Our Programs

ACRU works across interconnected humanitarian and development sectors to respond to urgent needs while also strengthening long-term resilience. The organization designs its programs based on community needs, vulnerability criteria, donor priorities, local context, and humanitarian principles.

Integrated Programming

Relief, recovery and resilience through community-based implementation.

ACRU's program model recognizes that affected households often face several overlapping risks at the same time. A water shortage can affect health, food security, protection, education, and livelihoods. Displacement can create shelter needs, income loss, documentation challenges, and increased vulnerability for women, children, elderly persons, and persons with disabilities. For this reason, ACRU works across sectors and aims to connect immediate assistance with practical pathways to recovery.

01. WASH

Water, sanitation and hygiene for dignity and public health.

ACRU's WASH programming supports access to safe water, improved sanitation, hygiene awareness, and water-related infrastructure rehabilitation. In humanitarian contexts, safe water and hygiene services are essential for reducing disease risk, protecting dignity, supporting children's health, and helping households manage daily life. ACRU's WASH work may include water supply systems, community water access, water infrastructure rehabilitation, hygiene promotion, sanitation support, emergency WASH response, and safe water support for vulnerable households.

Water access is especially important for displaced families, returnees, communities affected by drought or flood, and households living in areas where infrastructure has been damaged or neglected. Depending on project scope and donor requirements, ACRU may support the rehabilitation of wells, water points, storage systems, distribution networks, irrigation-related water structures, or community-managed water facilities. The organization also recognizes the link between WASH and livelihoods, especially in rural communities where irrigation, livestock, agriculture, and household water needs are closely connected.

Hygiene promotion is a critical part of WASH assistance. Infrastructure alone is not enough if communities do not receive clear, respectful, and practical information about safe water handling, handwashing, sanitation practices, menstrual hygiene, waste management, and disease prevention. ACRU's community engagement approach aims to provide information in accessible language and through appropriate channels, while respecting cultural context and community preferences.

02. Food Security and Livelihoods

Supporting household recovery and self-reliance.

Food security and livelihoods programming is central to ACRU's work with vulnerable families. Many households in Afghanistan face income loss, limited employment, high food prices, debt, seasonal shocks, reduced agricultural productivity, and displacement-related disruption. ACRU supports food assistance, cash-based transfer support where applicable, in-kind assistance, livelihood restoration, agricultural and rural livelihoods support, vocational training, income generation, enterprise development, and market-linked skills.

Food assistance can help households meet immediate needs during periods of crisis, but ACRU also recognizes the importance of livelihoods recovery. Skills training, small enterprise development, agricultural inputs, rural infrastructure, and cash-for-work approaches can support families in rebuilding income sources. Where appropriate and based on donor scope, ACRU designs livelihoods activities that respond to market demand and the practical capacities of participants. Vocational training may include trades that support employment or self-employment, while enterprise development may focus on simple business planning, tool support, market awareness, and mentoring.

ACRU's livelihoods approach also considers inclusion. Women, youth, returnees, IDPs, persons with disabilities, and low-income households may face different barriers to participation. Projects therefore require careful outreach, safe participation arrangements, community acceptance, and training models that fit the needs of participants. Livelihoods work is most effective when it links training with practical opportunities, household realities, and local market conditions.

03. Emergency Response

Rapid, coordinated assistance for crisis-affected families.

ACRU's emergency response work supports returnees, internally displaced persons, disaster-affected families, and households facing urgent humanitarian needs. Emergency situations may be caused by conflict-related displacement, return movements, floods, drought, earthquakes, severe winter conditions, economic stress, or sudden disruption of services. In these contexts, timely assistance can help families preserve dignity, reduce harmful coping mechanisms, and stabilize during a difficult period.

Emergency response activities may include rapid needs assessment, household-level relief assistance, emergency coordination, winterization and seasonal response, referral-focused communication, distribution planning, and post-distribution monitoring. ACRU aims to coordinate with relevant stakeholders and to align assistance with vulnerability criteria and donor requirements. Transparent communication is important during emergency response because affected families need to understand what support is available, who qualifies, what documentation is required, when activities will take place, and how feedback can be submitted.

Emergency assistance should also be protection-sensitive. Families affected by crisis may include separated children, female-headed households, elderly persons, persons with disabilities, people with medical needs, and individuals exposed to heightened risks. ACRU works to consider these risks during assessment, targeting, site planning, distribution, and follow-up. Community feedback is especially important in emergency settings because needs can change quickly and misinformation can spread if communication is unclear.

04. Shelter and Non-Food Items

Household support for families affected by displacement, return or disaster.

Shelter and non-food item assistance helps families address immediate living conditions after displacement, return, disaster, or economic shock. ACRU's work in this sector may include emergency shelter support, household kits, NFI distribution, shelter repair support, winterization items, and assistance to vulnerable families whose homes or basic assets have been damaged or lost. Shelter support is not only about physical materials. It is also about safety, privacy, dignity, protection, and family well-being.

In Afghanistan, shelter needs may be linked to return movements, informal settlements, natural disaster damage, poor housing conditions, seasonal weather, and reduced household income. ACRU's shelter and NFI activities are designed according to project scope and donor standards. They may involve beneficiary verification, market assessment, procurement, warehousing, distribution planning, quality checks, and post-distribution monitoring. Where shelter repair or construction-related activities are included, safety, community consultation, environmental considerations, and appropriate technical oversight are important.

