A webinar-cum-online dissemination of the findings and recommendations from the Food Security and Livelihood Assessment Report – A Joint Assessment by Caritas India and CRS in COVID-19 Context, was organised by Caritas India and CRS on 20 November 2020.

To respond to the humanitarian crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic, Caritas India and CRS jointly tried to address the most immediate lifesaving needs of the poor and vulnerable population in various states in India.

To provide further timely and appropriate support, CRS and Caritas India jointly conducted a rapid assessment to understand the impacts of COVID 19 on food security and livelihoods of the vulnerable families, especially the migrants, daily wage earners, and small and marginal farmers.

The study had mainly two objectives: firstly, to understand the impacts of COVID-19 on food security and livelihoods for vulnerable families;  and secondly to understand the support families have received to date and identify anticipated future support needs and preferences in short, medium and long terms.  This assessment was conducted in 14 districts of 8 states i.e., Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra.  Data collection occurred over a three-week period: during the final week of the nationwide lockdown and two weeks into unlock 1.0.  A total of 628 household interviews and 202 key informant interviews (including Government staff, local leaders and local vendors) were conducted. The data was collected with support from 14 partner organisations of CRS and Caritas India.

Fr. Jolly Puthenpura, Assistant Executive Director of Caritas India welcomed all the participants and set the context of the webinar.  Mr. Biraj Patnaik (Executive Director, National Foundation for India), Ms. Nivedita Varshneya (Country Director, Welthungerhilfe), Mr. Harsh Singh (Senior Advisor, UNDP) and Mr. Rajesh Krishnan (Executive Director, United Way, Bengaluru) were the esteemed speakers in the panel.  Mr. Senthil Kumar, Executive Director of CRS India was the moderator, Mr. Rajesh Upadhyay, Head of Programmes- Partner Support Services of Caritas India facilitated the session on way forward and conclusion of the programme.  There was a fruitful discussion on the major findings and recommendations of the study.  Around 150 participants including the representatives from civil society organisations, government representatives, social activists, researchers and partner organisations of both CRS and Caritas India participated in the programme.