Assessment of unregistered vulnerable families displaced from … · 2020. 4. 30. · 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. ore than half a million persons from North Waziri-stan Agency have been

Assessment of unregistered vulnerable families

displaced from North Waziristan Agency

Towards evidence based humanitarian assistance

March, 2015

Acknowledgement

This study was conducted by WFP and UNHCR under the umbrella of the Protection Cluster after an agreed need of an assessment of the unregistered and vulnerable families displaced from North Waziristan Agency, upon consultation with all relevant stakeholders including FDMA, PDMA, SAFRON, Social Welfare Department and Child Protection Welfare Commission. The field work was conducted by two local NGOs, namely, CERD and BEST. The study team would like to gratefully acknowledge the feedback and inputs received from all organizations in various stages of this study, including the conceptual phase, design of methodology and tools, field assessment, analysis, and review of the write up. The core study team included Krishna Pahari and Irum Jamshed from WFP, and Minako Kakuma and Edgar Scarse from UNHCR. Irum Jamshed and Minako Kakuma initiated and managed this assessment, while Krishna Pahari and Edgar Scrase contributed to the overall design. The data analysis was conducted by Abdul Sattar (WFP), Edgar Scrase, Irum Jamshed, and Kanza Aman (Protection Cluster). GIS mapping support was provided by Sarah Bashir (WFP). The report was written by Krishna Pahari and Irum Jamshed with inputs and feedback from WFP, UNHCR, protection cluster and OCHA.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

ore than half a million persons from North Waziri-

stan Agency have been displaced after law and or-

der operations started in June, 2014. These latest

temporarily displaced persons (TDPs) have added to the

complexity of the situation where more than a million TDPs

have already been living in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) for

several years. During the last few years, TDPs that have been

registered are entitled to humanitarian assistance. However,

considerable number of TDP families have been unable to

register due to lack of CNIC or other legal documents. In

addition, some families that have managed to register as

TDPs have been blocked from further assistance for a num-

ber of reasons including issues relating to family trees. This

is particularly the case for specific type of vulnerable groups

such as female headed or child headed families. Thus it is

likely that many vulnerable families were not able to receive

the much needed humanitarian assistance due to these limi-

tations.

This assessment is based on a door-to-door survey of 7,554

TDP families displaced from North Waziristan and residing in

various host locations of Bannu, Lakki Marwat, Karak, Pesha-

war and D I Khan. By applying an agreed set of vulnerability

criteria to the assessment data collected during the field-

work from October to December 2014; 6,263 TDP families

were identified as vulnerable and eligible for humanitarian

assistance. Among those identified as vulnerable, 76% were

female headed families, 10% were families headed by elder-

ly, 6% were families headed by person with chronic disabil-

ity, 5% were single female representatives and 2% were

child headed families. The food security situation of the

assessed families was precarious, since these were vulnera-

ble families with very little opportunity for earning income,

the meagre income they made (average monthly family in-

come was found to be PKR 11,101 or USD 111) was hardly

adequate for basic food and rental cost of the houses they

have been living in. Ninety percent of the respondents re-

ported that they did not have adequate purchasing power,

even though food was generally available in the markets.

Thus 98% of the families reported having problem meeting

their food needs in the past one month and resorted to a

variety of negative coping strategies in the face of food inse-

curity.

The assessment was the first of its kind in identifying vulner-

able and unregistered families, which was then linked to the

humanitarian assistance (Food and NFIs) based on evidence

generated from the analysis. It is expected that the ap-

proach used in this assistance and resulting assistance to the

vulnerable families can be a model that can be used for an

informed decision in addressing the humanitarian needs of

vulnerable families originating from different areas.

Field Enumerator interviewing an elderly in District Bannu

Assessment of unregistered

vulnerable families displaced

from North Waziristan Agency

M

Towards evidence based humanitarian assistance

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Assessment of unregistered vulnerable families displaced from North Waziristan

A FEMALE HEAD OF FAMILY in Landi Khel, Peshawar

Thirty six year old Saba Gul (name changed) is a widow

and mother of two children. She lives with her family and

extended family consisting of nine members including her

mother in Spena Warayi, Landi khel of District Peshawar.