NFI support can include household items that allow families to cook, sleep, stay warm, maintain hygiene, and manage daily life. Assistance must be delivered respectfully and transparently, with special attention to households that face additional risks. ACRU's approach aims to ensure that support is relevant, accountable, and coordinated with other assistance where possible.

05. Education and Capacity Building

Skills, knowledge and institutional capacity for recovery.

ACRU supports education and capacity building through community-based learning support, civic education, institutional training, vocational training, capacity building for youth and women, and skills development for employability. Education and training help communities recover from crisis by strengthening knowledge, confidence, problem-solving ability, social participation, and access to income opportunities. In humanitarian and development settings, capacity building may target individuals, community structures, local institutions, youth groups, women's groups, project committees, or service providers.

Vocational training is one practical pathway to self-reliance when it is aligned with market needs and participant capacity. ACRU's experience includes training areas such as mobile repair, house wiring, tailoring, and other skills depending on project design. Training can be strengthened through participant selection, attendance tracking, practical sessions, tool support where included, mentoring, and links to employment or self-employment opportunities. Women's participation requires careful planning, safe learning spaces, community engagement, and training schedules that respect household responsibilities and local conditions.

Capacity building may also include civic education, community awareness, organizational training, committee development, protection awareness, hygiene promotion, risk communication, or project-specific technical orientation. ACRU sees education and capacity building as cross-cutting because almost every sector benefits from stronger knowledge and local ownership.

06. Protection, PSEA and AAP

Safe, inclusive and accountable assistance.

Protection, PSEA, and Accountability to Affected Populations are essential to ACRU's humanitarian practice. Protection mainstreaming means that programs should avoid causing harm, support meaningful access, promote dignity, consider safety, and pay attention to the different needs of community members. ACRU works to include women, children, persons with disabilities, elderly persons, returnees, IDPs, and vulnerable households in ways that are respectful and practical.

PSEA awareness promotes protection from sexual exploitation and abuse. ACRU supports safe reporting, confidentiality, respectful conduct, awareness-raising, and survivor-centered principles where relevant. Staff, consultants, volunteers, and representatives are expected to behave ethically and to maintain appropriate boundaries with communities. PSEA is not a standalone message only; it must be reflected in recruitment, orientation, field conduct, complaints handling, and management follow-up.

Accountability to Affected Populations requires transparent information, safe feedback channels, complaint and feedback mechanisms, respectful communication, and program adaptation where possible. Communities should know what ACRU is doing, what assistance is available, how selection criteria are applied, how to raise concerns, and how sensitive complaints can be handled confidentially. Feedback can help identify errors, improve service quality, strengthen trust, and ensure that assistance is responsive to community realities.

07. Community Infrastructure and Resilience

Community assets that reduce risk and support recovery.

ACRU's community infrastructure and resilience work includes flood protection walls, irrigation structures, access infrastructure, protection walls, community assets, construction and rehabilitation, water-related structures, and disaster risk reduction activities. Infrastructure can play a direct role in protecting lives, homes, markets, agricultural land, water access, and livelihoods. In flood-prone areas, protection walls and culverts can reduce recurring damage. In rural areas, irrigation rehabilitation can support agricultural production and household income. In underserved communities, school or community asset rehabilitation can improve access to services.

Infrastructure projects require careful planning, community consultation, technical assessment, procurement controls, supervision, quality checks, environmental and social safeguards, and maintenance planning where appropriate. ACRU's approach is to work with community representatives and technical staff to align infrastructure activities with local priorities and donor scope. Where cash-for-work approaches are appropriate, infrastructure activities can also create short-term income opportunities for vulnerable households while building assets that benefit the wider community.

Resilience is strengthened when communities can better withstand shocks. Infrastructure is one component of resilience, but it works best when linked with livelihoods, WASH, disaster risk awareness, community participation, and local ownership. ACRU aims to support practical, context-sensitive infrastructure that is useful, safe, and accountable.

08. Health-adjacent and RCCE Support

Community awareness, hygiene promotion and referral-focused engagement.

ACRU may support community awareness, risk communication, hygiene promotion, health-related outreach, and referral-focused community engagement depending on project design and donor scope. Health-adjacent activities can include sharing practical information on hygiene, disease prevention, safe water handling, nutrition-related awareness where appropriate, maternal and child health messaging through referral-focused outreach, and risk communication during public health or environmental emergencies.

Risk Communication and Community Engagement is most effective when communities receive clear, trusted, and culturally appropriate information. ACRU's local knowledge and community networks can help ensure that messages are understandable and that community concerns are heard. Health-adjacent work must be carefully designed and coordinated with relevant health actors, especially when specialized medical services or clinical care are involved. ACRU's role may focus on awareness, referral information, mobilization, and feedback rather than clinical service delivery unless a project specifically provides the necessary technical scope.

ACRU's integrated approach allows programs to connect immediate assistance with recovery and resilience. WASH supports health and dignity. Livelihoods support income and food access. Shelter supports safety. Protection and accountability support trust. Infrastructure reduces risks. Education and capacity building strengthen long-term opportunity. Together, these sectors help communities move from crisis response toward more stable recovery.