COVID-19 Food Insecurity in Rural Southwest Bangladesh

Project Background

Bangladesh's March 2020 lockdown hit amid 51M (31.5%) food insecure (Global Index rank 83/113), causing 13M jobless + 16.4M poverty risk (12.7M rural). Fears rose for worsening insecurity/undernutrition/health in casual labor-dependent rural homes without safety nets.
Two large phone surveys tracked dynamics/who was hit/coping in Khulna/Satkhira (building on 2019 RCTs), identifying determinants for emergency/social protection policy.

Project Scope & Reach

Rural Khulna/Satkhira households from 2019 RCTs; 423 villages Survey 1, 410 Survey 2; 13,450 GDRI-listed households (12,625 w/ phones), 9,847 Survey 1 interviews (78% response), 2,402 Survey 2 from 2,500 subsample (96% response).

Key research partners

Monash University (CDES/Economics) (Lead); Khulna University; IIT Kanpur; University of Newcastle; Technical University of Munich; Global Development & Research Initiative Foundation (GDRI, local).

Funding & Support

International academic funding for Food Policy article “Determinants and dynamics of food insecurity during COVID-19 in rural Bangladesh”; Monash ethics (Ref. 24746).

Roles of GDRI

Capacity Development and Intervention Design: Adapted Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) for phone surveys (mild/moderate/severe/overall); designed questionnaire on income loss/occupation/remittances/microcredit/coping + 2019 links (income/savings/education/land/women's power); advised sampling/call protocols/consent/non-response.
Field Implementation and Community Engagement: Used directory/networks for 12,625 households, 9,847 Survey 1 (78%) + 2,402 Survey 2 (96% from 2,500); recruited/supervised familiar enumerators; 2-step calls (rapport + interview) for trust/quality under lockdown.
Data Management, Cleaning, and Analysis: Managed logs/checks for phone data quality; matched Surveys 1/2 to 2019 baseline (2,691 households) for pre-COVID predictors; best practices (short calls/clear scales) for reliable FIES/variables.