Saba Gul’s husband died in a road accident 13 years ago,

at a time when her son was only two- years of age and

daughter was only a month old.

Under such circumstances, she had to be the bread earn-

er for her family. Saba Gul pulled herself together and

was earning a living by sewing clothes in her village,

Asadkhel,near Dossalay in NWA. After the displacement,

she is no more self-dependent and now relies on her

brothers who are already living in financial crisis. To meet

basic needs, the family usually takes loans from their rela-

tives and friends, and now she is struggling with many

loans.

With a mind set to maintain her family’s privacy, Saba

Gul refused the option of living in a tented camp where

humanitarian assistance could be received in conven-

ience. Thus, Saba Gul and her family, like many other Pa-

kistanis displaced from FATA, are bearing the high accom-

modation cost of a two-room house and electricity bills in

District Peshawar.

Saba Gul’s family visited the registration and food distri-

bution point to seek humanitarian assistance. However,

to her disappointment, some issues were identified in her

paper work, which kept her family un-registered.

Swamped in poverty and being deprived from basic assis-

tance, the grief and helplessness is clearly obvious on her

face.

1. THE CONTEXT:

ore than half a million individuals were displaced by

the law and order operation in North Waziristan and

have been residing temporarily in Bannu, Lakki Mar-

wat, Karak, Peshawar and D I Khan. About half of those displaced

are females1 and many of them do not possess Computerized

National ID Card (CNIC) due to variety of reasons, which poses a

challenge in humanitarian assistance.

The initial reports on NWA displacement highlighted some key

protection concerns related to female TDPs’ access to humani-

tarian assistance. It has been a practice in Pakistan that the hu-

manitarian assistance is provided only to registered TDPs. The

registration of a TDP family is dependent on (i) the possession of

a CNIC, and (ii) their area of origin’s status and their current ad-

dress noted on their CNIC both being from conflict affected are-

as, as defined by the Government of Pakistan (GOP) notifica-

tions. Female headed families in particular were adversely

affected because of the strict registration criteria and their lack

of access to legal documentation. The particular issues for fe-

males from FATA agencies in having access to basic services in-

clude:

1. Restriction in movement for women impact their ability to

access food and other type of assistance. A considerable

number of families were found to be female headed (for

reasons which include husband working abroad, multiple

wives, abandoned/ separated wives and widows). Such fam-

ilies are often part of extended families and have no access

to registration and assistance due to lack of legal documen-

tation.

2. Movement outside of their residence is restricted in the

host areas due to cultural sensitivity and strict purdah sys-

tem for females.

In this context, WFP and UNHCR under the umbrella of the Pro-

tection Cluster, initiated the Rapid Assessment of NWA TDPs

with specific needs to conduct a vulnerability analysis in order to

identify such unregistered TDP families requiring humanitarian

assistance. After consultation, it was agreed by all relevant Gov-

ernment stake holders including FDMA, PDMA, SAFRON, Social

Welfare Department and Child Protection Welfare Commission

that an assessment was urgently required to identify such fami-

lies in genuine need and support them with humanitarian assis-

tance. The assessment built upon information already captured

by various government entities, particularly the PDMA, and hu-

manitarian organizations with regards to persons with specific

needs.

M

1 As per the daily situation reports from FDMA, among the TDP population, 29% are males, 25% are females and 46% are children up to 18 years

of age.

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2. OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSESSMENT

ollowing were the two main objectives of this assess-

ment:

1. To identify unregistered, non-verified TDP families (by

NADRA) among those displaced from North Waziristan

Agency with specific needs according to the agreed vulner-

ability criteria for possible humanitarian assistance (food

and NFIs);

2. To make referral for services from responsible agencies

according to the referral pathways for TDPs, if any protec-

tion case is identified, during the assessment.

3. METHODOLOGY

he survey was expected to have information of unreg-

istered and vulnerable families displaced from NWA

residing in five hosting districts of KP. The coverage

was to the extent possible, to capture as many unregistered

vulnerable families as possible. The information was expected

to be useful for informed management decision and providing

assistance to the vulnerable TDP families. Based on the daily

situation report shared by FDMA, it was found that five hosting

districts (Bannu, DI Khan, Peshawar, Lakki Marwat and Karak)

were concentrated with NWA TDPs and were proposed for con-

ducting the assessment. The field work for the assessment was

conducted by CERD and BEST by distributing the survey work

by Union Council.

