{"id":2148,"date":"2020-04-14T12:34:38","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T12:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mhauser.at\/?p=2148"},"modified":"2023-12-03T17:05:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-03T17:05:21","slug":"vouchers-instead-of-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michauser.com\/?p=2148","title":{"rendered":"How vouchers instead of food relief stabilise livelihoods during crises"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 fusion-parallax-fixed nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"--awb-border-radius-top-left:0px;--awb-border-radius-top-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-right:0px;--awb-border-radius-bottom-left:0px;--awb-padding-bottom:424px;--awb-background-image:url(&quot;https:\/\/michauser.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Mathare-face-mask-long.jpg&quot;);--awb-background-size:cover;--awb-flex-wrap:wrap;background-attachment:fixed;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row 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class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-2 fusion_builder_column_3_5 3_5 fusion-three-fifth\" style=\"--awb-padding-top:30px;--awb-bg-size:cover;width:60%;width:calc(60% - ( ( 4% + 4% ) * 0.6 ) );margin-right: 4%;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p style=\"letter-spacing: 2px; text-align: center; font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 100; font-size: 30px;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"100\">Article<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-1 fusion-sep-none fusion-title-center fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-one\" style=\"--awb-margin-top-small:0px;--awb-margin-right-small:0px;--awb-margin-bottom-small:20px;--awb-margin-left-small:0px;--awb-font-size:42px;\"><h1 class=\"fusion-title-heading title-heading-center fusion-responsive-typography-calculated\" style=\"margin:0;font-size:1em;--fontSize:42;--minFontSize:42;line-height:1.2;\">How vouchers instead of food relief stabilise livelihoods during crises<br \/><\/h1><\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-2\"><p><span style=\"font-size: 29px;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\"><span data-fusion-font=\"true\" style=\"font-size: 28px; font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">H<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300; font-size: 28px;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">ow citizen-led social protection could help to cushion food systems in informal settlements.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">There is something to learn from COVID-19 lockdowns, private food deliveries by Kenyan citizens were pouring into informal settlements in Nairobi, where 60-70% of residents live. These donations were intended to help provide for households that had lost income due to COVID-19 measures. But Billian Ojiwa, founder of the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/billianmusicfamily.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">Billian Music Family<\/a><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">, and his colleagues in Mathare wanted to test an alternative means to secure food for these households. They provided vouchers &#8212; first on paper, then via SMS &#8212; to be redeemed by 100 test households at three designated local food shops. This first round of \u2018proof of concept\u2019 research &#8212; <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-018-07106-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">a version of citizen science<\/a><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\"> &#8212; looks promising. And the concept &#8212; a standard approach in many food aid programs &#8212; is intriguing. Rather than providing direct food aid, the idea is to support the local food economy to function; in a more nimble way that can address the need of the hour with deeper local impact. The approach seems to work in Mathare too, Nairobi\u2019s second informal settlement with about 400,000 inhabitants.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">In cooperation with Community Health Volunteers who know Mathare in and out, the team identifies households with severe food shortages. This is done systematically, administrative district by district, based on hardship criteria that must be met in order to enrol households into the scheme. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/michauser.com\/?p=2088\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">Someone entitled to a voucher has lost<\/a><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\"> a lot; an informal wage, food, and sometimes hope. Of course, the voucher they receive does not replace everything, but it does offer quite a lot in terms of dignity, and most importantly, it\u2019s worth flour and fresh products such as vegetables for a week.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b style=\"font-family: Roboto;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">Maintain informal food system<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">As much as the goal is to support families confronted with COVID-19 related food shortages, an underpinning principle of the initiative is to sustain the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pim.cgiar.org\/2020\/04\/02\/covid-19-lockdowns-threaten-africas-vital-informal-urban-food-trade\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">informal food economy<\/a><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\"> as long as possible. But this only works when small shops, street food vendors and retailers have a business. If they fall below a minimum cash flow, they close down, and this will <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unscn.org\/en\/news-events\/recent-news?idnews=2039\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">radically change the food environment <\/a><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">for people in informal settlements \u2013 in addition to shopkeepers and vendors losing their livelihood and becoming aid-dependent themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">Distorting the competition between those vendors enrolled in the scheme and those who are not is to be avoided. Equally important it is to offer what is needed to ensure a balanced diet. Hence, the Mathare team works with shopkeepers to offer a diversity of foods, especially legumes, fresh fruits and vegetables and millets to complement the maize consumption. Most likely, new informal market institutions are needed to secure food supply if there was a full lockdown in future.