Improving food security, resilience and livelihood opportunities of vulnerable households in Northern Rakhine State As a national NGO which has been providing food assistance in Northern Rakhine since 2017, CSI has been continuously monitoring food security conditions in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships. Since the end of 2018, the conflict between the Myanmar Army and the Arakan Army began to intensify, and has since continuously grown in frequency and intensity. In the last quarter of 2018, CSI observed a stark decrease of women’s wage levels, as opposed to men’s, through its monthly market and daily labor monitoring. This led to the start of CSI’s home-gardening activity, which focused on supporting most-vulnerable households, women-headed households in particular, to grow home gardens using tools, fertilizer and seeds and training provided by CSI. 

The proposed project would see the extension of CSI’s current home-gardening activities to an additional 5,697 people, in 6 village tracts across Buthidaung and Maungdaw. Discussions will village leaders will be an opportunity to pre-select vulnerable households who could benefit from the assistance. This will also be an opportunity for CSI to introduce the cash support activity for women-led households, and to advocate for women’s economic empowerment and resilience. In the context of Northern Rakhine, where women face significant power imbalances compared with men, this type of advocacy will be crucial to ensuring the response is not only catering towards the immediate needs of the targeted households, but also addressing transformative gender needs (Please refer to 16801-CSI-ProjectProposal for more info).

Most-vulnerable households will be identified and selected through a comprehensive household vulnerability assessment, which comprises of a 20-minute interview and a physical check of household’s land and water resources. Based on these assessments, 1,000 most-vulnerable households will be selected to receive 1) in-kind and cash assistance consisting of materials, tools, fertilizers, seeds and trainings in November and December 2) voucher-based assistance in May and June.

The in-kind assistance will include: 
- Materials consisting of wood and bamboo, so households can form the home-garden structure 
- A selection of winter seeds
- Manure-based fertilizer, as CSI promotes the use of organic fertilizers
- A small cash amount (14.71 USD) will be provided for transportation and labor charges when setting up the home-garden structure
- Training on how to set up the home-garden structure

In the months after the distribution, additional training will be conducted: to advise on how to use fertilizers, and pest control through organic methods. While pesticides will not be provided, it is assumed many households will likely apply pesticides to their gardens, which is why CSI will address how to responsibly use pesticides and the possible dangers associated with its usage.

Monitoring visits will help to identify 75 women-headed households who are most-successfully growing the distributed seeds, and who possess sufficient land and water access to expand their garden. These women will then be trained on basic business literacy, and will be put into contact with 25 women who already have a small business selling home-grown vegetables and fruits on the market. During the next planting season, voucher-based support will be provided so that these 75 women can expand their production by three-fold, and eventually sell their produce in local markets. Monthly meet-ups will be organized in CSI’s Community Learning Centers, so that the women who can share their progress, concerns and lessons learned.

The remaining 925 households participating in the home-gardening activities will receive a smaller amount of voucher-based support (40.11 USD), for the replenishment of seeds and basic materials from designated suppliers. 

Please refer to 16801-CSI-ProjectProposal- Final for more info.