Abstract
Raqqa Governorate has been grappling with dual crisis-related burdens from the civil conflict and ISIS occupation. As part of a response to support households within this area, a three-month, unconditional cash assistance program was implemented by the International Rescue Committee to help households meet their basic needs. A quantitative, pre-posttest with 512 women at baseline (n = 456 at endline) was conducted in northern Raqqa Governorate between March-August 2018 to determine their experiences in this cash assistance program and to understand perceived change over time in food insecurity, perceived household serious needs and daily stressors, and depressive symptoms before and after cash was delivered. Forty women also completed in-depth interviews using a life line history technique at endline. Linear household fixed effects models demonstrated significant reductions in food insecurity (β = -0.95; 95%CI: -1.19–-0.71), no change in perceived serious household needs and daily stressors (β = 0.12; 95%CI: -0.24–0.48), and increases in depressive symptoms (β = 0.89; 95%CI: 0.34–1.43) before and after the period of cash distribution. Although no causality can be inferred, short-term emergency cash assistance programming yielded significant improvements in food security, was highly acceptable and viewed favorably, and assisted women and their families to meet their basic needs in this emergency setting. However, before and after this form of cash assistance was implemented, no meaningful changes in the perceived levels of serious needs and stressors amongst households were observed, but potential increases in depressive symptoms for women were reported during this time period. Further work is needed to determine appropriate targeting, length, and dosage of cash, alongside any potential livelihood, psychosocial, or structural complementary programming to yield potential positive mental health benefits of a cash assistance program focused on meeting a population’s basic needs while not inadvertently delaying or decreasing reach of life-saving cash assistance programming in emergencies.
Highlights
Since the outbreak of civil conflict against the Government of Syria in 2011, and the subsequent rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Syria’s population has been exposed to waves of violence, widespread displacement, and economic disruption
Households in Raqqa Governorate, Syria overwhelmingly spent cash transfers on basic needs, including food, clothing or related medical and health needs, which is consistent with other literature on unconditional cash transfer expenditures. [32,33] aligned with previous research, reductions in food insecurity after receipt of cash were found [34], which in some development schemes have resulted in further reductions in malnutrition and other related outcomes
[35] These spending habits were consistent with the primary intention of shortterm emergency cash assistance programming in helping households meet their basic needs
Summary
Since the outbreak of civil conflict against the Government of Syria in 2011, and the subsequent rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Syria’s population has been exposed to waves of violence, widespread displacement, and economic disruption. Residents of Raqqa City fled to other towns and villages within the Governorate, areas which had been liberated from ISIS in the months preceding the battle for Raqqa City. [4] This steep decline in GDP was caused by a confluence of war-related factors including external implementation of sanctions against Syria, destruction of infrastructure, decline in oil production, lack of business confidence, and displacement of skilled and unskilled workforce. [5] Household vulnerability assessments conducted by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Northeast Syria (NES) revealed that the conflict and related destruction significantly disrupted household livelihoods in the region. Internal program data show that, though most women were not in paid work before the war, increased insecurity during and after the war and ISIS occupation led to an even smaller minority of women earning an income post-conflict, alongside a loss of livelihoods for men due to the war
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