In continued partnership with EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) will be supported to deliver urgently needed life-saving support across 13 provinces of Afghanistan. The SHIELD project will reach over 311,000 Afghans through integrated cash assistance, protection, shelter, winterization and humanitarian mine action programming.
The people of Afghanistan continue to face the challenges presented by years of conflict, economic decline, poverty and escalating climate crisis. In 2025, it is estimated that 22.9 million Afghans will require humanitarian assistance - over half the population. Against this backdrop, the EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) and the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) are continuing their partnership to respond to these crises and provide urgent, life-saving aid. In this new phase of partnership, ECHO has provided US $4.5 million in support to DRC to assist vulnerable and shock-affected people across 13 provinces in Afghanistan through the SHIELD project.
Under SHIELD, over 129,000 Afghans are receiving emergency assistance through a range of integrated programming interventions between May 2024 and April 2026. Cash for food assistance is targeted to support families in hard-to-reach and marginalised communities to address acute food insecurity. This is reinforced by integrated protection activities and humanitarian mine action, keeping communities safe by identifying and clearing explosive ordnance and providing emergency support to victims of accidents.
The project includes an inbuilt mechanism to deliver rapid response to emerging crises. In October 2023, Herat province experienced earthquakes that killed over 1,500 people and reduced thousands of homes to rubble. Such crises are common in Afghanistan, which ranks seventh on the Climate Vulnerability Index, and have devastating consequences for communities that are already managing the consequences of poverty, food insecurity, lack of healthcare access and low resilience to shocks. With the support of this rapid response mechanism, DRC will be able to meet the needs of crisis-affected communities, come what may.
Additionally, under a US $6.5 million top-up awarded in 2024, DRC will be supported to reach an additional 182,000 people, DRC will provide shelter repair assistance to households impacted by flooding and windstorms, in complementarity with winterization activities, ensuring that families have everything they need to withstand the harsh Afghan winters.
Dania Al Sharif, Country Director of DRC Afghanistan stated: “We are thrilled that the on-going support of the EU is allowing DRC to meet the needs of some of the most vulnerable households and families in marginalised and remote communities across Afghanistan. For DRC, this top-up represents a vote of confidence in our capacity to save and sustain lives of those most in need.”
