Almost a million beneficiaries, a turnover over 16 million USD and 1,038 staff members.

Almost a million beneficiaries, a turnover over 16 million USD and 1,038 staff members. This is the short version of DACAAR in 2018.

The number of beneficiaries increased significantly compared to 2017 where the number was 659,602. Helping the drought victims and addressing other emergencies are the main reasons for the increase.

260,725 of our beneficiaries were Internally Displaced People (IDPs), 250,826 returnees, 1,007 refugees and 470,950 from host communities.

Donors and partners
In 2018, new grant agreements helped to ensure DACAAR continual support from Danida and the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The funding will meet the longer term humanitarian and developmental needs of our beneficiaries.

Our ECHO funded Emergency Response Mechanism (ERM) project was also extended to consolidate our long-term partnership and to help ECHO reach the increasing number of IDP’s WASH needs.

During the year, we enjoyed the continuation of the important partnership with UNICEF which has helped both of our organisations lead the way

for the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector by co-leading the WASH Cluster and by providing technical capacity building to the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), NGO partners and the private sector.

As a shift in our approach, we have now moved into consortiums as well.

The challenges
The security situation in Afghanistan remains challenging.

In 2018, we faced access problems due to the unstable security situation. Also, it is difficult to retain qualified staff in the unstable provinces. Non-professional contractors and suppliers, and lack of quality materials continue to be a problem in Afghanistan.

Sustainability of some of the projects is difficult to achieve, because of the prevailing security situation that leads to destruction of infrastructure, displacement of the populations and the communities not having the means to sustain the programmes and the government not having the will.

DACAAR is our staff
In his introduction to the Annual Report 2018, director John Morse is concerned about the uncertainty DACAAR will face: “What makes me hopeful though is that by working with the communities that need our help and maintaining their support, they will help us in getting to the more insecure areas and will contribute to our staff’s safety.

This of course cannot be achieved without our staff, their hard work, courage and commitment, and I would like to reiterate that I do not take this for granted - DACAAR is our staff, and they are achieving great things for their country.”

Read the whole annual report here.