SAK kärnstöd 2023-2025

The decree imposed on July 11th, 2023, for SCA operations and all Swedens activities to be suspended due to the burning of the Holy Quran in Sweden, has led to an unprecedent crisis, which remained unresolved up to the end of 2023. The exclusion of girls and women from the basic rights to participate in society such as education above grade six, working in International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs), restrictions of free movements outside in public places, and the abrupt decree to nationalise all education activities implemented by INGOs, significantly disrupted SCAs work. The second half of the year was a time of intense engagements and negotiations with the ministries and high leadership of the De-Facto Authorities (DFA), while keeping implementation, to the extent possible and without doing harm, in line with the Strategic Plan 2023-2025. Despite the ban on activities, SCA could continue most of its work thanks to fruitful relationships and cooperation with local authorities, finding common ground without sacrificing while safeguarding the vision, mission, and values of SCA. SCA struggled to keep the activities ongoing but deviations from the Annual Work Plan were significant due to the restrictions and the suspension. All the while, thousands of people were denied their human rights, girls could not continue their education through grades 7-12, and large numbers of people with disability were affected when 3 out of 4 SCA rehabilitation centres closed in July, following the suspension. Delays in evaluations, studies, and assessments were prominent. The endline evaluation for SCA Strategic Plan (2018-2022) and the baseline for the current Strategic Plan (2023-25) were both delayed till 2024 as the suspension began in early July, blocking access to needed field visits for data collection. Where data collection has not been possible the results for 2023 were substantiated by field observations and informal discussions among the target communities. At the same time, SCA can report many accomplishments during the year. Below is but a few highlights: HEALTH: Despite the challenges, health facilities were kept operational. The rights of women to employment were supported through systematic advocacy and all supported health facilities had at least one woman health professional employed. Over 2.5 million health care visits in Wardak and Nooristan provinces were recorded, of which 55,4 percent by women. The rights of the most disadvantaged population groups to health services were protected through several programs as were rights of disabled persons to rehabilitation and inclusive environment. 10,264 persons with disabilities (4,080 women) and their family members were reached with disabilities orientation sessions and therapy at home. In addition, SCA provided health services to returning refugees from Iran and Pakistan in the Torkham camp. Through Learning for Healthy Life (LHL) approaches womens rights to make informed decisions about their health was protected and women empowered to share their knowledge with family members and peers. SCA continued to adapt best health practices of the target population to prevent disease and improve early health seeking behaviours. EDUCATION: Following the ban on secondary education for girls SCA paused its support to boys secondary education in Community-Based Education (CBE) and mainstream schools to avoid discrimination against girls. The pause affected 4,883 students (4,334 girls) out of whom 1,008 were students with disabilities (450 girls). A total of 127,000 (66% girls) students in 3,600 CBE and coaching classes still benefited from educational support provided by SCA and gross enrolment rate increased to 74.5 % (girls 67%, boys 81%). However, by the end of the year, the number of CBE classes supported by SCA had decreased from 3,600 to 2,700 due to the imposed localisation process. Moreover, SCA provided preparatory education, literacy training, or early intervention services to a total of 3,277 individuals with disabilities (1,317 girls). The quality of preparatory education was enhanced through provision of conducive learning, development of appropriate learning materials, integration of children with disabilities into mainstream schools and capacity building of teachers and SCA staff. Through support to SMSs SCA managed to keep its CBE and Coaching Classes running. RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND LIVELIHOODS: Vocational skills trainings, business support and provision of loans improved the livelihoods of targeted populations, including many women. SCA continued with its Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), livelihood, and governance related interventions, although implementation and monitoring were impacted because of ban on women staff and the suspension. The achievements were lower than planned. Despite the constraints, SCA provided demand-driven vocational and entrepreneurial skills to the saving groups in which cumulatively more than 26,000 members (60% women) were reached through SCAs support. Promotion of access to markets for producers and savings groups strengthened the saving and producer groups linkages with market actors and business service providers. SCA specifically targeted smallholders or poor farmers to improve their production and income by assisting them with skills, input, and market access. Under the disability programme, SCA organised vocational training and provided interest-free loans to improve the livelihood of persons with disabilities. A total of 132,073 community people (84,743 women) had access to safe drinking water (64% of the target) while out of 2,305 planned households, 1,090 received access to safe sanitation facilities (latrines). SCA also implemented environment, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation related activities to safeguard the environment, reduce vulnerabilities and improve disaster preparedness and response in the targeted communities. Programme staff continued to work with CBOs including CDCs, and disaster management or resilience committees, to promote and strengthen citizen participation, governance, and social cohesion.

SCA has submitted a transition plan for the period March 15 to July 15. The overall objectives of the transition period is to: 1. Negotiate with the DFA regarding the reopening of SCA, either in the form of the Solidarity Committee for Afghanistan or as a national non-governmental organization, 2. Enter into partnerships with other organizations that can take over activities that otherwise risk being closed permanently, with serious consequences for the target groups, 3. Contingency planning for hibernation/phasing out, which is carried out if none of the tracks above have yielded results by July 15, 2024. The strategic intervention areas and main outcomes in the Strategic Plan 2023-2025 are specified below. SCA has submitted a programme overview which outlines how the different programmes in the Strategic Plan 2023-2025 have been affected by the current situation and how SCA proposes that they are managed ahead. This is described in Sida's assessment of the interventions objectives. Strategic Intervention Areas 1. Health Outcome 1.1: Access to health, nutrition, and integrated rehabilitation services improved in the target groups. Outcome 1.2: Quality of health, nutrition and integrated rehabilitation services improved. Outcome 1.3: Health, nutrition, and rehabilitation behaviour of SCA target groups improved. Outcome 1.4: Improved capacity of community-based organisations, professional associations and CSOs to promote participation of target groups. Outcome 1.5: Improved health system at national and sub-national level. 2. Education Outcome 2.1: Access to safe, protective, and inclusive education in SCA target education settings improved. Outcome 2.2: Quality of education in SCA target education settings improved. Outcome 2.3: Management of education at national, provincial, and school levels improved. Outcome 2.4: Influence of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Professional Associations and Rights holders in education improved. 3. Rural Development Outcome 3.1: Improved livelihoods of SCA target groups. Outcome 3.2: Increased disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA) capacity of SCA target groups. Outcome 3.3: Improved capacity of community-based organisations and civil society organisations to enhance target group participation, equitable access to services and community resilience. 4. Building Commitment Outcome 4.1: Increased political commitment for the rights of the people in Afghanistan Outcome 4.2. Increased public support for the rights of the people in Afghanistan No funds are included in this core support for the area of building commitment.