United Nations Strategic Framework for Afghanistan

34 I UNITED NATIONS STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK FOR AFGHANISTAN Output 2.3: Rural communities can better and sustainably manage natural resources, increase agricultural productivity and value addition, manage and reduce disaster risks, and enhance biodiversity, contributing to increased resilience, food security and nutrition, decent work, and sustainable livelihoods for all Afghans. Interventions supporting rural livelihoods in an increasingly water-stressed environment will be undertaken that build the capacities of communities on the sustainable management and use of natural resources and ecosystem restoration in a conflict-sensitive manner and create opportunities to address gender inequalities. Water resource governance and management will be resourced to ensure improved access by all to clean water for human consumption (in coordination with WASH- related activities under Priority 1), equitable and stable storage and supply for agricultural production, and sustainable utilization of water resources at both community and watershed levels. Support will also promote knowledge transfer and sustainable solutions on extension services. Geographically-tailored interventions will seek to increase food production, reduce food loss, mitigate the impact of natural disasters, improve productivity of vulnerable farmers and herders, and strengthen food value chains capable of improving food security and nutrition for the most vulnerable, including through improved knowledge and skills such as through extension and farmer field schools productive inputs and assets, and access to energy, credit, and markets. These initiatives will seek to create opportunities for women to improve access to access land, productive assets, credit, and markets and to engage women, who are most affected by food insecurity, in the food value chain. Construction or rehabilitation of small-scale community infrastructure using employment- intensive and climate-resilient approaches — including roads, bridges, water harvesting and storage structures, irrigation structures, water and soil conservation and clean energy technologies, flood mitigation infrastructure, reservoirs, cold storage, mini-power grids, and processing centres, and preservation of cultural heritage - will be supported in consultation with communities to strengthen community resilience to natural shocks, create jobs, and stimulate economic recovery and community development. The UN and its partners will also consider if and how infrastructure projects left incomplete after August 2021 could be finalized. Ownership, maintenance, and sustainability of facilities will be carefully considered on a case-by-case basis. Disaster risk reduction and early warning systems will be promoted to mitigate the impacts of drought, floods, and other natural disasters on agricultural production and livelihoods. Finally, in response to the opium poppy ban and its consequences, support will be provided for a swift transition of poppy-reliant communities to sustainable and licit livelihoods. Leave no one behind: Inclusive and equitable poverty reduction will require those most marginalized to have improved access to economic opportunities and jobs. As such, the UN will prioritize those population groups traditionally most economically excluded throughout all its interventions under this outcome and design specifically tailored interventions to better serve these groups according to their needs, preferences, and constraints. These include women (including those in rural areas), youth (including those not in education, employment, and training), rural and geographically remote communities, landless farmers, livestock owners, minority ethnic and religious groups, persons with disabilities, IDPs, returnees, and refugees. Given the severe impediments to their participation in economic life imposed after August 2021, the UN will specifically target women to benefit from its interventions, including through skills development and training, protection against violence and

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