Mini-Study One
Food security outcomes have improved significantly in many of the areas of Somalia worst-affected by the 2016/17 drought, as a result of large-scale humanitarian assistance and improvements in seasonal performance of rainfed crop production. However, an estimated 1.5 million people are expected to be in ‘crisis’ levels of food insecurity or worse through December 2018, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC phase 3).
In response to the continued threat of famine, the Somali Cash Consortium sought to provide vulnerable populations in 30 of the worst-affected districts with monthly multi-purpose unconditional cash transfers (UCT). Districts with the highest proportions of the population estimated to be in IPC phases 3 and 4 were prioritised for the intervention. The cash transfer amounts were set as an average of 65% of the full Minimum Expenditure Basket (MEB) in line with the transfer values recommended by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) and the Department for International Development (DFID).
To better understand how different amounts and frequencies of cash transfer impact on household food security outcomes and non-food outcomes (food well-being, financial well-being, ability to cope with shocks and stresses and household well-being), two mini-studies were developed in 2018 and conducted over the periods of March– June, and July–December. REACH was engaged as a learning partner by the Somali Cash Consortium to manage the analysis and reporting of these studies.