Measuring Multidimensional Vulnerability in Afghanistan

This paper seeks to develop a methodology towards measuring multidimensional vulnerability in post conflict environments. Vulnerability is defined as the combination of lack of entitlements and exposure to risks (Ahmed & Gassmann, 2009). The occurrence of a shock has varying impact on well-being. For some households, there is little or no decrease in well-being, whereas for others, there is a high fall in well-being, making households vulnerable. The occurrence of a conflict reduces household functionings, a loss that is caused by not only a fall in entitlements but also a breakdown in the process by which entitlements are converted into functionings. The former, lack of entitlements, leads to internal defenselessness and manifests itself in terms of reduced resilience. The latter, exposure to risk, results from external defenselessness, which manifests itself in terms of heightened fragility. Using data from the 2005 National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (NRVA), we apply the framework to Afghanistan and develop a profile of households in Afghanistan that experience multidimensional vulnerability. The paper argues that while lack of entitlements is pervasive in Afghanistan, majority of households suffer from a combination of exposure to risk and lack of entitlements