By Muzna Alvi and Prapti Barooah (EPTD)

1. Impact of COVID-19 on the welfare of
rural households in Nepal (round 1)
Muzna Alvi and Prapti Barooah (EPTD)
Funded by USAID

2. COVID-19 in Nepal
▪ First case: February 15, 2020
o July 15, 2020: 17,177 cases, 39 deaths
▪ Swift government action:
o Complete lockdown declared on 24 March after reporting second confirmed case
o Contact tracing & isolation, testing
o Airport closed, social distancing, educational institution and religious places closed,
large gatherings banned
o Restrictions on public transportation and other vehicle movement between regions
o 15 June onwards- businesses permitted to operate following rules of social distancing
and private vehicles allowed on odd-even basis with passenger limitations

3. Phone Survey
▪ Building on a large, representative household listing survey conducted in
February 2020 to identify summer maize farmers across four rural
municipalities in Dang district, Province 5, Nepal
▪ Data collected in FTF zone of influence, covering primarily women farmers
(70%)
▪ Phone credit of 100 NPR offered for each completed survey
▪ First round of phone survey conducted from late June to mid-July with 759
households; four more rounds of data collection foreseen
▪ Focus on behavioral responses to COVID-19, income changes, food and
nutrition security, water security, mobility, and incidence of child marriage

4. Location of
respondentsDANG
INDIA
NEPAL
BANKE
KAPILBASTU
RUPANDEHI
PALPA
GULMI
ARGHAK
HANCHI
BARDIA
RUKUM
EAST
ROLPA
PYUTHAN
NAWALPARASI
WEST

5. Location of respondents- Distribution across municipalities
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Dangisharan Lamahi Rapti Shantinagar
ShareofHouseholds

6. Household descriptives
▪ 534 female (70%) and 225 male (30%) respondents were interviewed
▪ 94% of the respondents were married
▪ 33% female and 23% male respondents had no formal schooling
▪ 23% male and female respondents had completed secondary school
▪ More than three-fourth (77%) respondents have farming or raising
livestock as their main activity- 80% female and 69% male

7. COVID-19 and household welfare
▪ More than 85% households suffered a loss of income due to COVID-19
▪ Households primarily relied on their savings and borrowed money to deal
with the income loss
▪ A slightly higher proportion of women were engaged in productive work in
the week preceding the survey
▪ Nearly all (94%) shared that their mobility has reduced due to COVID-19,
no significant difference between male and female respondents

8. Income loss due to Covid-19
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Male Respondents Female Respondents
ShareofHouseholds
Yes No

9. Coping mechanisms to deal with loss of income
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Use savings Borrow money Sale of assets Government
transfers
NGO transfers
ShareofHouseholds
Male Respondents Female Respondents

10. Worked in the last 7 days
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Male Respondents Female Respondents
ShareofHouseholds
Yes No

11. Time worked in the last 7 days compared to before COVID-19
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
More Less Same
ShareofHouseholds
Comparison of time worked by
respondents in the last 7 days
Male Respondents Female Respondents
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
More Less Same
ShareofHouseholds
Comparison of time worked by spouse in
the last 7 days
Male Respondents Female Respondents

12. Mobility: leave the house to…. in the last 7 days (yes)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Buy food Sell food Work Medical
care
Group
meetings
Socialize Collect
water
ShareofHouseholds
Male Respondents Female Respondents

13. Food security and dietary diversity
▪ Male respondents report lower food insecurity compared to female
respondents
▪ 16% male respondents reported worrying about inadequate food in the last
two weeks as compared to 26% female respondents
▪ 28% male respondents were forced to have unhealthy food in the two
weeks preceding the survey due to lack of resources, while a higher
proportion of female respondents (36%) reported having unhealthy food
▪ The module on dietary diversity was administered only to female
respondents (534) to calculate Women’s Dietary Diversity Score (WDDS-
10) based on 10 food groups
▪ Mean WDDS-10 was found to be around 5.1

14. Food consumption in the last 24 hours
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Grains, roots and tubers
Pulses
Nuts and seeds
Dairy
Meat, poultry, fish
Eggs
Dark leafy greens and vegetables
Vitamin-A rich fruits and vegetables
Other vegetables
Other fruits
Share of Households

15. Dietary diversity score
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
ShareofHouseholds
Number of Food Groups
Minimum Dietary Diversity Score for Women (MDD-W)
At least 5 food groups consumed in last 24 hours
MDD-W=0
39.5%
MDD-W=1
60.5%

16. WASH and HWISE
▪ About half of the households have access to piped water
▪ Around 25 percent of households needed more than 30 minutes to fetch
water, comparatively higher proportion of female respondents (29%) as
compared to male (15%)
▪ Nearly all households had access to a toilet/pit latrine (98%)
▪ A higher proportion of women reporting struggling with water access
compared to men
▪ Almost all households had heard about hand washing recommendations to
avoid contamination of COVID-19

17. Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
All respondents Male respondents Female respondents
ShareofHouseholds
Source of drinking water
Piped water Dug well/bore well/water pump Water from spring Surface water

18. Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
All respondents Male respondents Female respondents
ShareofHouseholds
Requires more than 30 minutes to fetch water
Yes No

19. Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
All respondents Male respondents Female respondents
ShareofHouseholds
Toilet facilities
Toilet/pit latrine Bush

20. Household Water Insecurity Experience Scale (HWISE)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
All respondents Male respondents Female respondents
ShareofHouseholds
Frequency of worrying about water availability
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

21. Household Water Insecurity Experience Scale (HWISE)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
All respondents Male respondents Female respondents
ShareofHouseholds
Frequency of changing plans due to water availability
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

22. Household Water Insecurity Experience Scale (HWISE)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
All respondents Male respondents Female respondents
ShareofHouseholds Availability of drinking water
Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

23. Household Water Insecurity Experience Scale (HWISE)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
All respondents Male respondents Female respondents
ShareofHouseholds
Frequency of not washing hands when necessary
Never Rarely Sometimes Often

24. Child marriage
▪ Only 4% of the respondents knew about underaged girls (below 18 years)
getting married since the COVID-19 lockdown
▪ There is no difference between male and female respondents
▪ Nearly all respondents disapproved of child marriage

25. Child marriage
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Scheduled
earlier
Groom's
sudden return
Health
uncertainty
Economic
uncertainty
General
uncertainty
Eloped Don't know
ShareofHouseholds Reasons for child marriage

26. Conclusions
▪ Household welfare severely compromised by COVID-19
▪ To cope with the income loss, households have primarily resorted to
borrowing money and using their savings
▪ Water insecurity and food insecurity does seem not to be a major problem
for now
▪ Next round coming up (planned for mid-August)
▪ Will enable us to track indicators through time