Islamic Republic of Afghanistan - Enhanced Integrated Framework ...

WHO THE POOR ARE: THEMOST VULNERABLE GROUPSAccording to the Spring 2007 survey approximately10 million Afghans, around 42 percentof the population, live below the poverty lineand do not meet their daily food and non-foodrequirements. While high rates of poverty existamongst Kuchi and rural households, the incidenceof poverty is increasing in urban areasand large city suburbs.Families with a large number of smallchildrenAfghanistan has one of the largest child populationsand the smallest proportion of workingage populations in the world 25 which exposesfamilies with a large number of small childrento economic shocks. Moreover, the countryalso has one of the highest under 5 infant mortalityrates in the world. Children up to fiveyears remain the most vulnerable because theyrequire high quality nutrition as well as otherforms of child care unaffordable to most families.Many rural and urban children are forcedto work to bolster family incomes resulting inwidespread child labor and school drop-outs,“trapping” the children in the endless cycle ofpoverty.Female Headed HouseholdsAccording to 2005 NRVA data, female-headedhouseholds comprise around 2.5% of Afghanhouseholds. These households are typicallyhighly vulnerable to economic shocks, with asignificant number not having a single ablebodied income earner.Disabled, internally displaced and extremelyvulnerable poorAfghanistan has one of the largest rates of disabilityin the world. According to HandicapInternational there are around 800,000 disabledpeople in Afghanistan. The unemploymentrate among these groups is almost 90 percent.The country also has a large number of internallydisplaced persons (IDPs). The high vulnerabilityto natural disasters, ongoing conflictand forceful repatriation of the refugees from25 Working age group is 15-64 years.the neighboring countries contributes to overallpoverty. Increasing migration to cities, job insecurity,indebtedness and the collapse of traditionalsafety nets has placed many urban poorinto extreme poverty.POLICY FRAMEWORK FORPOVERTY REDUCTIONPoverty in Afghanistan is complex and multidimensional.The NRVA surveys reveal theseverity of poverty with one in two Afghansbeing classified as poor. Further, a large numberof people are concentrated close to the povertyline and are highly vulnerable to natural,security and price based shocks.To address this, the policy framework for theANDS will be premised on the following principles:• Promoting pro-poor growth: the Governmentwill tackle poverty first and foremostthrough promoting strong equitable andbroad based private sector led growth. Inparallel, fiscally affordable social protectionsafety nets will be undertaken as part ofregular Government business.• Promoting pro-poor budgeting: the mostimportant sectors impacting on povertyand poverty reduction, including security,education, health, and social protection,will see budget allocations maintained orincreased over the medium term.• Allocating adequate resources to the poorestareas: although past expenditure allocationswere in favor of the pro-poor sectors,actual spending has not always been wellfocused to benefit the poor and vulnerable.• Providing the balanced support to the Kuchis,rural and the urban poor: the majorityof Government and donors interventionshave been aimed at supporting the ruralpoor. Future support to the Kuchis, ruraland urban poor will need to be more balancedbased on levels of poverty.• Focusing on the poorest and most vulnerable:given the huge needs and scarce resourcesof the Government and the internationalcommunity, the poverty reductionstrategy will need to prioritize targeting thepoorest of the poor.The Poverty Profile 33