UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the World Bank signed a data sharing agreement. This will strengthen existing data collection processes and enhance technical capacity for a comprehensive analysis of the return process and how best to support the reintegration of returnees over time.

Afghanistan Protection Cluster has released its national Factheet for May! Check it out here: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/64119

UNHCR Afghanistan has released a map of Who is doing What and Where in the provinces of Khost and Paktika. Check it out here: https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/64160

Leaders from the Islamic Republics of Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan along with UNHCR and refugee representatives gathered in Geneva to launch a new Support Platform for the Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees (SSAR) on 16 December on the margins of the inaugural Global Refugee Forum. The platform seeks to i) enhance international solidarity and burden-sharing for the Afghan situation; ii) galvanize additional investments and expand partnerships for coherent humanitarian and development responses; iii) ensure sustained visibility for the Afghan situation.

In line with the Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees (SSAR), and more recently the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), 20 areas have been identified through UNHCR’s protection monitoring and information management activities. The 20 Priority Areas of Return and Reintegration (PARR) have been prioritized based on government planning in the area, including the Citizen’s Charter National Priority Programme, because of the high number of returnees they have absorbed, or because of a range of protection needs the communities may have. In the PARR, 57% of the targeted population are from host communities, many of whom are extremely vulnerable, which helps ensure peaceful co-existence between returnees, IDPs and host communities

Encashment Centres in Kabul, Jalalabad and Kandahar will be closed for the winter break from 1 December 2019 – 1 March 2020. The Encashment Centre in Herat will remain open during for this period. The four Encashment Centres are managed by UNHCR and the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR), and a range of partners provide returnees with important services such as basic health screening and vaccinations for children (provided by Ministry of Public Health with support of UNICEF), mine risk education and awareness (coordinated by the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and the Danish Demining Group/Danish Refugee Council), referral for information and legal assistance to obtain civil documentation, referral of persons with specific needs to partners with specialist expertise or government agencies who provide life-saving assistance.

In 2019, UNHCR has reached more than 1.2 million people including returnees, IDPs and host communities, directly and indirectly, through its programmes. This includes protection monitoring and support to vulnerable individuals, improved community services and infrastructure, distribution of material assistance like tents and core relief items, cash grants for Afghan refugees coming home, vocational training and livelihoods among other activities.

The World Food Programme’s school feeding programme and UNHCR’s school construction programme in Iran help refugee children remain in school and aspire to fulfil their dreams. Investing in refugees’ education and ensuring that refugee children and youth have a chance to flourish, will pay dividends for future peace and security. Nazanin, 11, lives with her mother and eight brothers in a small house in Saveh refugee settlement, in Iran’s central Markazi province. The family fled Afghanistan in 1985 and have been living in Iran since. Nazanin’s mother struggles to support her children’s education after the death of her husband, the family’s sole breadwinner, last year. Nazanin and four of her brothers receive their school feeding items every day.