Post-Distribution Monitoring (PDM) – Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance

Starting August 2022, WFP collaborated with the Ministry of Social Policy (MoSP) to serve people who had registered for humanitarian assistance through the E-dopomoga platform. Using the E-dopomoga registry, WFP oriented its cash assistance towards parts of the country closest to the frontline and most impacted by the war as well as towards groups of people with specific vulnerabilities. This included low-income families and economically vulnerable old-age pensioners and people living with disabilities, either displaced or residing in one of eight prioritized oblasts.

Through this collaboration, nearly 1.2 million people were supported with 2,220 UAH per person per month for three months between August 2022 and March 2023.

For the purposes of post distribution monitoring of transfer processes and assistance outcomes, 757 interviews were conducted between 8th and 28th March 2023, with WFP cash beneficiaries who had received cash assistance for three consecutive months between August 2022 and March 2023.

The majority of respondents are female (75%) and the average age of respondents is 63 years old. 94% of respondents have specific household- or individual-level sociodemographic characteristics. The most common ones are: 71% of respondents had at least one household member chronically ill; about half (51%) of respondents live in households where all members are more than 60 years old; and about a third (32%) belong to a household with at least one member living with an officially registered disability .

One third (31%) of respondents were found to have inadequate food consumption, defined by a poor (7%) or borderline (24%) food consumption score. When disaggregating by socio-demographic categories, it is observed that the elderly (all household members 60+) and low-income categories have higher shares of respondents with inadequate food consumption.

Nine in ten respondents (88%) reported relying on a food consumption-based coping strategy at least once during the week prior to the data collection, such as relying on less preferred or less expensive food at least once (84% of respondents); reducing portion sizes at mealtime (44%); and reducing number of meals eaten in a day (37%).

The majority (82%) of respondents reported adopting at least one livelihood coping strategy during the month prior to the data collection. The most commonly used strategies are spending savings (57% of respondents) and reducing necessary expenses on health (58%).

In terms of economic vulnerability, the majority (73% of respondents) have monthly expenditures per capita below the Minimum Expenditure Basket, including 14% with expenditures below the Survival Minimum Expenditure Basket.

It was noted that even within the specific vulnerable categories targeted for cash, unemployment in the household still aggravates its economic vulnerability and food insecurity.