Multi-sectoral Program on Food Security COVID-19

The safety net bridging program of The World Food Programme (WFP), The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) aimed to address the food security, nutrition, and hygiene needs of households in at-risk low-income urban areas of Dhaka North City Corporation. WFP Bangladesh started the urban food assistance programme in Dhaka in 2020, after the Covid-19 pandemic with the objective that to build a resilient urban community that can be able to cope or adapt internal and external urban specific shocks and stress by improving their food and nutrition security. The Sweden supported programme has signed in January 2021 and started its implementation from August 2021 at two slums in Dhaka, Duaripara and Bhashantek. The programme offered three inclusive approaches to the urban households: 1) Cash-based assistance for improved and diversified diets (monthly stipends of 3000 BDT to meet their food security, nutrition and associated essential needs and financial incentives to purchase healthy foods (cash back up to 25% on total monthly purchase)); 2) Integrated sexual and reproductive healthcare, information, and education services and 3) Food production for an improved food environment. WFP executed this programme in collaboration with another two UN agencies called, UNFPA which are working with adolescent girls regarding sexual and reproductive health and FAO, which are supporting smallholder farmers and producers. The households selected for the programme, based on the same criteria which are followed in government safety net programmes as households where pregnant and lactating women, elderly women, women with disability, widow/deserted/destitute women, and adolescent girls, lived, were eligible for the programme. Female, who is the household head, pregnant and lactating women, women of reproductive age (20-49 years) and adolescent girls (10-19 years) are the nutrition ambassadors of the project. In total 13,208 urban dwellers and above 3,000 urban households received cash support and nutrition-sensitive messaging from the project. For the purpose of monitoring programs and doing research, WFP kept gathering data that was broken down by gender and, where feasible, by disabilities. While women and men jointly make decisions about how to use assistance, joint decision making among participants in the Dhaka urban program decreased from 35 to 18 percent. In contrast, women's decision making increased by 6 percentage points starting in 2022, suggesting that attitudes towards gender are changing. Overview of entire programme: Overview of cash transfers/food assistance: - WFP provided cash-based food assistance to 13,339 individuals (3,145 households) in at-risk low-income urban areas of Duaripara and Bhashantek through mobile transfer of BDT 2,250 6,200, depending on household size. - On average, BDT 3,477 was spent by each household to buy food items from the selected shops (equivalent to 95.6 percent of the total cash value received). - Through its implementing partner- BRAC and NDP, WFP ensures that food commodities being sold to participants are capped at a maximum price in line with local market rates. WFP monitors the prices of essential food commodities from all designated shops and vegetable carts every 15 days. A chart with the updated price list is required to be displayed in front of the shops and mobile carts. - When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, dedicated handwashing facilities were put in place at each of the shops and shopkeepers were encouraged to maintain safe distance while selling products. These handwashing stations are still active and used by the beneficiaries and other people in the project locations supporting good hygiene practices. - The urban project has a dedicated helpline number where beneficiaries can use for follow-up support. Menstrual hygiene support: - 49,586 packets of sanitary pads were redeemed through Building Blocks from February 2022 to 15 January 2023 - 92% of the beneficiaries received IEC materials on Menstrual Health Management, Child Marriage, Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support, Referral services and others. - 2,930 adolescent girls and women of reproductive age received Social and Behaviour Change Communication sessions on Sexual and Reproductive Health awareness. Farming households: - 550 commercial producers (22% female) and 2,000 smallholder farmers (micro-gardening households) (76% female) received technical training on safe vegetable production technologies, management, and market linkage through 35 technical training and 15 refreshers sessions. - 550 producers received 1,375 KG of 11 types of quality agricultural seeds (winter and summer season) and 13,750 KG of vermicompost and necessary agricultural tools (silo, spade, watering can, two-wheeler cart, etc.) - 2 000 smallholder farmers received 1,100 KG of 11 types of quality seeds and 30,000 KG of vermi-compost and agricultural tools (silo, spade, watering can, seed planter tray, plastic seedling tray, plant support net, etc.) Capacity strengthening: - Workshops were conducted for all project staff on general food, nutrition, and the functionality of the cashback incentives for healthy food purchases. Practical demonstrations were also arranged for them on how to disseminate those messages both remotely and during house-to-house visits. - Shop owners and vegetable and fruit cart vendors (commonly known as van-gari wala) were provided a technical orientation on how to use the Building Blocks application using their smartphone, and briefing about the Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials used to support beneficiary communication about cashback incentives. - Regular monthly meetings were conducted with the shop owners and van-gari wala to discuss the challenges they faced performing data entry on beneficiaries transactions in the application. Subsequently, refresher sessions were conducted for them. - Regular communication with the shop owners was also conducted through WhatsApp groups, which act as a common platform for shopkeeper queries, technical support and updates on the application. Social and behaviour change communication activities: - WFP developed and distributed IEC materials to sensitize beneficiaries about the cashback incentives and the nutritional benefits of planning meals according to food groups. Beneficiaries then received follow-up phone calls and home visits explaining the messages. - WFP conducted an awareness campaign on the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence in both Duaripara and Bhashantek. Text messages and voice messages were sent to the beneficiaries to raise awareness around GBV. To incentivize participants to recall key messaging, a quiz competition was also organized. Beneficiaries were sent a quiz every day for consecutive 15 days and encouraged to send their answers through Short Message Service (SMS) to WFPs dedicated number. By participating daily and answering the majority of questions correctly, 837 quiz participants were declared winners and provided 1 kg of fortified rice as a prize from the competition. Complementarity with the other UN agencies and government partnerships: - WFP and FAO meet regularly to coordinate the sale of fresh produce to beneficiaries; FAO-contracted farmers in and near Dhaka are assisted to sell fresh vegetables and fruit to the urban project. - With WFP technical assistance, UNFPA distributed menstrual products to women and adolescents girls using the Building Blocks platform for real-time tracking of entitlement distribution. - WFP and its cooperating partner, BRAC and NDP, maintained regular coordination with the Government ministries and relevant bodies: Ministry of Social Welfare (MoSW), Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA), and the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC).

The overall aim of the project is to target (urban) households and (rural) farmers most impacted by COVID-19 and restore broken supply chains. The expected outcome is: Enhanced food and nutrition security and improved diets of nutritionally vulnerable household members, including pregnant and lactating women and young children. The contribution will address the food security needs of 20,000 beneficiaries; i.e. 17,500 individuals (3500 households) in at-risk low-income urban areas of Dhaka and smaller urban municipalities near Dhaka, with a focus on establishing linkages with 2,500 local smallholder farmers in semi-rural and rural areas of Dhaka North City Corporation (linking to smallholder farmers and producer organizations in Cumilla district, Chittagong).  The programme is designed over a ten-month period, in order to sustain the short-term impact of the programme on household-level food security, and to create a model that the government can replicate and scale up. Recognising that the COVID-19 crisis is ongoing, and at risk of escalating, and that the full repercussions of the national lockdown is not yet known, the project has a built-in flexibility to adjust to a changing situation.  The programme has following objective and outcomes: Objective: Enhance Food security for households most affected by the COVID-19 crisis in at-risk low-income urban areas Outcome 1: Most affected HHs by the COVID-19 crisis have enhanced food security Outcome 2: Re-established and regular supply of fresh food to the inhabitants of the identified and targeted areas