3.1 Identification of families

Three different sources were used for identification of vulnera-

ble TDP families, as shown in Figure 1.

i. Unregistered/non-verified TDP families who were consid-

ered to meet one of the vulnerability criteria were cap-

tured at UNCHR grievance desks and consolidated list was

shared with WFP/ UNHCR field teams for home visit.

ii. Referral from protection partners including government

(PDMA).

iii. Assessment team conducted proactive outreach in the

hosting communities to identify TDP families, by identify-

ing first the villages in union council with high TDP concen-

tration, and then conducting geographically targeted out-

reach and assessment.

3.2 Family level interview The unit of assessment was defined as a nuclear family2 and

TDP families were surveyed by the enumerators visiting them

door to door. A total of 109 enumerators were engaged, includ-

ing 34 females and 75 males. The assessment was focused on

districts that had higher number of TDPs. These districts were

identified using the daily situation report (DSR) shared by

FDMA on NWA, food distribution database of WFP and also

UNHCR/FDMA TDP database. A total of 7,554 families were

surveyed in the five districts as shown in Table 1.

F

T

2 Nuclear family is defined as a married couple and their unmarried children, and any other single member dependent on the head of the family

Figure 1: Process flowchart for rapid Assessment of TDP families with Specific Needs from NWA

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District No. of families surveyed

Percent of total

Bannu 5,346 71%

DI Khan 827 11%

Karak 188 2%

Lakki Marwat 553 7%

Peshawar 640 8%

Total 7,550 100%

The assessment was conducted based on informed consent of

TDP families and using a standardized family level interviewing

tool3 in the hard copy. Since the non-TDPs and registered TDPs

did not fall under the scope of the assessment, the first step

during the survey was to confirm if the families are TDPs but

unregistered. However, if any protection cases were identified,

they were to be referred to appropriate government services4.

Those TDP respondents lacking CNIC or any other documenta-

tion of proof and attestation from village elders, were asked

additional questions in the interview in order to understand the

status.

3.3 Vulnerability criteria

The following vulnerability criteria proposed by the Vulnerabil-

ity Working Group (VWG)5 with certain adjustment to NWA

TDP situation were used in this assessment. These six criteria,

were also endorsed by the Humanitarian Regional Team (HRT)

and the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT).

i. Child headed family or unaccompanied child (up to 18

years)

ii. Female headed family representative (above 18) with one

or more dependents, who is the primary income earner/

care provider, but has no assets or reliable source of in-

come and is without adequate support from her own

household or community

iii. Single female representative without income and support

from the community (only one single female in the family)

iv. Family representative with a chronic medical condition or

disability (physical, mental or sensory impairment), which

3 The family level questionnaire was developed in consultation with global protection cluster, WFP and UNHCR 4 In such cases, a protection referral form was completed to be submitted to appropriate organization 5 VWG consists of FAO, IOM, IVAP, OCHA, PHF, UNFPA, UNWOMEN, UNHCR, WFP, and Protection Cluster as chair of the meeting

prevents him/her from earning an income and who lacks

family/ community support.

v. Family representative who is discriminated based on eth-

nicity, religion, sexual orientation or place of origin, re-

sulting in an inability to access basic services and to earn

income and lacking family/community support.

vi. Family representative over the age of 60 years without

adequate support mechanism and income.

3.4 Guiding principles The assessment was first of its kind in identifying unregistered

vulnerable TDPs and following guiding principles were ob-

served during the assessment:

i. Informed consent: Assessment was conducted with full

informed consent of the family;

ii. Respect the confidentiality: Since the information collect-

ed included significant personal data, respondents were

assured that these data would be kept confidential and

only to be used for possible humanitarian assistance or

referral to necessary protection services/support;

iii. Ensure equality and non-discrimination: Every individual

should be accorded equal care and support to ensure pro-

tection against discrimination on the basis of religion, gen-

der, and social status while selection of beneficiaries.

