Community Based Monitoring gathers voices of marginalized families in India to assess the impact of Covid-19 Pandemic
- UNICEF and Institute for Human Development (IHD), partner to analyze the data
- During the first wave of the pandemic, marginalized families in rural India show better resilience to withstand impact of pandemic than those in urban India.
UNICEF India in partnership with the Indian Institute of Human
Development (IHD) today launched a study titled :‘Assessing Impact of the
COVID-19 Pandemic on the Socioeconomic Situation of Vulnerable Populations –
through Community Based Monitoring.’ The study was launched in the presence of
the UN Resident Coordinator in India, Deirdre Boyd, UNICEF India Representative
Dr Yasmin Ali Haque, Director, IHD, Professor Alakh N. Sharma and senior
representatives from the government, UNICEF and IHD. It was followed by a panel
discussion participated by senior representatives from the Government,
academia, policy advisors, UNICEF and IHD.
The study was designed and rolled out in partnership with 13 Civil
Society Organizations and its network of 300 community volunteers living in the
300 locations, where the study was conducted. The data was collected in
four rounds between May and December 2020, covering 12 districts in seven
states.
The study assessed the immediate social and economic costs of the
pandemic, lockdown and post-lockdown challenges faced by vulnerable communities
such as urban slum dwellers, rural communities and children in the country. It
brought to attention the impact on livelihoods, food availability, health,
nutrition, education, and access to basic public services such as health,
nutrition, and social protection schemes by vulnerable groups in
2020. Though this report is being released now, yet the lessons learnt
from the study would be useful for future in handling humanitarian emergencies,
especially around access to social services by the marginalized families.
Speaking at the launch of the study, Deirdre Boyd, the UN
Resident Coordinator in India said, “Using Community Based Monitoring,
this study provides an excellent overview on how the pandemic affected the
lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable populations, including rural
communities and urban slum dwellers. We know that data driven governance based
on the lived experiences of those most affected can drive real progress on
national priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals.”
“The pandemic exposed the precarious situation that many marginalized
groups, including the urban poor, face during humanitarian crises such as the
COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr Yasmin Ali Haque, Representative, UNICEF
India. “The CBM has proved to be an essential tool to provide rapid
assessment during the acute phase, for agile programmatic response as well as
to support policy decisions to reduce the current and future shocks due to
widened inequalities. It also highlights the opportunity for strengthening
data-ecosystems to capture humanitarian situations in the country.”
Professor Alakh N Sharma, Director, IHD said, “The pandemic containment
measures exposed the livelihood-centric vulnerabilities of the urban poor in
particular. The enormous scale of job losses in the urban sector coupled with
social security handicaps that ensued as an immediate aftermath of the
lockdown, rendered severe blows to the economically marginalized populace. The
economic recovery has been rather slow for the deprived communities and call
for even stronger measures to spring back to pre-lockdown levels."
Key findings from the report:
· Due to poorer quality of jobs
available post pandemic, that not only pay less but are not in commensuration
with the skill possessed by the worker, most families experienced a decline in
wages and persistence of lower incomes, especially in rural India.
- In June-July, joblessness among the families
in the cohort was 26% in urban and 20% in rural areas. However, it
declined to pre-pandemic levels of 8-9% by December 2020.
- In December, 62 % of those working under
MGNREGS got timely wage payment, an improvement from 41% in
October-November 2020.
- Access to treatment for COVID-19 in
August-September improved in urban areas vis-à-vis those in rural areas.
- Access to government facilities for
pregnancy-related services post pandemic related lockdown, improved
positively in August-September and December. In December, access to
MCP/JachchaBachcha/ Mamta Card (December) was higher in rural areas (94%)
than urban (82 %).
- While the availability of health services for
pregnant women improved yet, just around a third of the women who were
aware, received maternity benefits as given under the Government scheme.
- Child immunization was adversely impacted more
in urban than in rural areas.In August-September 2020, the child
immunization situation improves. In December 2020, 81% of rural mothers
and 71 % urban mothers of less than one-year old child reported that they
have immunized their children.
· During first wave of the pandemic,
the impact of the lockdown was more severe in urban than in rural areas. Urban
infrastructure for delivery of social services needs strengthening
· During the last phase of CBM data
collection in December 2020, 33% of the mothers of 6 to19 year old children
informed they have heard or seen cases of violence against women/children in
their habitation.
· 35% of the main earning members
reported that the hours of engagement in domestic chores by the children have
increased as compared to pre-pandemic.
· In December 2020, around 68% of the main earning members confirmed that their children who are engaged in domestic chores usually spend more than an hour daily on these chores.
- Community volunteers in the CBM mechanism reported about low awareness level and low access to some major social protection schemes among respondents, particularly in the urban locations.
The CBM mechanism covered seven states -Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. On an average,
each round of data collection covered around 6,000 families. Rural districts
were selected based on the presence of a large number of home returnees
(families who migrated back home after the lockdown) and vulnerable population.
Selection of urban districts was based on the existence of large slum
habitations and COVID infection level.
The data were analyzed by the Institute for Human Development, in
collaboration with UNICEF, and the findings were presented in the mentioned
report.
The Institute for Human Development (IHD) is an Indian Council of Social
Science Research (ICSSR) recognized category institution which is well known
for its research in the areas relating to employment, livelihoods, gender,
education and human development issues. The institute closely works with
governments – both central and states – and has brought out several policy
documents in collaboration with them. The institute has published more than 60
books and a large number of working papers. The institute has a dedicated
faculty, including visiting faculty, who are well known for their research
contributions. The institute publishes two peer reviewed journals – the Indian
Journal of Labour Economics and Indian Journal of Human Development – which are
globally circulated. The institute is a knowledge partner of NITI Aayog and a
Centre of Excellence on Tribal issues declared by the Ministry of Tribal
Affairs of Government of India.