The European Union (EU) has recently donated more than €5.7 million to the Dutch Committee for Afghanistan’s (DCA) livestock program, aimed at supporting thousands of vulnerable families in Afghanistan amid a worsening humanitarian crisis.
The EU Afghanistan said in a statement on Tuesday that the funds will aid 350,000 at-risk local households across 16 provinces to improve animal health of their livestock and enhance dietary.
“The programme will improve food security, strengthen community resilience and support rural communities in transitioning from aid dependency towards self-sufficiency,” the statement said.
Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, the humanitarian situation has worsened in the country, making it one of the world’s most critical crises. Over two-thirds of the population, approximately 28.8 million people, now require urgent humanitarian assistance.
The World Food Programme (WFP) said in a recent report that the agency’s food assistance helped 15.3 million people believed to be acutely food-insecure since the beginning of this year, including 2.8 million people in need of emergency.
However, it has cut 8 million from its emergency food assistance program since April due to funding shortfalls.
The EU Chargée d’Affaires to Afghanistan, Raffaella Iodice, has said that the new EU funding to rural communities can “make a real difference on the ground”, ensuring that 350,000 households will be more food secure and less dependent on international aid assistance.
