New UN project aims to rehabilitate housing for thousands of Afghans

The United Nations today announced the launch of a new project that aims to rehabilitate housing for thousands of families in war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Two thousand vulnerable families in Kandahar, 1,500 in Jalalabad and communities in Mazar-i-Sharif will benefit from the initiative, which is being launched by the UN Human Settlements Programme (HABITAT) and the Afghan Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, along with local municipalities.

The programme, which will run until next April, “will address the urgent needs such as income, water and shelter for returnees, internally displaced persons, widows and vulnerable groups in these cities to assist them to begin rebuilding their lives,” Manoel de Almeida e Silva, a spokesman for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), told reporters in Kabul today.

Families in need will receive a $370 package to buy housing materials and pay for labour to rebuild their homes under the $2.5 million project, which is funded by the Government of Japan.