Field Enumerator conducting interview in District Bannu

Table 1: Number of families surveyed by district

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For any protection concerns identified during the assessment fol-

lowing principles were adhered to6:

i. Ensure the safety of survivors and family: Ensure that the

survivor and families are not at risk of further harm

ii. Confidentiality of the affected persons and their families:

While dealing with any cases of Sexual and Gender Based

Violence (SGBV) during the survey, the confidentiality of such

sensitive cases would be maintained by not sharing the infor-

mation with any third party or anyone in the team except the

focal person in the relevant organization (UNHCR) who coor-

dinates multi sectoral response.

iii. Consent for referral: For sensitive protection cases, proper

consent and referral form would be taken from the benefi-

ciary for the collection of information, and the information

would be shared only to an authorized representative for the

purpose of referral service.

iv. Respect the wish of persons concerned: respect the wishes,

the rights and the dignity of the survivor and referral/

response is provided based on their wish and well informed

consent.

v. Best interest of child: In determining on child’s best inter-

ests, both the objective standard deemed to be in the child’s

best interest and subjective opinion, which take into consid-

eration the child’s views are comprehensively considered and

analyzed. Children shall be assured the right to express their

views freely in all matters affecting them, their views are giv-

en due weight in accordance with the child’s age and level of

maturity.

vi. Do-no-harm approach: The form of humanitarian assistance

and the environment in which it is provided should be such

that beneficiaries should not be further exposed to physical

hazards, violence or other rights abuse.

3.5 Endorsement by UNHCR/WFP

Monitoring of the survey was conducted by a joint team of UN-

HCR, WFP, and Protection Cluster; the data collected was ana-

lyzed and jointly reviewed. The final list thus prepared formed the

basis for humanitarian assistance by UNHCR and WFP for the

identified unregistered and vulnerable families.

3.6 Mechanism for quality assurance:

A number of quality assurance measures were put in place to en-

sure reliable results from the assessment which could provide

basis for appropriate humanitarian response. These included

measures to avoid duplication or double surveying of families,

A SINGLE FEMALE REPRESENTATIVE

Physically disabled

Sixty year old Noor Bibi (name changed), physically disa-bled with both legs, is living in a temporary shelter made from local bamboo and shrubs in Baran Dam Spillway of District Bannu (This is the photograph of her shelter but she was not comfortable being photographed due to cul-tural limitations). Noor Bibi does not have any source of income and is living with her married brother. She considers herself as a bur-den on her brother’s family. She lives in harsh open area without proper drinking water, kitchen and toilet facility. Noor Bibifamily has been living in grim, overcrowded con-ditions since being displaced. She says she would return to NWA immediately if it were safe, but points out that there is nothing left at home. Noor Bibi says her brothers, like many others displaced, try to find work as day labours. However, job opportunities are so few and poorly paid that the family has been forced to take loans from the nearby shopkeepers to meet their daily food needs. The temporary shelter she is living speaks of her extreme deprivation. In spite of being ex-tremely vulnerable, lack of legal documentation keeps her deprived of registration and humanitarian assistance.

6 These are in line with the protection guidelines, details of which are available at http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/search?

page=&comid=50f94fab9&cid=49aea9390&scid=49aea93a6&keywords=protectionstandards

random monitoring checks during the survey and cross veri-

fication of temporary displacement categories.

i. Registration status of families:

The families profiled were cross checked against the regis-

tration database using CNIC information to avoid any dupli-

cation. Overall, only 4% of the families surveyed were found

to be already registered.

ii. Random monitoring:

A number of families were selected randomly from the list

of assessed families and a joint monitoring mission by

http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/search?page=&comid=50f94fab9&cid=49aea9390&scid=49aea93a6&keywords=protectionstandards

http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/search?page=&comid=50f94fab9&cid=49aea9390&scid=49aea93a6&keywords=protectionstandards

6


protection cluster, UNHCR and WFP was conducted to ensure the

authenticity and reliability of data. The results were satisfactory,

and accordingly lists were endorsed for further action.

iii. Cross verification of temporary displacement catego-

ries:

As the assessment was focusing on unregistered families falling

under the agreed and HCT endorsed six vulnerability criteria;

there was a high chance that many of the families might be lack-

ing legal documentation. It was found that only 20 % of the fami-

lies had CNIC or NADRA token7 during the survey, hence families

were categorized as per their status of legal documentation as

shown in Table 2:

