Monitoring COVID-19 impacts in Eastern DRC | Results from 9th Round High-Frequency Phone Survey of Households1 Access to Food and Medical Supplies Impact on schooling 62.9 percent of respondents in R9 reported that they In R9 (December 2021), across all four Eastern DRC required health care (compared to 64.9 percent in R8). locations, 91.6 percent of households with school-aged Of those who needed health care, the majority (84.9 children declared that latter were partaking in some percent) were able to access treatment options when form of distance learning activity. needed. Employment Household Revenue sources The share of employed in R9 was 66.9 percent (59.8 percent for women and 72.9 percent for men). A Respondents reported decreases in income from slight recovery compared to the previous round. occasional work (55.3 percent) in the month preceding the interview. In R9, 51.8 percent of respondents declared that a family member or themselves had worked in agriculture in the Coping Strategies month prior to the interview. The most commonly reported coping 30.2 percent declared that they had not been able to work as usual. strategies, were: reducing non-food consumption (54 And the most frequently cited reason was insecurity (93.8 percent). percent), reducing food consumption (53.2 percent), Particularly in Beni-Kalunguta and Bunia, respondents had been getting a credit (53.1 percent), and borrowing from reporting higher levels of insecurity in 2021, compared to 2020. family and friends (46.8 percent). Food Security Assistance from government and other sources We find that general self-reported food insecurity among respondents continues to be high, with 71.2 The share of respondents receiving food aid in urban and percent declaring not having enough food to eat due peri-urban areas increased in R9 (61.7 percent) from R8- to lack of money or other resources at least once in levels (56.8 percent). The main source of free food the 30 days preceding the interview.2 remained family and friends (80.1 percent). In R9, the number of meals consumed per day in households was The share of respondents declaring having received direct money 1.8 for adults and 2 meals for children. And starchy foods, including transfers decreased compared to the previous rounds (2.1 percent in grains and tubers, oil or butter, and vegetables, were consumed 5 R9), with majority of transfers received (75.2 percent) via mobile to six days on average, while animal protein intake was reported money. roughly twice a week. Perceived negative effects Child development In 84.6 percent of the households there was a child 53.3 percent of respondents reported their food between 2 and 10 years old. About two thirds of security affected or very affected by COVID-19, with respondents declared telling stories or singing songs to negative perceptions being highest in Goma (60.5 the child (70.1 and 66.4 percent). In Lubero, lower percent). These shares were noticeably lower in R9, shares of respondents declared taking the child out of as compared to the previous round. the house, and naming, counting or drawing with them. Mental health Additionally, a lower share of respondents, compared to the At least one in five respondents declared that more previous round, reported that COVID-19 affected their social life than half a week or everyday had little interest in doing (47 percent) negatively, and their livelihoods (50.4 percent). things, being sad, having sleeping or eating disorders, feeling tired or worthless, and having trouble concentrating. 1 This brief was prepared by Jarotschkin, Alexandra, Nunez-Chaim, Gonzalo, Ongay, Esther, Koudakpo, Kodjo, and Bindu, Kennedy, 2021. Data collection was assured by a team of Université des Pays des Grands Lacs (ULGPL) enumerators under the guidance of Ruffin Bindu and Kennedy Bindu, with technical assistance from Amani Lameke, Paulin Bazuzi. Box: Survey Methodology DRC CO The DRC CO High-Frequency Phone Survey (HFPS) calls individuals from the social registry in Eastern DRC that was built up by the Social Protection and Jobs (SPJ) program and managed by Fonds Social de la RDC (FSRDC) across different sites in Eastern DRC. The social registry is comprised of individuals showing up to the public lotteries of the program. With those selected through the public lottery becoming beneficiaries of the SPJ-FSRDC project. The program remunerates beneficiaries U$3 per day for their participation in community works, which is announced prior to the public lottery. As a result, the selection mechanism ensured that only individuals from poor and vulnerable populations participated in the lotteries – who were willing and able to carry out work for respective daily wage. The SPJ-FSRDC program collected phone numbers during public lotteries. Hence, the current panel survey by the DRC Crisis Observatory was able to select from a pool of vulnerable and poor populations residing in Eastern DRC who showed up to the public lottery AND provided a phone number to MARTA (Monitoring Automated for Real Time Analysis). MARTA recorded a total of 68,558 respondents across Beni (including Kalunguta), Bunia, Goma, Lubero, and Komanda, 51,007 of which provided a phone number, out of which the Crisis Observatory successfully contacted 1,453 respondents (716 women and 737 men) in R1. The sampling and replacement strategy ensured that an almost even split of women and men was reached, as women are notoriously harder to reach over the phone. Additionally, interviewers followed a protocol of calling a potential respondent at least six times in three days, with at least one hour between two calls to ensure that those less likely to pick up their phones on a first try would not be systematically left out, yielding potentially biased results. The presented survey results are strictly based on the sample of respondents who answered the survey. The HFPPS is therefore illustrative of the vulnerable and poor population in urban and peri-urban areas in Eastern DRC, most notably those of Goma, Beni, Bunia, and Lubero. The R8 survey instrument was administered from December 15-25 2021.The HFPPS entailed household-level and individual-level questions comprising modules on socio-demographic, health, education, employment, revenue, (social) assistance, shock coping strategies, attitudes, insecurity as well as knowledge and behavioral questions regarding and in response to COVID-19. In the coming rounds, the DRC Crisis Observatory will be calling the same beneficiaries and eligible individuals to the extent possible to follow the evolution of their welfare across crisis, resilience, and recovery. Data collection parameters • Data collection period: December 15-25 2021. • Completed interviews in R9: 1440 • Median duration of interview: 22 min. 2 The exact wording for this question was: “Au cours des 30 derniers jours, y a-t-il eu des moments où vous, ou tout autre adulte de votre ménage, n'avez rien mangé de toute la journée en raison du manque d'argent ou d'autres ressources?”