Community-Based Protection Monitoring (CBPM)

Women for Afghan Women’s (WAW’s) Community-Based Protection Monitoring (CBPM) project is conducted in close coordination and cooperation with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Afghanistan. The project is currently operating in Southern, North, Northeastern, and Eastern Afghanistan or an area that covers 18 Afghan provinces.

Through the CBPM project, WAW’s (male and female) protection field monitors conduct community-based protection monitoring through various interventions, at different times of the year, using baseline surveys and assessment tools including focus-group discussions, interviews with individuals and larger households, and direct observation interviews in different communities.

Through these surveys and assessments, project teams identify and refer beneficiary cases and community needs related to:

• Protection of survivors/persons at risk of gender-based violence
• Persons with special needs
• Mental health and psychosocial support
• Natural disaster assistance and seasonal support aid
• Cash-based interventions/assistance
• Winterization/solar panel projects
• Construction, reconstruction, and infrastructure projects

UNHCR Third Party Monitoring (TPM) Programs implemented by other partners: WAW undertakes third-party technical monitoring of and reporting on the construction of schools, clinics, and shelters carried out by other UNHCR partners. WAW is commissioned by UNHCR to conduct quality assurance and other forms of oversight on these construction projects.

WAW also undertakes third-party monitoring of and reporting on NFIs/CRIs aid distribution fulfilled by other UNHCR partners. In this capacity, WAW is commissioned by UNHCR to ensure appropriate, clean, and safe warehousing/storage facilities are available at required distribution points, and that delivery of aid to identified beneficiaries is carried out in a timely, humane, and appropriate manner.

Protection & Support for Survivors or Persons at Risk of Gender-Based Violence (GBV): Since August 2021, WAW provides counseling to survivors or persons at risk of GBV as identified by the CBMP project, and provides dignity kits to the most vulnerable of GBV survivors as identified by the CBMP project.

Mental Health & Psychosocial Support (MHPSS): Once vulnerable individuals, populations and/or communities are identified and referred for mental health and psychosocial support, WAW’s MHPSS teams, comprised of male and female counsellors, assess and provide the appropriate mental health and psychosocial counseling at the individual and/or group level. Special or urgent cases requiring immediate psychiatric treatment or special psychiatric medicines are referred to the appropriate partner agencies by WAW’s MHPSS teams.

CRI (Core Relief Items) & NFI (Non-Food Items) Humanitarian Aid: Once the needs of an individual, family, or community’s needs have been assessed after a natural disaster or other crises, WAW’s humanitarian aid teams work alone or with local partners to ensure the appropriate quantity and kinds of CRIs and NFIs are distributed to beneficiaries identified through the CBPM project. Forty-five days after CRI and NFI distributions, WAW’s teams conduct post-distribution monitoring to assess whether beneficiaries are safe, sufficiently supplied, and/or if more assistance/aid is required.

Cash-Based Interventions (CBIs) Shelter and Assistance: are a dignified form of assistance, giving recipients the ability to immediately prioritize and address their needs for food, shelter/accommodation, and other necessities. In the areas within which WAW operates its CBPM project, WAW’s teams identify and present initial assessments of needs of IDPs and/or IDP host communities for shelter and/or additional shelter, as well as winterization or solar panel needs to provide heat or energy. After conducting assessments, WAW’s teams provide oversight of design and payments for shelter construction, winterization and/or solar panel projects. WAW also offers cash-based interventions that can be used for a wide range of purposes, including voluntary repatriation, and purchasing basic needs, among others.

Saudi Fund for Development (SFD): The SFD funds reconstruction, construction, and infrastructure-related projects in Afghanistan’s southern region. WAW has a specialized team working with the SFD in Southern Afghanistan, which conducts the technical monitoring and supervision of the design and construction of projects identified as an essential to a community by the CBPM (i.e. schools, clinics, humanitarian shelters, reservoirs, culverts, roads, and toilets/latrine facilities).

Compliance and feedback mechanisms and services: This CBPM project component provides submission and tracking services for beneficiary/community complaints through a hotline, complaint boxes available at all distribution points, and emails.