It was found that most of the TDP families (80 %) falling under the

vulnerable categories were lacking the status of having legal doc-

umentation by the head of the family. Families falling under the

last 3 categories (in table 2) and without legal documentation

were given token cards with WFP and UNHCR logos and signature

by the field teams so that they could be uniquely identified at the

time of providing assistance. It was observed that majority of

S. No Category number

Description

Percentage of total

1 Cat-1 Possession of CNIC with both addresses (temporary and permanent) from NWA

15.7%

2 Cat-2 In case of dual address on CNIC or lacking CNIC; some proofing documents were verified to ensure the families surveyed are from NWA (documents veri-fied included: NADRA token, Domicile certificate, Marriage certificate, school certificates, medical/ vaccination card)

18.7%

3 Cat-3 In case of dual address on CNIC or lacking CNIC; attestation by tribal elder was made to ensure the families surveyed are from NWA required

13.8%

4 Cat-4 In case the families do not have any documentation (CNIC, other proofing doc-

uments or tribal leader attestation) to prove they are from NWA, following

indicative information were considered during the analysis8:

a. Does the accent of the respondent suggest that he/ she is from NWA? b. How long did the family live in NWA? c. Reason for displacement? d. When did the family arrive to the current location?

51.8%

Table 2: TDP family categories by status of legal documentation

7 Every citizen of Pakistan above the age of 18 years, is eligible for a Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC). The CNIC processing time is 30 days, and for that period the applicant is given a NADRA token which also serves as an authorized document that could be used for official pur-poses. 8 The information was captured by the enumerators from the family questionnaire; whether a family shall be candidate for assistance was then

decided after the analysis of the dataset – a family was considered genuine TDP in need of assistance if the accent of the respondent is like that

from NWA, if the family was living in NWA for a minimum of one year, the family was displaced due to the ongoing operations and if the family

arrived at the current location after the start of the operations. If the answer was ‘yes’ to at least three among these questions, then the family

was considered a genuine TDP. 9 For example, as per the assessment conducted by the Humanitarian Regional Team in August 2014, the average size of a nuclear family of the displaced population from North Waziristan, residing in Bannu, D.I. Khan and Peshawar was found to be 6.1.

female headed families (80 %) were lacking CNIC due to cul-

tural and purdah restrictions. TDP families lacking legal docu-

mentation were informed of the importance of holding a CNIC

and were encouraged to visit NADRA centers.

Among the surveyed families, those living in Peshawar district

were found to be relatively better off; they were more literate

and were more informed about the registration process and

how to obtain the necessary legal documentation. Those living

in districts Bannu and Lakki Marwat were found to be in a

worse situation.

4. KEY FINDINGS

4.1 Demographics:

Among a total of 7,554 families surveyed, a total of 6,263 TDP

families were identified as unregistered and vulnerable. The

average family size was found to be 4.4, which is lower than

the average family size of TDPs in general9. Some 61% of them

were in Bannu, followed by Lakki Marwat (14%), Peshawar

(13%), DI Khan (8%) and Karak (4%) as shown in Figure 2.

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any transportation and had walked for long hours on foot to reach to the hosting locations. About 3% reportedly made use of government transport while only 1% traveled by own vehicle. Among the different categories, proportion of families arriving on foot was higher for child headed families (20%) and single female (16.8%). Most of the TDPs were found to be liv-ing in rented houses (64%), followed by those living with rela-tives and friends (28%) while others reported to be living in public premises(6%) and in tents (2%).

4.3 Vulnerability analysis

The data was analyzed for six vulnerability criteria. However, no TDP families were found from NWA who reported as minorities and unregistered in the scope of this assessment10. Figure 4 shows the summary of TDP families falling under the five categories of vulnerability, and Table 3 provides a detail analysis and profile of these families. Map showing areas cov-ered by the assessment and vulnerable families identified by each district is provided in Figure 6.

