This study is motivated by the urgency to bring attention to the abrupt shifts in the lives and livelihoods of the poor and economically vulnerable people in Bangladesh since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. When the country went into lockdown in April 2020, PPRC and BIGD joined forces to launch a rapid response telephonic survey on the immediate impact of COVID-19 on livelihoods and crisis coping mechanisms of the economically vulnerable population of Bangladesh. Phase I of the survey utilized respondent telephone databases of both parties from earlier surveys among urban slums and rural poor. After an interval of three months, by which time economic activities had largely resumed, the second survey (Phase II) was launched in June 2020 on livelihood and coping during the COVID-19 crisis, with an additional focus on recovery dynamics. The World Food Program (WFP) came forward to provide supplementary support to this end. Of the 11,671 households in the final sample, 7,638 were successfully interviewed using a quantitative and close-ended questionnaire. One year into the pandemic, the households—the urban slums and the rural poor— were revisited for the third time to find out about the long-term impact of the crisis. Phase III of the survey was conducted between 11 and 31 March 2021. Apart from determining the economic and health scenario of the households in March 2021, the focus of phase III of the study was to find out about the nature and quality of recovery and to compare it with the early-recovery scenario in June 2020.
Authors: Rahman, Hossain Zillur; Rahman, Atiya; Zillur, Umama; Matin, Imran; Das, Narayan; Wazed, Mohammad Abdul; Hossain, Billal; Mahmood, Sakib; Ahmed, Shakil; Haque, Masudul
Type: Report
Year: 2021
