Does Shelter Assistance Reduce Poverty in Afghanistan?

In this paper we assess the UNHCR post-return shelter assistance program in Afghanistan during 2009-11, motivated by the fact that the resolution of lost housing and property is commonly understood as a key ingredient in sustainable return and reintegration. We implement a variety of matching techniques in order to insulate our results from selection bias. Adopting a multidimensional approach, our results show that shelter assistance reduces the multidimensional poverty index of benefiting households by three percentage points. Looking at individual indicators of deprivation we find that assistance has the biggest effect on dietary diversity, food security, and heating.