4.4 Markets and food availability:

For those with adequate purchasing power, availability of food

in the market does not appear to be a problem. Overall, two-

third (67%) of the respondents said that food is always availa-

ble in abundance in the nearby market. One fourth (25%) of

the respondents said food is available sometime, while only 8%

reported that food is usually not available in the market. There

were some differences by hosting district. For example, a

Data on individuals was also collected using a family roster. Overall, the gender distribution was almost even, with females (51 %) and males (49%) of the total. Figure 3 shows the percent-age of individuals in the vulnerable families identified by age categories and gender disaggregation:

4.2 Initial Observation:

Some of the indicators were focused on collecting general infor-

mation to verify if the families profiled were genuine TDPs dis-

placed from NWA, as most of the cases (80%) identified were

lacking legal documentation. Almost all TDPs (100%) were re-

ported to be living in North Waziristan before displacement, and

most of them (96%) reported to be living for more than a year in

NWA. While majority (85%) of these families traveled from NWA

by rented vehicle, a significant proportion (11%) could not avail

Figure 2: Vulnerable TDP families by hosting district

Figure 4: TDP families by vulnerable categories

10 FDMA had special intervention for religious minorities so that they could register even with dual address problem. Furthermore, most identified

religious minorities were already supported by WFP and UNHCR prior to the start of this assessment

Figure 3: Population pyramid showing distribution by gender and age categories

8


Category Key characteristics

Number of

families

(proportion)

Child headed family

or unaccompanied

child

This category consists of unaccompanied children or families headed by children,

without any income support. A total of 146 child headed families were found during

the survey. Almost half of these (47%) families were unable to get any support from

friends or relatives. Among these, only 29% have both parents alive, while 35% have

lost both their parents. One fourth (25%) of them only have their mother alive while

11% have only father alive. The first category of 29% includes those child headed

cases whose parents were alive and were reported to be living in NWA, while they

were sent to hosting districts during displacement.

146 families

(2% of the

total)

Female headed

family

Families headed by females as the main income earner or care provider, with one or

more dependents but without possession of significant assets or reliable sources of

income. Almost two-thirds (65.4%) of them were married with husband working out-

side of current residence for earning an income. Another 31.2% were widows, fol-

lowed by divorced/separated (2.6%). In families, whose husbands are working out-

side, they were either working abroad or in other cities inside Pakistan. Most of

them (54.6%) usually visit their family only after a year or more. Among those identi-

fied as divorced, no supporting documents were available, which is difficult due to

strict cultural tradition. There were also few cases where the husbands were report-

ed in prison.

4,758 fami-

lies (76%)

Single female

representative

Majority of them reported that their parents have passed away (56.0 %) or their hus-

band is away (33.3 %) and without any siblings. More than three-fourth (76%) of

them have no income earning opportunity at all.

312 families

(5%)

Head of family

with chronic

medical

Head of family with a chronic medical condition or disability prevents him/her from

earning an income which makes the family vulnerable. In most cases the interviewer

was able to observe (94%) and also verify (75%) the physical disability of the family

representative. A significant proportion of respondents (28%) were unable to get

medical treatment, the main reason being financial constraints (63%). In spite of

disability, many of them were still working to earn even meagre living for the family.

The major types of disabilities reported were categorized as severe physical disability

(36%), moderate physical disability (48%) and visual impairments (10%); others in-

cluded hearing and mental impairment

397 families

(6.3%)

Elderly head of

family

These are the families with elderly (over 60 years of age) as the head and without

adequate support mechanisms and income. Majority of the cases identified as elder-

ly were verified with proofing documents (66 %). It was found that about half of

these families were supported by their son/ daughter to some extent.

650 families

(10.4%)

Table 3: Vulnerability analysis summary of findings

9


Figure 5: District wise distribution of food affordability

slightly higher proportion (11%) of the respondents from Ban-

nu said that food is usually not available in the nearby markets.

On the other hand, purchasing capacity of the families seems

to be the major problem for food access. Overall, 90% of the

respondents said that they do not have enough money to buy

the food (Figure 5). This proportion is highest in Karak (99.8%)

and DI Khan (98.1%) followed by Lakki Marwat (94.8%) and

Bannu (90.4%), while the situation is somewhat better in Pesh-

awar (with 73%).

