INSO/International NGO Safety Organisation Afghanistan 2022-2024

Sida provided core support to INSOs intervention in Afghanistan between April 2022 and March 2025. INSOs reporting on achieved results focused on output targets and INSO reported that the output targets set for the first and second Avslutspromemoria Completion Memo Contribution ID: 15440 2 (8) year of implementation were met and that the output targets set for the last year of implementation were partially met, since INSOs operations in Afghanistan were suspended by the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) in September 2024. The project implementation in the last year was therefore limited to six months in total. INSO Afghanistan's core purpose was to support nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) with security analysis, information and capacity development. INSO had 287 NGOs registered to receive services as of January 2022. When INSOs operation in Afghanistan was suspended in September 2024, there were 221 NGOs registered. INSO explained that the decrease in the number of registered NGOs during the grant period was due to the removal of inactive NGOs in their register during the grant. Inactive NGOs were organisations that had not updated their profile in INSOs register in the last twelve months. INSO also stated that the decrease could be due to the cease of operations of some NGOs during the grant period. 38% of the registered NGOs were local and the rest were international NGOs. INSO explained that the difference in registration rate between national and international organisations in Afghanistan could be due to two reasons. The first being the eligibility requirements to register for the services, to ensure that the information provided by INSO was used exclusively for humanitarian purposes, and the difficulties for some communitybased local NGOs to meet these requirements. Language barriers might also have played a role, since all reports were published in English and not in Persian or Pashto, because of safety reasons. INSO deemed that publication of reports in local languages would have increased the risk of reports being unduly distributed to other types of actors, defying their intended purpose and potentially negatively impacting both INSOs and the registered organisations access. INSO however considered this barrier as limited, since a majority of the training sessions was conducted in local languages (198 out of 221 training sessions conducted from April 2022 to September 2024), as well as most inperson meetings, depending on the organisations needs. Around 9% of the participants in INSOs trainings worked at local NGOs. Sida identified a severely limited operating space to implement safety and security trainings for women in Afghanistan as one of the risks in the contribution, due to the de facto authorities aggressions towards women. 15% of the participants in INSOs inperson and online trainings between April 2022 and September 2024 were women. By providing online trainings, INSO managed to increase the outreach to women, particularly to female workers employed by local NGOs. In 2023, the number of female training participants more than doubled as compared to 2022, despite the de facto authorities ban on female workers in December 2022, prohibiting them from working with local and international NGOs. INSO provided training sessions delivered by nationally Avslutspromemoria Completion Memo Contribution ID: 15440 3 (8) recruited female training officers which included personal safety and security trainings designed specifically for national female NGO staff. In 2023, INSO conducted two such inperson sessions, along with online trainings tailored to the needs and concerns of Afghan women working in the humanitarian sector. However, INSO reported that the online delivery modality was not suitable to all types of training courses and that it was only possible to offer the training on introduction to safety and security online, which was the training with the highest percentage of female participants. Women participated in 78 out of the 221 trainings held during the grant period and some types of trainings had no female participants at all. INSO also occasionally conducted ad hoc security roundtable meetings, where issues related to womens rights and their impact on the safety and security of female NGO staff were discussed. These sessions sought to contextualise risks specific to female aid workers within the broader security environment. When it comes to higher level objectives in the theory of change, there was one expected result of INSOs intervention in Afghanistan set beyond the outputs Humanitarian organisations in Afghanistan have access to timely, reliable, and highquality safety services that help them plan, operate, and deliver aid more safely. The indicator and target for this overall objective was More than 70% of NGO respondents agree that INSO services help them plan, operate and deliver aid more safely. INSO included a question in a survey sent on two occasions during the grant period to NGOs who participated in INSOs services on whether the organisations agreed with the statement "INSO services help my organisation deliver projects more safely to measure the overall objective. 96% of the consulted organisations responded that they agree or strongly agree with the statement in 2023, and 95% of respondents replied the same in 2024.

Theory of Change: IF NGO partners utilise INSO services, THEN they will have better contextual awareness and understanding, allowing them to anticipate risks, make better decisions and ultimately operate and deliver aid more safely. Outcome: Humanitarian and development organisations in Afghanistan have access to timely, reliable, and high-quality safety services that help them plan, operate and deliver aid more safely. Outputs: O1. Information, Analysis and Advice NGOs are provided with objective and reliable security information and advice. O2. Security Management, Preparedness and Capacity Development - NGOs are supported in developing their individual security management preparedness and capacity through direct support and training.