Ruby Ajanee
FOCUS Afghanistan
House 538, Street 7, Qala-e-Fatullah
Kabul, Afghanistan
Tel: +93 79 934 5001
focusafghanistan@focushumanitarian.org
ruby.ajanee@focushumanitarian.org
anisa.premji@focushumanitarian.org
REQUIRED: Please describe in less than 800 words the initiative that is being nominated
to reduce the impact of disasters and build disaster resilience, what the results are to date,
who are involved, and the level of outreach. State the challenges you are confronting and
the solution you have proposed.
FOCUS’ multi-pronged approach to building disaster resilience and reducing the impact
of disasters starts with communities and moves towards working with local, district,
provincial and national authorities, ensuring sustainability and long-term impact.
Afghanistan is a highly disaster-prone region, with earthquakes, avalanches, floods,
landslides and droughts all acting as potential threats to livelihoods. Despite this, disaster
risk reduction (DRR) is not given the resources required at the national level in order to
address the problem institutionally. To that effect, FOCUS spearheaded the first National
DRR Mainstreaming Workshop in the country, bringing together high-ranked
government officials, NGOs, technical experts and other stakeholders to identify ways in
which to include DRR into policies and programmes.
FOCUS’ credibility in being able to bring together important actors in Afghanistan starts
with the results it has achieved on the ground. Since 2008, it has worked closely with
high-risk communities in conducting risk assessments and developing community maps,
conducting awareness-raising sessions, and identifying and implementing mitigation
projects. It was the first organization to establish Community Emergency Response
Teams (CERTs), who are trained in first aid and search and rescue.
FOCUS engages with local civil society organisations, such as Community Development
Councils, through development organizations like the Aga Khan Foundation, which is
supporting FOCUS to integrate DRR as a component of the National Solidarity
Programme, a government-mandated rural development programme that aims to build
capacity at the grass-root level.
Thus far, FOCUS’ model has been implemented in 306 villages. In a recent evaluation of
selected target areas, the evaluator found that over 90% of the community could identify
safe shelters at higher elevations as a means to escape from disaster and more than 70%
of the respondents indicated that they would clean out the flooding channels prior to the
flooding season. “The CERT members showed high levels of confidence in dealing with
disasters” and were able to answer technical questions without hesitation and voiced their
appreciation on receiving the training.
With respect to targeting school children, FOCUS has also been working with district and
provincial education authorities to implement school safety initiatives. These include: (i)
training school children and teachers about disaster risk, (ii) developing school
preparedness plans, (iii) forming school emergency response teams (SERTs) and (iv)
Ruby Ajanee
FOCUS Afghanistan
House 538, Street 7, Qala-e-Fatullah
Kabul, Afghanistan
Tel: +93 79 934 5001
focusafghanistan@focushumanitarian.org
ruby.ajanee@focushumanitarian.org
anisa.premji@focushumanitarian.org
structurally retrofitting highly vulnerable schools. In a recent evaluation, the evaluator
noted ‘a sense of empowerment was witnessed during the [focus group discussions] with
the students trained in the SERTs programme. They were able to systematically identify
processes to follow during disasters and were able to provide technical input on first aide
measures…” FOCUS has shared its school safety training materials with other NGOs,
and is coordinating with partners to advocate for the development and institutionalization
of a DRR module to be included as part of the national education curriculum.
FOCUS works closely with the District governments and other actors working in the
same target areas in the planning and implementation of its projects, and has also
provided training in disaster assessments and response to reduce the dependency on
FOCUS and other NGOs. It has supported the Provincial Disaster Management
Committee in its areas of operation to manage and coordinate emergency responses, as
well as provided training and heightened awareness on emergency preparedness and the
importance of DRR.
The under-resourcing of key governmental agencies, such as the Afghanistan National
Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), lack of technical capacity of ministries to
incorporate DRR into their policies and programmes and lack of coordination among
DRR stakeholders, remain challenges in Afghanistan. To address these issues, FOCUS
has involved government agencies in all of the trainings it provides at both the local and
national level (such as Emergency Response Management and Risk Analysis), has
supported the government to deliver high-profile events such as DRR Day celebrations
and is providing guidance on the process of effecting policy changes. The National
Workshop on Mainstreaming DRR, which was presented as a joint initiative between
ANDMA, Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development and FOCUS, was the next
important step in the process. Ministry officials expressed interest in moving forward
with the agenda and NGOs committed to providing technical support to continue the
mainstreaming process. The Declaration to Mainstream DRR, which was presented to the
2nd Vice President, demonstrated the commitment of all key stakeholders. The
declaration, once approved, would be in the Afghan Parliament to be discussed to
mandate DRR as a cross cutting issue for all development projects.
History and the results to date highlight the breadth and depth of FOCUS’ model and
approach to DRR, which have developed over the years. FOCUS has demonstrated its
ability to build a consensus amongst various stakeholders, and engage at all levels to raise
awareness of the importance of DRR as a priority issue. Its collaboration, coordination
and support to various stakeholders demonstrate that it is truly ‘acting as one.’