4.5 Family income and expenditure:

Overall, 48% of the vulnerable TDP families were found to be

without any income earner in the family (Figure 7) – this pro-

portion was the highest for single females (77%), followed by

families headed by elderly (69%). Women’s involvement in

income earning is almost negligible. From the survey, only 2 %

of the respondents reported having at least one female earner

in the family. The livelihood activities for such females included

handicraft, small land farming and livestock production. The

average monthly income as reported by the respondents was

found to be PKR 11,101 (USD 111). As can be seen from Figure

8, among the different categories of the vulnerable families,

female representatives without adequate income and support

were found to have the lowest monthly income at PKR 6,412.

It was found that at PKR 20,979; the average monthly expendi-

ture reported by the families was almost double compared to

the monthly income. Food was by far the item with the highest

share in monthly expenditure (35%)11 , followed by housing/

rent (20%), health (20%), education (12%) and others

(12%). It is understood that since most of these families have

been living in rented rooms, the cost of renting house is putting

them an additional burden in addition to essential food cost eve-

ry month. In addition, the health costs are also very significant,

probably due to presence of significant number of individuals

with illness and disabilities.

11 Across Pakistan, the average monthly expenditure of households on food is found to be 50.7% of the total expenditure, as per the Food Securi-

ty Analysis- 2013 by WFP, SDPI, FAO and UNICEF. The lower percentage share on food expenditure for these unregistered families could be

attributed to a) relatively high expenditure on rent and health for these families, and b) some of these families may be sharing food from member

(s) of extended families.

Figure 7: Number of family members earning an income

Figure 9: Average monthly expenditure by categories

Figure 8: Average monthly family income (PKR) reported by

respondents

10


Figure 6: Map showing areas covered by the assessment and identified vulnerable families by district

11


Those are mainly the following:

1. Identification of the unregistered vulnerable TDP fami-

lies from NWA fulfilling the set criteria was extremely

challenging. There was lack of adequate secondary

information since comprehensive data on unregistered

TDPs families was not available;

2. Not all areas were accessible, especially the Frontier

Regions (FR Bannu, FR Lakki Marwat) which are known

to have high concentration of vulnerable TDPs, but

could not be covered by this assessment;

3. Managing the expectation of TDPs was a challenge

considering that many NWA families were unregis-

tered and non-verified at the time of the survey but

not all were fulfilling the set vulnerability criteria;

4. The specific protection services center at district level

were not strong enough to provide appropriate pro-

tection services to the vulnerable cases identified dur-

ing the assessment.

5. In spite of the efforts made, assuring data accuracy

was a major challenge due to the specialized nature of

the assessment;

6. Some families were reluctant to cooperate with the

survey team complaining about frequent visits by

different survey teams to their house and taking their

considerable time without any result in the form of

assistance.

4.6 Food consumption:

An analysis based on a seven-day recall of the food consumed by

families revealed that overall, 48.1 % of the families surveyed had

acceptable food consumption while 12.1 % had poor and 39.8 %

were with borderline food consumption. It should be noted that

the food consumption score is based on the frequency of different

food groups consumed in the seven-day recall period, and thus

does not capture the quantity and hence the calories actually con-

sumed12. In any case, it is likely that many of these families might

have shared food from their relatives’ families, as is also explained

in case studies (see box: ‘an elderly disabled person’ on page 12).

4.7 Coping strategies:

Almost all vulnerable TDP families (98.4% of the respondents) re-

ported having problem meeting their food needs in the past one

month prior to the survey. As such they were using variety of cop-

ing strategies in the face of these food security needs (Figure 10).

The most common practices include relying on less preferred or

less expensive food (practiced by 40.7%), limiting potion size at

meals (19.3%), restricting consumption by adults (13.2 %) and

even skipping meals for entire day (10.6%). In addition, there have

also been severe and irreversible coping strategies such as selling

productive assets (5.5%), selling domestic assets (4.9%) and re-

moving children from school (4.1%).

5. CHALLENGES OF ASSESSMENT:

his assessment was the first of its kind and thus a number

of challenges were faced in conducting the assessment.

Figure 10: Coping strategies practiced by families to deal with food insecurity

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12 Studies have shown that more than 50% of the population in Pakistan are not consuming adequate calories (2,100 Kcal per person per day) and

this proportion is expected to be much higher for more vulnerable sections of the populations.

