DURABLE SOLUTIONS PROGRAMMING IN AFGHANISTAN:
Supporting (Re)-integration of Displaced People in Areas of High Return
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Afghanistan continues to face one of the world’s most complex displacement crises, driven by prolonged conflict, foreign occupation, economic contraction, climate vulnerability and large-scale returns from neighbouring countries. Since late 2023, an estimated 5.8 million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan1, placing acute pressure on already fragile urban and periurban settlements where access to adequate housing, basic services, livelihoods and infrastructure remains severely constrained. At the same time, nearly half of the population
continues to require humanitarian assistance, with displacement-affected communities facing heightened exposure to poverty, food insecurity, inadequate shelter and/or services, climate-related hazards and protection risks.
In this context, durable solutions require a shift beyond short-term humanitarian delivery toward strengthening the settlements’ systems, infrastructure, livelihoods and community governance capacities that enable sustainable reintegration and resilience. Across Afghanistan, (re-)integration has a strong urban/peri-urban dimension, as returnees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and local communities live in underserviced and climate-vulnerable settlements, underscoring the central role of cities and neighbourhoods in recovery and stabilization processes.
In alignment with the United Nations Strategic Framework for Afghanistan (UNSFA) 2023–2027 and the IASC Framework on Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons (2010), UN-Habitat is implementing a portfolio of integrated, area-based durable solutions programmes in Afghanistan that translate global policy commitments into tangible, settlement-level results. In line with its global mandate, UN-Habitat provides technical leadership on urban and settlement-based approaches to durable solutions, with a particular focus on shelter/housing, HLP rights, access to basic services, spatial planning and climate resilience4.
Through it’s different programmes, including projects funded by the EU or, more recently, interagency projects funded by the Special Trust Fund for Afghanistan (STFA), UN-Habitat enables durable solutions for returnees and displacement-affected communities through neighbourhood upgrading, incremental housing and shelter support, climateresilient infrastructure, livelihoods recovery, participatory spatial planning or/and housing, land and
property (HLP) strengthening, based on the agency’s inclusive community governance mechanisms and participatory processes. In all projects, the agency’s interventions focus on improving the living conditions, strengthening re-integration capacities, and enhancing social cohesion and local resilience in areas experiencing high return and displacement pressures.
UN-Habitat’s experience over the last 20 years5 demonstrated that strengthening existing settlements and urban systems is sustainable, socially cohesive and cost-effective and benefits not only displaced but all people in a neighbourhood. UN-Habitat implements integrated approaches through comprehensive settlement upgrading, community participation and incremental investments, with visible, scalable and high-impact results that bridge humanitarian needs, recovery priorities and longer-term resilience objectives.
This paper highlights how UN-Habitat’s programming, including through funding by the EU and STFA, contributes to reintegration, climate adaptation and settlement stabilization in displacement-affected areas across Afghanistan, while protecting donor investments, laying foundations for longer-term recovery and stability, and reducing the risk of further displacement.
The “durable solutions-specific” projects are complemented by UN-Habitat’s other interventions, that include livelihood opportunities, recovery or other projects that support people in vulnerable situations.
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