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-image-element in-legacy-container\" style=\"--awb-caption-title-font-family:var(--h2_typography-font-family);--awb-caption-title-font-weight:var(--h2_typography-font-weight);--awb-caption-title-font-style:var(--h2_typography-font-style);--awb-caption-title-size:var(--h2_typography-font-size);--awb-caption-title-transform:var(--h2_typography-text-transform);--awb-caption-title-line-height:var(--h2_typography-line-height);--awb-caption-title-letter-spacing:var(--h2_typography-letter-spacing);\"><span class=\" fusion-imageframe imageframe-none imageframe-1 hover-type-none\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"955\" height=\"906\" alt=\"Shelves empty of pastas, rices, toilet paper, still Monoprix on 18 March 2020; fresh produce, dairy, meats fully restocked a day later (Photo Credit: Ryan Buckley)\" title=\"Mathare Shop\" src=\"https:\/\/michauser.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Mathare-Shop-1.jpg\" class=\"img-responsive wp-image-2156\" srcset=\"https:\/\/michauser.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Mathare-Shop-1-200x190.jpg 200w, https:\/\/michauser.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Mathare-Shop-1-400x379.jpg 400w, https:\/\/michauser.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Mathare-Shop-1-600x569.jpg 600w, https:\/\/michauser.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Mathare-Shop-1-800x759.jpg 800w, https:\/\/michauser.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Mathare-Shop-1.jpg 955w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/span><\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-3\"><p style=\"font-size: 17px;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\">One of the test shops where people redeem their food vouchers, Nairobi, 12 April 2020 (Photo Credit: Billian Ojiwa; Cover picture: Gerald Anderson)<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-4\"><p style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">Rather than people crowding in front of salon cars and lorries delivering food to informal settlements, the holders of food vouchers shop like on any other day. In the streets, no one recognises them as voucher holders. And in front of the designated shops, they queue as any other client does. The food vouchers are part of a larger package of COVID-19 awareness communication, delivered by the Community Health Volunteers. As a result, physical distancing is taken seriously. White circles drawn on the ground delineate the waiting spots in front of shops. People wear face masks, donated by citizens nearby.<\/p>\n<p><b style=\"font-family: Roboto;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">Public-private partnership<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">Over the Easter weekend, the Kenyan administration regulated private food deliveries and called for coordination &#8212; after <\/span><a href=\"chaotic food deliveries\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">chaotic food deliveries<\/a><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\"> put people at risk. Coordination is critical in such complex environments like informal settlements. Equally important it is for private food relief to adhere to standards, ranging from the right targeting of households, hygiene and food safety, physical distancing, and of course fairness and transparency of the entire food voucher system. The latter is essential in building and maintaining trust when crowdsourcing funds. The team in Mathare collect funds for the food vouchers also through <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.changa.co.ke\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">M-Changa<\/a><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">, a Kenyan crowdfunding platform. And it coordinates efforts in Mathare with the public administration. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">Surely, social protection such as the one in Mathare are ideally run by the state. But often, respective public systems are just evolving. For details about social protection responses to COVID-19 globally <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ugogentilini.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Country-SP-COVID-responses_April10.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">see the latest real time review<\/a><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\"> by colleagues at the World Bank, ILO and UNICEF. Hence, in an emergency of that scale, everyone\u2019s help is needed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b style=\"font-family: Roboto;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">Research support<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">The food voucher system currently developing in Mathare is innovative and builds on experiences elsewhere. The WFP (World Food Program) in neighboring Somalia, for example, maintains cash-based food support to internally displaced people and urban poor. Just this year, in cooperation with the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pim.cgiar.