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Myanmar: Improving food security and nutrition with cash assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic

Strengthening household resilience to socioeconomic and climate shocks in Rakhine State

Year of publication 2023

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 14 p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet

Synopsis (short abstract) Rakhine State in Myanmar has experienced armed conflict, localized violence, political instability and extremely high levels of forced displacement, together with heightened vulnerability to flooding. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the local population faced further and compounding disruptions to livelihoods, transportation, value chains, critical services and banking systems, as well as to the functioning of local government institutions and administrations. In this complex situation, between October 2018 and October 2021, FAO assisted over 7 500 vulnerable households with the delivery of cash assistance complemented by the distribution of agricultural inputs, information materials, hygiene kits, agricultural training and aquaculture production support. The cash transfer amount was aligned to the social protection programme “Maternal cash assistance for pregnant and lactating women”. The intervention was part of the broader initiative of the Global Network Against Food Crises Partnership Programme, which aimed to increase the resilience of households to socioeconomic shocks and disasters, by focusing on reducing vulnerability to conflict and malnutrition, and bolstering low agricultural productivity. A country-level monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) plan was developed in order to track changes in resilience and food security indicators resulting from country investments. This social protection and resilience COVID-19 good practice aims at presenting answers to the learning questions identified, with particular regard to what is the actual contribution of the project interventions to resilience and the value added of channelling these through, or in alignment to, the national social protection system.

Language English

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