East Africa mVAM Bulletin September 2020
Highlights
As face to face traditional assessments became unfeasible in the current context of COVID 19 pandemic, WFP rapidly scaled up its mobile data collection capacity in the region1 to continue monitoring the situation in the present dynamic and unpredictable environment.
• Near real-time food security monitoring systems have been established in Uganda, Somalia and Ethiopia, providing continuous updates of the vulnerability situation in these countries since MayJune, while it is being set up in Kenya and South Sudan
• Mobile data collection is also conducted in lieu of cancelled key annual or seasonal face to face assessments, like the Food Security Monitoring System (FSMS) in Ethiopia or Nutrition Survey in Rwanda.
• Remote surveys have become a critical source of information for Integrated food security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis across the region. This is the case of the FSMS and IPC in Ethiopia, mVAM based surveys leading to IPC analysis in Uganda and the on-going IPC urban analysis in Kenya and Djibouti.
• WFP has also scaled up its remote monitoring systems for price monitoring as well as for programme monitoring, providing key information for an adequate and effective response.