12


An enumerator interviewing a vulnerable family in District Bannu

5. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR HUMANITARI-

AN ASSISTANCE:

ollowing are the key recommendations from this as-

sessment:

1. These families identified as unregistered and vulnerable

have been recommended for Food and NFI support by

WFP and UNHCR;

2. Some flexibility in registration process is recommended.

As of now, registration is dependent on a) possession of a

valid CNIC card, and b) present and permanent addresses

mentioned in CNIC being declared as conflict affected. In

order to address the needs of the unregistered but vulner-

able TDP families, a self-identification and confirmation

process (including other documentation of proof and veri-

fication), perhaps similar to the model used during this

assessment may be considered;

3. Utilizing the successful lessons from this exercise, assess-

ment and identification of unregistered and vulnerable

families may also be considered for TDPs from other areas

of origin, which could provide a basis for humanitarian

assistance for those genuinely in need;

4. Other clusters and programs that target conflict affected

TDPs from NWA could also make use of the data and vul-

nerability information, as appropriate, for determining

beneficiaries;

5. Referral systems for vulnerable persons need to be estab-

lished through the health, protection and child protection

clusters, and these data on vulnerable persons from NWA

can be used to streamline assistance;

6. Support the families to obtain CNIC through collaboration

with organizations such as UN Women, and advocate with

the Government to officially include them in the registra-

tion database once they obtain valid CNIC (work has al-

ready been initiated on this while the report was being

finalized)

7. For those TDPs who are not registered and verified but are

vulnerable, one possible option could be provision of a

referral system for extremely poor families for considera-

tion by the Government of Pakistan (GOP) to cover them

under existing safety net programmes such as Benazir In-

come Support Programme.

F AN ELDERLY DISABLED PERSON

In Peshawar

The unfortunate 61 year old Sher Khan (name changed) is on

bed for the last 11 years after suffering from a stroke. The

severe stroke has left Sher Khan unable to make his living

and unable to eat or fulfill other basic needs of his personal

life.

Sher Khan belongs from Dhata Khail, NWA and has been

displaced to Peshawar due to the ongoing army operation.

He lives with his 54 years old wife Sheren Daraza, a widow

daughter and an unmarried son. Four of his daughters and

three sons are married and are living separately.

Sher Khan suffered from stoke while he was working as a

labuorer abroad, where he worked for five years. The small

amount he had saved for his family was spent on his treat-

ment and he was then shifted to Pakistan after being unable

to afford the treatment abroad. Sher Khan not only lost his

health but the family lost its sole earner.

Sher Khan remained unregistered with FDMA due to issues

in the family number on his CNIC and could not get any as-

sistance. The only survival option for him and the family is

one of his married son, who is registered with FDMA, who

receives monthly food from WFP and shares with his par-

ents.

13


8. Conclusion

he assessment was a step towards addressing the

humanitarian needs of the vulnerable groups left

behind from registration. The assessment approach

has been tested and has proved to be a useful approach to

identify the unregistered families who fall under specific crite-

ria, and provides a basis for humanitarian assistance based on

their vulnerability and genuine needs. Even though there was

quite some effort (and associated cost) required in conducting

this assessment, the findings from it proved valuable in provid-

ing humanitarian assistance to these vulnerable families in

need13.

Even though displaced populations from FATA have been living

in KP since 2008, it is the first time that such vulnerable fami-

lies among those displaced in 2014 have been considered for

humanitarian assistance based on recommendations from this

assessment. Thus this assessment can be an important refer-

ence and model for addressing the humanitarian needs of un-

registered but vulnerable TDP families from all agencies, which

would have important humanitarian consequences in the well-

being of such populations in genuine need of support.

Discussion has been ongoing with UN WOMEN to support

these vulnerable families in getting legal documentation and in

the longer run to advocate with the government to enable

these families obtain official status of registered families.

An enumerator conducting interview in District Lakki Marwat

13 The total cost of this assessment was USD 118,000 whereas the humanitarian assistance (food and NFI) provided for the vulnerable families

thus identified has been estimated at USD 2.1 million for the initial three-month period alone.

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Documents

Assessment of unregistered vulnerable families displaced from … · 2020. 4. 30. · 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. ore than half a million persons from North Waziri-stan Agency have been