At the end of 2018, there were nearly 2.6 million IDPs in Afghanistan displaced by conflict and violence, and more than 2.4 million Afghan refugees had fled abroad since 2012. More than 3.3 million Afghan refugees returned between 2012 and 2019, mostly from Pakistan...
JDC Literature Review
Escaping to War: Where to Next? A Research Study on the Challenges of IDP Protection in Afghanistan
A record 653,000 Afghans were internally displaced during 2016, bringing the estimated number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Afghanistan to more than 1.5 million at the end of 2016. Many IDPs have been displaced multiple times. At the same time, the...
Afghanistan’s Displaced People: A Socio-Economic Profile, 2013-2014
This paper analyzes data from the 2013-14 Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey (ALCS) to compare the socio-economic profiles of returned refugees, IDPs, and non-displaced hosts. The survey covers the largest return of Afghans following the fall of the Taliban in 2002,...
Pakistan’s Urban Refugees: Steps towards Self-reliance
Sixty-eight percent of Afghan refugees in Pakistan live outside of camps, mostly in and around major urban centers. Almost all urban refugees in Pakistan are engaged in livelihood activities (transport business, gemstone trading, carpet production), making a...
Applying Camp Management Methods to Urban Displacement in Afghanistan
The shift to out-of-camp urban displacement presents a particular challenge to agencies working within the camp management sector. A desk review, conducted by the Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) Cluster in 2014, found that the camp management approach...
Stuck in the Mud: Urban displacement and tenure security in Kabul’s informal settlements
Kabul is home to over 55,000 IDPs and returned refugees living in around 55 informal settlements, characterized by poor physical condition of shelters and infrastructure, and insecure tenure of residents. This paper examines how insecurity in housing arrangements...
Inter-sectoral Cooperation for Afghan Refugee Education in Iran
There are up to two million undocumented Afghans living in Iran. While documented refugee children have always been able to access public education in Iran, undocumented Afghan children were only granted access to primary education in 2015 through the ‘blue card’...
Feeling Safe Enough to Learn in a Conflict Zone
In protracted displacement crises such as in Afghanistan, children are not only coping with past trauma, but are also experiencing ongoing fear and stress due to distressing experiences in their daily lives. In these contexts, psychosocial programming must depart from...
More is Better: Evaluating the Impact of a Variation in Cash Assistance on the Reintegration Outcomes of Returning Afghan Refugees
This paper examines the impact of cash assistance provided to Afghan refugees returning from Pakistan on household outcomes post-return. Specifically, the authors examine whether Afghan refugees who returned between July 2016 and March 2017 and received a larger...
Unprepared for (Re)integration – Lessons learned from Afghanistan, Somalia, and Syria on Refugee Returns to Urban Areas
This report examines refugee return and reintegration in urban areas of Afghanistan, Somalia and Syria. The analysis is based on key informant interviews, focus group discussions, household case studies, operational case studies, and a literature review. Key points:...