Dehkhaw, Afghanistan

AKAH’s Village-Level Habitat Planning Project

The village of Dasht-e-Dehkhaw (herein referred to as Dehkhaw) was located on a large alluvial fan and adjacent smaller fluvial terraces of Badakhshan province. In July 2017, during an exceptional period of hot weather combined with heavy rainfall, the village was completely washed away by a massive debris flow with homes and community buildings destroyed beyond repair. The entire community had to evacuate their village and were hosted by their neighbouring community (Zingariyan‌ Village) for the entire winter season of 2017.

After the floods subsided, AKAH carried out land-use hazard assessments which indicate that the original site of the village is extremely exposed to natural hazards for rebuilding. The initiative became a demand-driven voluntary relocation project. AKAH has been working with the community on a shared vision to resettle and rebuild a new village at a safer site, addressing the current and future needs of the villagers.

The project applies participatory and resilient habitat planning to create a liveable and safe place for rural life. In order to best maintain cultural autonomy, the entire village will be relocated through joint efforts by key stakeholders. The habitat planning process looks at current and future needs for the community for housing, essential services, and critical access routes to develop locally adapted spatial plans and designs.

Place

Afghanistan is among the most disaster-prone countries in the world. The country is affected not only by prolonged conflict but also recurrent disasters contributing to a vicious circle of underdevelopment. The risk of natural disasters has been accelerated by climate change and the capacity of the government is not sufficient to protect the lives and assets of people, especially in rural areas. The considerable amount of rural population in these locations (more than 40%) are exposed to multiple hazards, degradation of ecosystems, poor housing, infrastructure, and basic services. The low degree of social capacity increases the risk of human and economic losses and impacts on people’s lives when disasters occur.

Dasht-e-Dehkhaw (Dehkhaw) is located in the northern part of Badakhshan Province which is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the farthest northeastern part of the country between Tajikistan and Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region.

Livestock, poultry, farming, and beekeeping are the main livelihood activities. There are different land ownership structures for agricultural and garden lands. A thorough socio-economic survey has been carried out and the following proposed graphical model considers the family’s members, the agricultural area, gardens, and the numbers of animals and birds of each household into a circle, in addition to the name of the family’s head.

Impacted by disasters at the existing village site. Credit: AKAH

Children playing on rooftops. Credit: AKAH

Inside the existing home of a village beneficiary in Dehkhaw. Credit: AKAH

An animal shelter within a family home. Credit: AKAH

People

The total population of Dehkhaw is 228 individuals; 49% of whom are women and girls. There are 30 households with 7 to 8 people per household. Dehkhaw’s population is young with more than half of the population (59%) under the age of 25, and 29% under the age of 12. The households are diverse including nuclear families and extended families with each household having on average two to three children. Neighbourhood units and home designs are adapted to reflect the community and family structures with adapted options for public, private and semi-private space in homes and surroundings.

The project applies AKAH’s habitat planning process, to determine priorities, values, and goals of planning through participatory, bottom-up methods. The process is designed to promote stakeholder engagement at all levels to:

Formulate the vision and goals,
Evaluate design alternatives and housing model,
Participation of villagers in construction (through labour supply and partial funding)

Key stakeholders of the project include the Dehkhaw community members, local government, AKAH, and other civil society partners. The process of engagement with the rural community and local government included community consultations, in-person interviews by AKAH, and regular weekly meetings.

Visioning exercise with community members in Dekhaw. Credit: AKAH

Focus-group session with women in Dekhaw. Credit: AKAH

Land distribution exercise at the relocation site. Credit: AKAH

AKAH staff, volunteers and community members at the relocation site. Credit: AKAH

Planning

The principal challenges that the planning process needed to address were exposure to multiple natural hazards, affordable housing, and access to critical infrastructure and services including water, sanitation, education and health.

The habitat planning framework informs the overall site selection and village layout/design considering factors such as hazard exposure, soil quality, water sources, meteorological data, socio-economic needs, etc. to determine land use and infrastructure and building planning and design. The following assessments have been carried on site

Development Patterns
Hazard Vulnerability Risk Assessment (HRVA)
Micro climatic analysis and software simulation
Thermal comfort analysis
Sun path diagram
Daylight Analysis
Building orientation analysis
Greenery Planning
Cultural sensitivity
Aesthetics
Affordability

Based on these assessments, AKAH implemented structural mitigation measures including terracing and tree planting to protect the site from avalanche and rock-falls; constructed a critical access road and has begun building a sustainable, gravity-fed household water supply system and safe sewerage network for the new village.

Using data from these assessments as well as community consultations and local cultural and vernacular building styles AKAH has developed locally appropriate, carbon neutral home designs. Green building principles are at the heart of these designs, which are powered 100% by clean energy through a solar and micro hydro hybrid system and do not have any direct GHG emissions. For example, the home and neighbourhood plans use passive design features to maximise solar energy and minimise the impact of wind in the cold season for better thermal comfort. These are combined with insulation and energy efficient windows and maximum use of local materials to achieve a carbon neutral design.

AKAH has also held a series of workshops and capacity building sessions to train masons in resilient construction techniques and in the production of CMU blocks. Around 40,000 CMU blocks have already been produced at the site, and the villagers will participate in other construction processes as well. The excavation process for house foundation and building the superstructure up to 1m height is also underway.

Using local and low-carbon materials and passive design features as much as possible in the village construction process.

AKAH applies an ecosystem-based approach to disaster risk reduction using nature-based solutions such as tree plantation and terracing to protect towns and villages. Dehkhaw, Afghanistan. AKAH

Tree plantation helps stabilise a dangerous slope and creates a natural carbon sink to help tackle the climate crisis. Credit: AKAH

A neighbourhood design proposal. Credit: AKAH/MIT

A 3-D model of the new village. Credit: AKAH

Proposed design of homes in the new village. Credit: AKAH