“The Relief Package under Dastarkhwan-e-Meli Saved our lives”

The COVID-19 Disease has deeply affected the economy of the people of Afghanistan. The Sarnarkh village consisted of 146 households in Shaikh Ali district of Parwan province is among many communities where a large number of residents have undergone great economic sufferings due to recent Coronavirus pandemic.

Said, Abdul Ahad, a villager: “Our daily incomes have come to a standstill due to Coronavirus. We could not come out of our houses for work. We spent all of the money, set aside, on medicine and food items during the lockdown. Now, we are living in such a bad economic condition. Fortunately, the relief packages provided to us through Dastarkhwan-e-Meli Program under the Citizens’ Charter National Priority Program of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD/CCNPP) have definitely supported our life, particularly in winter season when there are no livelihood activities at all in the region.”

Sultan Ali, another villager says that this relief package may support his family for a month only. He added: “We may have suffered further and further if we were not provided with such relief packages through Dastarkhwan-e-Meli Program as we neither had anything to eat at home nor any income source to financially support our families. Thanks to Dastarkhawn-e-Meli – the relief package has guaranteed our immediate life needs at least for a period of one month in this cold weather.”

As of now, more than 270 thousand households in 2,132 communities of 112 districts in 34 provinces of Afghanistan have received relief packages totaling more than one billion Afghanis.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in negative economic impacts on the lives of people, especially the poor & daily wage-earners. The Government of Afghanistan has initiated a relief response program – called Dastarkhwan-e Meli – that would be implemented in cities & villages. Dastakhwan-e Meli program is planned to be implemented in two phases.

The first phase of Dastarkhwan-e-Meli Program worth USD 86 million has already been launched in 13 thousand communities related to 123 districts across all 34 provinces of the country under the coverage of Citizens’ Charter National Priority Program of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD/CCNPP). As planned and set out, 1.67 million households in the rural areas will receive relief packages, valued at AFN 4,000 per household.

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