Situation analysis and change in context
The food security and basic assistance sectors continue to coordinate closely together to ensure that food and cash assistance are linked to each other as one package. The basis of the vulnerability definition is an expenditure basket that looks at how much a family spends on food, hygiene items, cooking fuel, basic clothes, transport, communication, rent, water, and debt repayment. It is assumed that a family can make up a portion of these costs on their own, while receiving US$175 in cash assistance and $150 in food assistance.
Due to funding shortfalls, the food assistance basket value has been decreasing. This is one of the major challenges of the basic assistance sector at the moment, since food and cash assistance are inherently linked to each other as one package. If cash is not provided alongside food, there are risks that households will sell food or e-vouchers to meet non-food needs such as shelter or health. A reduction in food assistance will mean that cash intended for non-food needs will be spent on food
If cash is not provided alongside food, there are risks that households will sell food or e-vouchers to meet non-food needs such as shelter or health. A reduction in food assistance will mean that cash intended for non-food needs will be spent on food.