Afghanistan: supporting children and families in crisis

Childhood. Interrupted.

Conflict and crisis are disrupting the lives of millions of children around the world. In Afghanistan, ongoing violence, displacement and instability are forcing families to navigate impossible choices just to survive.

For children, the consequences are immediate. Schools close, daily routines collapse, and many are pushed to take on responsibilities far beyond their years. Girls are particularly at risk of losing access to education and safe spaces.

Millions of Afghan children go to bed hungry, without the basic necessities that many of us take for granted – a meal, a safe place to play or the chance to learn. This is not only a crisis of resources; it is a child rights crisis and a crisis of childhood itself.

Families managing in difficult circumstances

Since 2021, Afghanistan’s political and economic landscape has placed enormous pressure on households. In 2025, an estimated 22.9 million people – nearly half the population – will require humanitarian assistance. Many families have lost livelihoods; homes have been damaged by earthquakes and essential services are increasingly difficult to access. When women and girls lose access to education or work, children feel the impact first.

For women heading households, rising hunger and restrictions on their rights leave them struggling to meet basic needs. Under Taliban rule, many cannot work or leave home independently and families often rely on emergency coping strategies to survive.

In 2023, Ameena*, who works for a ChildFund Alliance partner in Afghanistan, described the extreme hardship families faced on the ground:

“Children are being sold because of poverty and hunger. Children are being deprived of their needs at every stage of life.”

She told us about a man who had promised his 10-year-old daughter in marriage to pay for medicine. The man died, but the girl still had to go forward with the marriage to honour her father’s commitment.

“You can see the disappointment in her eyes,” Ameena said. “This girl doesn’t study and she doesn’t even play. She learns how to take care of children, cook and wash clothes so that she doesn’t get into trouble at her husband’s house.”

While certain areas or situations may have changed since 2023, Afghanistan remains an ongoing crisis for children and families.

The scale of the crisis for children

Afghanistan has one of the youngest populations in the world, yet millions of children depend on adults whose livelihoods have been shattered by conflict, drought and economic collapse. For many families, simply putting food on the table is a daily struggle. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), 9.5 million people are severely food insecure with children among the most affected.

The nutrition crisis is alarming. In 2025, 3.5 million children under five are expected to be malnourished, an increase of half a million from the previous year. Without enough to eat, children face stunted growth, missed school days and a childhood overshadowed by hunger.

To survive, families are forced into impossible choices. Some children are sent to work in dangerous conditions, others are married off at a young age. For single or widowed mums, these pressures are even greater.

How families are supported in daily life

Zabeeda*, a mum of five in rural Afghanistan, faced daily struggles to feed her family. Despite working long hours as a cleaner, she barely earned enough for bread and at one point felt forced to make an impossible decision, selling her son Farshad to try to keep the rest of her family alive.

Joining ChildFund’s Cash for Food program transformed their daily life. She could buy food, clothes and medicine for her family. Breakfast before school became a reality, chores felt lighter and Farshad, who had once missed classes to help fetch water, now sits at a desk alongside his siblings, learning to read and write. Programs like Cash for Food provide tools and support that help families manage everyday challenges and keep children safe, fed and learning.

Families also receive practical and flexible support that meets their immediate needs. Through cash transfers to buy food, hygiene items and school supplies, distributions of essential household kits and safe spaces for children to learn and play, families regain stability and children can reclaim part of their childhood.

Addressing hunger and food insecurity

Food insecurity affects every part of a child’s life, including what they eat, how they grow and whether they can focus on learning or play. Years of conflict, economic collapse, drought and rising prices have left many Afghan families struggling to put food on the table.

According to a recent WFP report, Afghanistan has seen dramatic reductions with food support reaches fewer than 10 per cent of those in need while malnutrition rates continue to soar. Families are deeply affected; they skip meals, sacrifice children’s schooling or engage children in labour to survive.

Cash or food support programs empower families to meet their needs with dignity, manage everyday challenges and keep children safe, fed and learning.

You can help children and families in Afghanistan

Children in Afghanistan continue to go hungry, miss school and face dangers no child should ever face. Through local partnerships, we are working with families and communities to provide food, clean water, shelter and safe spaces so children can survive and reclaim a sense of childhood.

Your support gives children a chance to go to school, play safely and grow healthy and strong, while helping families meet their daily needs and begin to rebuild. Even a simple act of support – a meal, a notebook or a safe place to play – can make a real difference.

*Names have been changed to protect individuals' identities.