Following the change in authority in Afghanistan on 15 August 2021 and the resulting declaration of a Level 3 emergency, UNHCR introduced a rapid assessment methodology to quickly assess humanitarian and protection needs throughout the country as part of scale-up by UNHCR to respond to the unfolding crisis. The primary focus of the assessments were IDPs and IDP returnees who account for the majority of the households interviewed in these assessments. Nonetheless, as UNHCR takes a whole-of-community approach in its assistance programme, vulnerable host community members were also assessed, alongside a small number of refugee returnees, asylum seekers and refugees, as well as deported and spontaneous returnees under an area-based approach. The Rapid Household Assessments (RHAF) covers all 34 provinces with a population of 19.8 millions (Annual Statistical Report 2021).