81271103-Strengthening Education and Health Services for Refugees and Host Communities in Pakistan

Brief Description of the ‘Strengthening education and health services for refugees and host communities in Pakistan’ Project (EHS) For almost 40 years, Pakistan has been one of the countries hosting the most refugees worldwide. Despite the increased return of Afghans to their home country since 2002, Pakistan still hosts about 2.8 million Afghan refugees. 58 % of them live in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (KP). Only 31 % of the refugees live in refugee villages. Outside of these, in host communities, the presence of refugees leads to increased demand and pressure on the already insufficient supply of public services. The local population and Afghan refugees enter into a competitive situation. The provincial distribution of funds to local governments does not take into account the number of Afghan refugees in the host communities. The current Covid-19 situation poses another challenge. Reduced income opportunities, the overburdening of health care systems and difficult access to education worsen the living conditions of the population groups living in precarious conditions. The overburdened public administrative structures in KP hence provide only insufficient access to services in these sectors for vulnerable Afghan refugees and members of host communities, especially women, children, youth and people with disabilities. EHS therefore aims at improving the access to public services in the health and education sectors for vulnerable Afghan refugees and members of host communities in selected districts. The project's strategy to achieve this is based on capacity development at the micro and meso levels, complemented by selective measures at the macro level. The implementation focus is at the district level to strengthen the role of both service providers and the political partner, the Commissioner for Afghan Refugees (CAR) in KP (beyond refugee villages) in the area of access to education and health services for vulnerable Afghan refugees and members of host communities. At the individual level, the project strengthens the strategic competencies of relevant actors in public administration and service delivery as well as civil society in conducting participatory planning processes and addressing vulnerability. These competencies are effective at the municipal and district level, but also contribute to the more effective design and implementation of policies and planning processes at the provincial level. At the organizational level, the project supports capacities to develop demand-driven public service delivery using participatory approaches. Sustainable institutional anchoring is achieved through the use and capacity development of already existing training institutes of the institutions. By supporting the clarification of roles and responsibilities between administrative levels, the project strengthens change processes of the administration. By promoting social dialogue processes, it contributes to capacity building at the societal level. The exchange of learning and experience supports multiplier effects. The project concept is based on improving access to social services for disadvantaged population groups. The project advises partners on developing procedures for administration and service provision that meet the criteria of transparency, efficiency and citizen orientation. Capacity building aims at gender-sensitive and inclusive implementation of relevant planning processes and service delivery. The project implements this strategy within 3 Outputs. Output 1 and Output 2 aim to sensitize government actors in the education (Output 1) and health (Output 2) sectors to the needs of vulnerable Afghan refugees and members of host communities. Improved cooperation between the CAR and subnational governance structures (Output 3), improves the incorporation of the needs of both Afghan and Pakistani vulnerable groups, especially women and girls.