81268682 — Water Management and Capacity Building

In the past 30 years, Afghanistan has been experiencing civil war and violent conflicts which have led to an increased vulnerability of the rural and urban population. More than 55 % of Afghanistan's people live in extreme poverty, more than 10 000 000 people suffer from natural disasters and over 3 500 000 suffer from food insecurity, making Afghanistan the country with the second highest fatality rate related to disasters worldwide. In 2018 alone, more than 4 000 000 people were affected by disasters, especially because 2018 was a drought prone year that led to a major livelihood crisis by limiting food production and depleting farmers and livestock keepers assets and livelihoods. Weather experts predict an extremely dry year for 2021, too. The project provides structural support to the rural population in strengthening their resilience to recurring dry periods and landslides and makes a contribution to reducing poverty. The project starts with the construction of water storages and the sustainable management (structural and economic) and smaller rural infrastructure measures to directly improve the livelihood of the population. The focus of the implementation is on the sub-national government and administrative levels in order to ensure sustainability and to strengthen the trust of the local population in the functionality of government structures. Through advice, small structural infrastructure measures and capacity development, the project helps to reduce the effects of climate change by increasing the adaptive capacity and resilience of the population. The contractor is responsible for implementing the following outputs: Output 1: Access to and capacities for the management of water reservoirs in selected districts of Badakhshan province have been improved. In the context of Output 1, the access to and capacities for the management of water storages in the intervention area will be improved. For this purpose, local structures will be enabled to assess the needs of the population for water supply in the project communities. Building on the results of the needs assessment and in close cooperation with the local administrative structures, construction measures for the water infrastructure are planned. Local craftsmen (carpenters, plumbers and masons) are enabled to build and renovate cisterns through introductory training and on-the-job qualification for special challenges in cistern construction in the earthquake area. Output 2: The basic village infrastructure and capacities to protect particularly vulnerable communities against natural disasters have been improved. Output 2 aims at improving basic village infrastructure and capacities to protect particularly vulnerable communities against natural disasters. It is based on the recommendations of the risk analyses (Output 3) and adds to the measures of Output 1. The conflict-sensitive implementation of small-scale measures for the rehabilitation or stabilisation of basic, rural, social and productive infrastructure in villages particularly at risk from natural disasters includes analyses, advice, provision of building materials and training. Output 3: The capacity of local DRR (Disaster Risk Reduction) authorities is strengthened. Output 3 is directed towards improving the capacities of the local disaster management authorities. Subnational administrative units are enabled to protect communities threatened by natural disasters through disaster prevention measures, the provincial and district administration as well as the provincial office of the national authorities are supported by advisory services in the preparation of demand-oriented risk analyses for endangered communities in selected districts. The analyses are based on existing risk maps and are supplemented on site by expert analyses of the physical threats from natural events (risk assessment) and the analysis of societal susceptibility (vulnerability assessment).