steps towards stability and recovery.