R4 Rural Resilience Initiative. Quarterly Report: January - March 2020

Rome (Italy): World Food Programme (WFP), 2020.

English

33 p.

WFPWFP3852020-1

R4 currently reaches over 93,000 farmers, (60 percent women) in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The initiative will also introduce insurance in Mozambique this year. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, during the first quarter of 2020, R4 gradually started adapting its field activities in response to the emergency. Many Country Offices developed business continuity plans, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and contingency plans to ensure continuity of programme implementation. Through programme implementing partners, WFP shared advocacy material focused on COVID-19 mitigation measures (i.e. social distancing, hand washing stations) in local languages. Due to restrictions of movements and gatherings in all the R4 countries, training activities and interactions with farmers were limited to only small groups to ensure COVID-19 preventive measures were being observed. The use of technology has been promoted to disseminate capacity strengthening messages and for monitoring activities, replacing the need for in-person interactions. Restriction of movements and social distancing measures have affected some programmatic activities, leading to revisions of some risk reduction and public works activities, especially those based on community level works that require large gatherings. As a result, shifts in programme activities are currently being assessed, particularly with regard to the conditionalities for beneficiaries to access insurance.

Electronic ed.

WFP 385.2020 Vol.1

eng

MON-129547