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets<\/a><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.icrisat.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">ICRISAT<\/a><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\"> started complimentary research with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wfp.org\/countries\/somalia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">WFP\u2018s work in Mogadishu<\/a><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\"> to better understand the effects of cash-based transfers on livelihood trajectories of recipients. There is a growing academic literature on cash- and voucher-based food transfers in emergencies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">Research also provides knowledge to shape the emerging food voucher system in Mathare. One important question is the targeting of households. As the situation develops so dynamically, indicators used to target households must take note of and continuously adjust to COVID-19 impacts on households. F<\/span><span style=\"background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: var(--body_typography-color); font-family: Roboto; font-size: var(--body_typography-font-size); letter-spacing: var(--body_typography-letter-spacing); font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">urthermore, research must take note of the effects of the voucher system on the local food economy. Finally, there is need for evidence-based strategies to sustainably scale the impact of the voucher system to other populations and areas. Since 2018, <\/span><a style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-size: var(--body_typography-font-size); letter-spacing: var(--body_typography-letter-spacing); font-weight: 300;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.icrisat.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">ICRISAT<\/a><span style=\"background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: var(--body_typography-color); font-family: Roboto; font-size: var(--body_typography-font-size); letter-spacing: var(--body_typography-letter-spacing); font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\"> and <\/span><a style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-size: var(--body_typography-font-size); letter-spacing: var(--body_typography-letter-spacing); font-weight: 300;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.worldagroforestry.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">World Agroforestry<\/a><span style=\"background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: var(--body_typography-color); font-family: Roboto; font-size: var(--body_typography-font-size); letter-spacing: var(--body_typography-letter-spacing); font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">, with the support of the <\/span><a style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-size: var(--body_typography-font-size); letter-spacing: var(--body_typography-letter-spacing); font-weight: 300;\" href=\"http:\/\/gldc.cgiar.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">CGIAR Research Program on Grain Legumes and Dryland Cereals<\/a><span style=\"background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);\"><span style=\"font-family: var(--body_typography-font-family);\"><span style=\"color: var(--body_typography-color); letter-spacing: var(--body_typography-letter-spacing); font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">, have been working on dietary behavior change in Mathare. The so developed <\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">citizen-science network<\/span><span style=\"font-family: var(--body_typography-font-family);\"><span style=\"color: var(--body_typography-color); letter-spacing: var(--body_typography-letter-spacing); font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\"> will help to answer a few of the questions above.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family: Roboto; font-weight: 300;\" data-fusion-font=\"true\" data-fusion-google-font=\"Roboto\" data-fusion-google-variant=\"300\">The next weeks of COVID-19 measures will be critical for everyone, including the informal settlements, their inhabitants and the food environments. Maintaining food flows \u2013 lifelines for many &#8212; is as important as thinking of the big dietary questions that will arise out of the COVID-19 crisis. It is too early to tell if a food voucher system positively impacts dietary diversity. Ideally, it does. This is in addition to securing food for households in need while advancing the food infrastructure amidst the most unprecedented crisis many informal settlements have ever experienced.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-3 fusion_builder_column_1_5 1_5 fusion-one-fifth fusion-column-last\" style=\"--awb-bg-size:cover;width:20%;width:calc(20% - ( ( 4% + 4% ) * 0.2 ) );\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-column-has-shadow fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\"><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-urban-resilience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michauser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michauser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michauser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michauser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michauser.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2148"}],"version-history":[{"count":101,"href":"https:\/\/michauser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4079,"href":"https:\/\/michauser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2148\/revisions\/4079"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michauser.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michauser.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michauser.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michauser.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}