COVID-19 has imposed further stress on global movement and activity, especially for those involved in delivering and distributing vital food products.
Market systems are being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Market-based programming such as in-kind food assistance and emergency cash transfers can impact the food supply chain market actors'' ability to cope and recover. It remains crucial to uphold and preserve the principle of ‘Do no harm’ when taking into account the potential impact of humanitarian activities.
Responding to the challenging conditions of the COVID-19 crisis, the Global Food Security Cluster decided to develop a document that provides guidance to humanitarian and development actors involved in the food supply chain implementing food security and livelihoods interventions.
The “Key Recommendations to Support Food Market Systems Facing COVID-19”, a nine-page guidebook, which primarily focuses on critical market systems, is divided into three fundamental steps: analyze, map and design interventions. It highlights a variety of recommended tools and interventions for humanitarian actors to use and enforce.
Some of these recommended interventions include advocating for the inclusion of labor workers in movement planning and formalization, bolster the use of mobile and contactless payments, and advocate for regulated access to land, pastures, livestock water and fishing grounds.
iMMAP played a role in its fruition by assisting with the design process and providing inputs and a technical review of the guidebook.
iMMAP remains a steadfast partner to the Food Security Sector in their efforts to quell a global dilemma that is food insecurity. According to the latest Global Report on Food Crises, 135 million people across 55 countries suffer from “acute food insecurity”, which elevates the need for the successful transport of food imports.