Women at the Forefront of Nutritional Resilience
This case study, conducted by the USAID-funded SHOUHARDO III Plus program, uses a Recurrent Monitoring Survey (RMS) to examine the repercussions of the conflict in Ukraine and the resulting rising food prices in Bangladesh. It also highlights the affected families’ inability to meet their nutritional requirements.
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Amid challenging times, communities display resilience in the most extraordinary ways, and Bangladesh stands as a prime example.
Impact of food price hikes in Bangladesh
A Recurrent Monitoring Survey (RMS) conducted by the USAID-funded SHOUHARDO III plus program in February 2023, involving 450 program households, highlights the repercussions of the conflict in Ukraine in the rising food prices of Bangladesh. Despite being over 5,800 kilometers away from Bangladesh, the conflict has triggered an escalation in oil prices, a reduction in wheat supplies, and an overall surge in inflation impacting the most vulnerable.
To comprehensively understand the ongoing price surge trends and their impact on program participates, SHOUHARDO III and SHOUHARDO III plus also conducted and analyzed two additional pivotal surveys (i) Annual Participant Based Survey (PaBS), July 2022 (Sample Size 1,050) and Annual Participant Based Survey (PaBS), September 2023 (Sample Size 1,125).
The data from the survey are alarming, highlighting a significant impact on families’ ability to meet their nutritional requirements. The most recent PaBS survey conducted in September 2023, underscored an increase in food prices. Over 88% of participants reported a rise in their expenditure status. The same data also found that 97.3% of households have been experiencing a significant increase in the price of essential food commodities over the last six months.
As shown in the graph below, by September 2023, 80% of the participants have curtailed their consumption of essential nutritious foods such as eggs, meat, fish, milk and pulses. The dietary patterns of poor and extremely poor households in Bangladesh primarily revolve around rice, oil and vegetables. Escalating prices are impacting these vulnerable households.
Graph: Impact of the price hike for food commodities on the standard of living. Graph taken from SHOUHARDO III Plus RMS
Further, the graph shows a dramatic increase in the people who are eating less nutritious food from 11.9% in 2022 as compared to 79.8% in 2023, even though globally, food prices have largely stabilized. The fact that people are more likely to cover their non-food expenses (about 25% better in 2023), but they are doing that at the expense of their food intake is striking.
What’s even more concerning is that during this period, there had been a significant increase in incidents of mental, emotional, psychological, and physical abuse against women. By September 2023, nearly 45% of households reported incidents of gender-based violence (GBV), marking a stark increase from 18.9% in July 2022, a 26% escalation. Nearly half of the surveyed women reported experiencing some form of abuse. The RMS conducted the same year corroborated these findings, pinpointing financial hardship as a principal catalyst for household-level frustration, culminating in GBV.
Graph: Percentages of households that reported incidence of gender-based violence
Resilience from within communities
Despite the challenges posed by rising food prices, some households and communities have shown remarkable resilience by adopting positive coping mechanisms. These proactive households are tapping into their savings, accessing loans through Village Savings and Loan Associating (VSLAs), borrowing from friends or relatives, venturing into new wage labor, and even starting their small businesses. Particularly inspiring is the role of women who have come up with local solutions to meet the nutritional needs of their households and their communities.
“I don’t need to buy vegetables from the market. Rather, I sell the surplus. This garden fulfills the nutritional need of my family and ensures some extra earnings,” says Urmi Khatun (37), a mother of two. Urmi learned about nutritious food production because of attending regular meetings and sessions organized by SHOUHARDO III plus program. She decided to use every inch of this land to grow vegetables. She grows spinach, ridge gourd, pumpkin, papaya, and other vegetables in her homestead garden throughout the year. She also sells the surplus to get some extra money.
While many households have resorted to negative strategies like reducing food quality and skipping meals, there is a notable group that has embraced constructive approaches.
The households that embraced constructive approaches were also the ones that benefited from interventions of USAID-funded SHOUHARDO III plus, and the Government of Bangladesh on nutrition, agriculture, and other crosscutting approaches. Some of these interventions include Social and Behavioral Change Communication (SBCC) to address and prevent GBV, prioritize digital inclusion of women, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship development training, orient farmers on modern agricultural techniques using digital platforms, expansion of village saving agents, mobilize community healthcare providers, use digital apps and hotlines to promote nutrition services etc. The program also facilitates Girls’ Forum to address issues related to child marriage and supports peer groups to create awareness about their nutritional needs.
Enhancing long-term resilience
The SHOUHARDO III program by CARE Bangladesh has played a pivotal role in enhancing the long-term resilience of women, families, and communities, empowering them to navigate through crisis. In the ongoing SHOUHARDO III plus project, participants are actively engaged in daily wage labor, agriculture, and seasonal migration to urban areas.
Diversifying income streams is crucial, especially during crises, and the current program, along with Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) initiatives, is expanding activities related to VSLAs, improving access to affordable loans, and strengthening connections to governmental safety programs.
Overall, the communities’ resilience in difficult times, fostered by diverse interventions of SHOUHARDO III plus program has significantly boosted the long-term resilience of women and their communities.