The Refugee-Affected and Hosting Areas (RAHA) Programme was introduced as a response to the political, socio-economic, financial and environmental consequences associated with hosting Afghan refugees for four decades.
To alleviate the burden on the host communities and promote social cohesion, in 2009, the Government of Pakistan, through the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) and the Economic Affairs Division (EAD), in partnership with UNHCR and a consortium of other UN agencies, initiated the Refugee Affected and Hosting Areas (RAHA) Programme.
The RAHA Programme constitutes the cornerstone of the implementation of the multi-year regional Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees (SSAR) in Pakistan, and remains the principal responsibility-sharing platform for maintaining temporary protection space, mitigating the impact of the protracted refugee presence, promoting social cohesion and enhancing the community acceptance of Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
By linking vital humanitarian and development interventions that benefit both refugees and their host communities, RAHA serves as the central delivery platform for the implementation of whole-of-community resilience-building measures in Pakistan.
This constitutes an effort to move away from prolonged dependence on open-ended humanitarian aid (“care and maintenance”) by enhancing social cohesion and building empowerment, resilience and productive capacities of both refugees and their host communities through targeted investments into national public service delivery systems (health, education, social protection etc.) and infrastructure.
Since 2009, RAHA Programme implemented approximately 4,260 projects worth USD 220 million benefiting around 12.4 million individuals, out of which 15 per cent are Afghan refugees. These RAHA projects prioritize five main sectors of interventions: education, health, livelihoods, water and infrastructure.
This includes projects aimed at improvement and/or construction of additional public school facilities and infrastructure, enhancement of public health care services, provision of medical equipment to health facilities, provision of clean drinking water, rehabilitation and/or construction of streets and roads, construction of flood protection walls, social protection projects, and provision of technical and vocational skills trainings and livelihoods interventions.