Impact of Unconditional Support to Reduce Food Insecurity During the Pandemic of Covid 19

Abstract

Vulnerable populations are always highly affected by any disaster. They have deficient coping capacity as they depend on daily income activities and need a diversified source of income. So, those people are highly impacted by any disease. The result of such a disaster may lead to food insecurity. Methods: For the survey, 1,598 people who got unconditional support were under consideration. Out of the total population, 317 samples were surveyed using proportionate random sampling for the study. The research methodology is a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) with a Pretest-Posttest Design. A smart survey through KOBO tools was done using trained local enumerators. Data collected through the survey was downloaded to Excel and analysed using Excel. Results: Cereals (99%) was the most consumed food type, while white tuber and root (2.2%) were the least consumed. Food consumed in four or more types increased from 42% to 87%. Livelihood Coping Strategies indicator (L-CSI) was used as a descriptor of a household’s coping capacity alongside the R-CSI. The responses were categorized into stress, crisis, and emergency strategies. The number of HHs under the crisis category reduced from 15.4% to 4.1%. Similarly, the number of households under the Emergency category reduced from 12.3% to 3.8%, and the number of crises reduced from 58.2 % to 6.8% Conclusion: The study showed from the calculation R-CS that conditional support of the vulnerable people increased by nearly one-third (35%) within a month of support and helped them with coping strategies.