In Afghanistan, the harsh winter begins and is making the catastrophic humanitarian situation even worse. More than half of the Afghan population is at risk of hunger. We need your support now!

We have watched with great dismay this year the drastic worsening of the situation in Afghanistan, which is now moving toward a humanitarian catastrophe.

The flat economy, ongoing drought, and COVID-19 pandemic have led to a serious food supply situation – one in three people in the country is already starving.

Now the harsh winter begins and the situation becomes even more serious. Recent reports (IPC by FAO & WFP) show that the lives, livelihoods and access to food for 22.8 million people are  seriously threatened. That’s more than half of Afghanistan’s population! 

The expected humanitarian catastrophe threatens 3.2 million children under the age of five. WFP and UNICEF estimate that without action, approximately 1 million children are at risk of dying from severe malnutrition.

As in previous years – and this time more urgently than ever – we are therefore launching a winter emergency relief campaign for Afghanistan. We will support families in need financially or through care packages, depending on their personal needs. We will use any surplus proceeds for our long-term education projects in Afghanistan. In order to protect the people, we are not showing any faces or revealing specific locations. The distribution of relief supplies will be delayed as well.

With your support, we will be able to reach hundreds of families again this year to support them for the coming winter months.

Our work in Afghanistan

In recent years, we have been able to reach more than 35,000 internally displaced people through our emergency reliefs. Our extensive network of local partners helps us ensure that donations reach where they are needed most quickly and directly. This year, we also carried out a campaign for the emergency situation in Afghanistan and the continuation of our education projects. Government funding for development cooperation continues to be suspended, which is why we are more urgently dependent on private donations.

In recent weeks, despite the challenges of the current difficult situation, we have been able to find ways to implement emergency reliefs in Afghanistan and continue work at our construction sites.

As the situation worsens this winter, we are now dependent on donations to continue to implement the emergency relief.

Climate and winter in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is still recovering from the 2018-2019 drought and 2019 floods, while the La Niña weather phenomenon is giving the country a dry 2020-2021 winter season (UN OCHA). Winter in Afghanistan is extremely cold – it can reach minus 30 degrees, especially in mountainous regions where entire villages are cut off from the outside world by snowstorms and have no access to resources or health facilities. Internally displaced people in the country – displaced or fleeing ongoing conflicts and natural disasters – live in camps under precarious conditions in simple mud huts or tents, without any protection from the weather.

We must act now and support the people in need!