What We Do
Emergency Response and Humanitarian Relief

Afghanistan faces one of the world’s most complex humanitarian crises, driven by natural disasters, forced displacement, poverty, and a weakened health system. In 2025, over 23 million people—nearly half the population—are projected to need assistance. Although armed conflict has lessened, communities remain highly vulnerable due to climate-related emergencies, mass refugee returns, and severe underfunding. Earthquakes, floods, and droughts frequently devastate rural areas with limited access to shelters, clean water, and healthcare. For example, earthquakes in Herat in 2023 killed over 1,500 people, and flash floods in 2024 displaced thousands. Climate change continues to worsen food insecurity, water shortages, and disease outbreaks, particularly affecting women, children, and persons with disabilities. Kabul itself may run out of groundwater by 2030, threatening millions. At the same time, over 1.2 million Afghans were forcibly repatriated in 2024, further straining communities already lacking sanitation and health services. Humanitarian response is hampered by funding cuts and logistical constraints—such as U.S. aid suspensions that led to widespread closure of clinics and nutrition programs. In this fragile context, the CEI’s targeted Emergency Response and Humanitarian Relief Program aims at saving lives, restoring dignity, and reducing vulnerability among the most at-risk populations.

CEI’s emergency intervention is structured around three interconnected objectives:

1. Deliver Immediate Life-Saving Assistance: CEI activates its rapid response mechanism within 24–72 hours of a disaster or displacement event. This includes the distribution of emergency shelter kits, food parcels, clean water, hygiene supplies, and non-food items (NFIs) to crisis-affected households. Mobile health and nutrition teams are deployed to remote or underserved areas to provide urgent medical support, malnutrition screening for children, and psychosocial services—especially for women, children, and persons with disabilities.
2. Support Displaced Populations and Returnees: In areas experiencing large-scale displacement or sudden returns, CEI implements integrated assistance packages that include transitional shelters, access to clean water and sanitation facilities, temporary learning spaces, and protection referrals. Engagement with local authorities, shuras, and community groups ensures that services are accessible, inclusive, and locally accepted.
3. Strengthen Community Preparedness and Recovery: To reduce long-term vulnerability, CEI incorporates disaster risk reduction (DRR) and recovery support into its humanitarian programming. This involves training community first responders, establishing localized early warning systems, rehabilitating damaged infrastructure such as water points and health posts, and offering cash-for-work schemes that help families rebuild their livelihoods while restoring essential services.

CEI prioritizes support to highly vulnerable groups, including displaced women and children, persons with disabilities, elderly-headed households, and those in remote and underserved regions. Through a national network of trained emergency personnel and field facilitators, CEI maintains readiness to operate in more than 10 provinces, including hard-to-reach and conflict-affected areas. CEI’s coordination with humanitarian clusters, community structures, and local governments ensures both reach and impact.

CEI’s approach bridges the gap between emergency relief and long-term resilience. By combining rapid assistance with community-based recovery efforts, CEI ensures that each intervention not only addresses immediate survival needs but also lays the foundation for sustainable recovery and local empowerment.

Impact to Date (illustrative): Delivered emergency kits to over 3,000 flood-affected families in northern Afghanistan in 2024; Supported over 10,000 returnees with transitional shelter and sanitation solutions; Trained 200 community volunteers in disaster preparedness and first aid.