December 10, 2021--The Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF) donors today decided to transfer out $280 million in ARTF funds by the end of December 2021 to UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP). This decision is the first step to repurpose funds in the ARTF portfolio to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan at this critical time.
UNICEF and WFP have presence and logistics capacity on the ground in Afghanistan and will use these funds to cover financing gaps in their existing programs to deliver health and nutrition services directly to the Afghan people, in accordance with their own policies and procedures.
UNICEF will receive $100 million to provide essential health services through providers active in the Sehatmandi program in partnership with WHO, and WFP will receive $180 million to scale up food security and nutrition operations in the country. These ARTF funds will enable UNICEF to provide 12.5 million people with basic and essential health services and vaccinate 1 million people, while WFP will be able to provide 2.7 million people with food assistance and nearly 840,000 mothers and children with nutrition assistance.
The World Bank Board of Executive Directors last week discussed and supported this approach. The World Bank will continue to work with ARTF donors to unlock additional ARTF funds to support the Afghan people.
