Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund Annual Report 2023

Donor contributions

Soon reaching its tenth anniversary, the AHF reached an overall donor contribution level of one billion US dollars in 2023, thereby placing it among the three largest OCHA Country-based Pooled Funds globally.

The AHF complements OCHA’s resource mobilization efforts for humanitarian crisis, offering donors an additional avenue to alleviate humanitarian needs at-scale. The AHF became particularly important following the events of August 2021. In 2023, the AHF received donor contributions totaling US$81.6 million, enabling it to provide vital and urgently needed humanitarian assistance to millions of people in Afghanistan through its implementing partners. Against backdrops of increasing needs, deteriorating operating environments, and overall reduction of funding for both humanitarian assistance and basic human needs, the AHF demonstrated its ability to serve as a flexible and reliable funding mechanism for strictly prioritized life-saving humanitarian assistance, enabling initiation and scale-up of the response where necessary.

Donor contributions per year varied since the Fund’s inception in 2014 with exceptional increases in 2021 and 2022. The AHF maintained a broad donor base and their continuing support, especially over the past three years. We appreciate the generous support by the people and Governments of the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Norway, Iceland, Italy the Republic of Korea, Luxembourg and Cyprus, as well as the European Commission (ECHO). Joining the group of UN Member States supporting the AHF over time, the Fund received important contributions also by Portugal and Japan.

A total of US$81.6 million received between January and December 2023, was utilized together with US$34.2 million carried-over from 2022. The AHF reached 16 per cent of its resource mobilization target set at US$498 million (15 per cent of 2022 HRP funding received).

Some 22 per cent ($17.7 million) of funds deposited by donors in 2023 were made available by the end of the first quarter. In quarter two, 38 per cent ($31 million) was made available, followed by 9 per cent ($7.5 million) in quarter three and 28 per cent ($23.2 million) in quarter four. The remaining 3 per cent ($2.2 million) were retroactively assigned from early 2024.

Planned and communicated Donor contributions to the AHF proved crucial in providing ample time to prioritize utilization of the AHF, both strategically and complementarily with other available funding sources.

This was demonstrated also in the joint response to the devastating series of earthquakes in Herat in October 2023, provided by the AHF and CERF and used in complementarity to all other sources of funding.

Maintaining donor support to the AHF and the humanitarian response overall remains crucial also in 2024. The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan (leading the AHF), supported by OCHA, continues to advocate for increased donor support to the AHF, in parallel to funding provided to implementing partners by donors, as well as all other humanitarian financing mechanisms for Afghanistan

Humanitarian Context and Allocations

Afghanistan continues grappling with the consequences of four decades of armed conflict, natural hazards including severe impact of climate change, economic decline resulting in high levels of poverty, and barriers impeding gender equality in all aspects of society, including education of women and girls. A large part of the population of Afghanistan is exposed to increased vulnerability, linked also to severe limitations of the public health system, increase of costs for food and other essential goods, and again required multi-layered humanitarian assistance throughout 2023.

The AHF continued demonstrating its ability to provide fast humanitarian financing support to its implementing partners, particularly in sudden-onset emergencies. The Fund provided two rapid response allocations, completed within 24 and 48 hours respectively. These were the fastest allocations since the Fund’s inception and among the fastest grant allocations in the history of OCHA-managed CBPFs, globally. These allocations included provision of US$4 million for life-saving medical supplies, assisting 25 public hospitals across 15 provinces and $10 million for immediate support to populations affected by a unprecedented series of severe Earthquakes.

All AHF-funded projects were temporarily affected by restrictions placed on female aid workers in late December 2022. Since then and throughout 2023, the AHF worked closely with its implementing partners, providing flexibility such as for project modification and revisions of ongoing projects.