(2016-06) mVAM Bulletin 1: Food Security Perceptions in Metropolitan Port-au-Prince and Surrounding Communes, June 2016

mVAM Bulletin 1 - June 2016 Fighting Fighting Hunger Hunger Worldwide Worldwide HAITI TitleSecurity Perceptions in Metropolitan Port-au-Prince Food and Surrounding Communes Key Points: Unemployment was perceived as the main difficulty faced by the poor, followed by electricity. Insecurity and food prices are also commonly reported as main difficulties. Food prices were reported as increasing over the past three months (March-May 2016) by nearly all respondents. The security situation was perceived as either unchanged or deteriorating in the past 3 months by nearly all respondents. WFP/Catherine Clark Situation update: Recent drought in Haiti has caused rising food prices, but assessments conducted to estimate the drought’s impact on the population’s food security have only focused on rural areas, in a country where more than half of the population lives in urban centers. Haiti is also experiencing rapid inflation and political instability, factors that could increase food insecurity, particularly in urban areas. In order to measure perceptions of the food security situation in greater Port-au-Prince, WFP VAM developed a 10-question online survey in French and Creole. The survey was conducted by RIWI in metropolitan Port-au-Prince (Carrefour, Cité Soleil, Delmas, Port-au-Prince, Tabarre, Pétionville) and surrounding communes (Croix-des-Bouquets and Kenscoff) from 20 May - 9 June 2016. RIWI’s methodology involves The survey reaches random respondents as they surf the web: when users navigate to a link that is broken or inaccurate, they encounter a survey form instead of a broken link notification. Surveys are geolocated, providing a better understanding of the respondent’s profile. A full visualization of the survey results can be found on the mVAM Haiti site at http://vam.wfp.org/sites/mvam_monitoring/haiti.html HAITI Bulletin 1 - June 2016 METHODOLOGY AND SURVEY RESPONSES Fig. 1: Areas of metropolitan Port-au-Prince covered by the online survey Sample size by Commune Carrefour Cite Soleil Croix-Des-Bouquets Delmas Kenscoff Petion-Ville Port-au-Prince Tabarre Grand Total 110 19 90 234 20 186 276 56 991 The sample size of 991 responses includes both complete (518) and partial responses (473), i.e. respondents answered at least demographic and urban challenge questions. Very few responses were received from Cité Soleil or Kenscoff. Since a sample generated through an online survey would not be representative of the general population, respondents were asked to provide general perceptions of food security related issues in their neighborhoods. The sample is mostly male, young, and well-educated. Research is ongoing to see if this study’s results correlate with statistically representative data currently being collected through a household survey. Respondents were mostly young, male, and well-educated: AGE GENDER EDUCATION LANGUAGE CHOICE 47% 18-25 72% Male 54% University 57% French 34% 26-35 28% Female 22% Secondary School 43% Creole 11% 36-45 18% Professional Training 5% 46-55 3% Primary School 3% Over 56 2% None Source: WFP/mVAM 2016 Respondents could choose to do the survey in French or Creole HAITI Bulletin 1 - June 2016 FOOD PRICES Fig. 2: Perceptions of change in food prices over the last 3 months Change in the last three months Price of Spaghetti Throughout the communes, food prices were reported to have increased over the past three months (March-May 2016) by most respondents. Official CNSA data also shows increases in local staple food prices, tempered only by stable imported rice prices. Across metropolitan Port-au-Prince, the price of a plate of spaghetti, a common street food, was most frequently reported as 50-75 gourdes, but in the wealthier communes of Delmas and Pétionville, the most commonly reported price range went higher, 50-100 gourdes. WFP Source: WFP/mVAM 2016 CRIME AND SECURITY Security situation reported as deteriorating or unchanged over the past three months (March - May 2016) Fig. 3: Perceptions of change in security situation over the last 3 months Since mid-2015, the security situation throughout metropolitan Port-au-Prince and surrounding communes has been affected by increasing political demonstrations that sometimes turn violent. Crime is also a concern in metropolitan Port-au-Prince, though it is underreported. Reported violent crime is predominantly gangrelated and robbery-related. Gang-related violent crime is centralized, mostly in specific areas such as Cité Soleil, whereas robberies occur throughout the city. Fig. 4: Percentage of respondents reporting Key Urban Challenges in metropolitan Port-au-Prince, by commune Commune Security Perception Carrefour Deteriorated 36 40 37 39 30 30 35 39 Improved 19 10 13 19 38 22 20 28 No change 44 50 49 41 30 46 44 32 Source: WFP/mVAM 2016 Cite Soleil Croix-Des- Delmas Bouquets Kenscoff Petion-Ville Port-auPrince Tabarre Source: WFP/mVAM 2016 HAITI Bulletin 1 - June 2016 KEY URBAN CHALLENGES FACED BY THE POOR Fig. 5: Perceived Key Urban Challenges in metropolitan Port-au-Prince Respondents were asked to identify the two main difficulties faced by the poor. Unemployment was the most commonly reported difficulty in all communes, which is in line with the high unemployment rate of 40% and the youth unemployment rate of over 60% in urban Haiti (World Bank 2014). Electricity, and either insecurity or food prices, were the second and third most commonly reported difficulties in all communes except for Cité Soleil, Kenskoff and Port-au-Prince. Source: WFP/mVAM 2016 Health in Cité Soleil appears along with unemployment and insecurity in the top three difficulties, rather than food prices or electricity (though the sample size is small). Flooding also appears in responses after two rainy months, though less frequently, but it may become a larger problem during the hurricane season, which runs from June through November. In Port-au-Prince commune, water and sanitation was the third most commonly selected difficulty. The main difficulties reported reflect a lack of access to basic services found in poor areas of metropolitan Port-au-Prince. Between 30% and 40% of the “quartiers” of Cité Soleil, Petionville, Delmas and Tabarre are missing at least four of the basic services of health, education, public institutions, police, fireman, banks and markets (IOM and Community Resource Centres 2015). Fig. 6: Percentage of respondents reporting Key Urban Challenges in metropolitan Port-au-Prince, by commune Commune Urban Challenge WFP/Catherine Clark Carrefour Cite Soleil Croix-DesBouquets Delmas Kenscoff Petion-Ville Port-au- Tabarre Prince Electricity 32% 10% 34% 32% 20% 23% 30% 30% Flooding 4% 21% 8% 2% 25% 6% 5% 10% Food Price 23% 21% 15% 17% 20% 24% 19% 28% Health 16% 26% 11% 12% 10% 17% 17% 14% Housing 10% 10% 7% 14% 10% 13% 14% 12% Insecurity 16% 31% 18% 20% 25% 18% 15% 12% School 13% 10% 14% 11% 15% 11% 13% 10% Transport 17% 0% 17% 12% 5% 11% 9% 12% Unemployment 37% 47% 41% 34% 35% 34% 33% 33% Water 11% 15% 13% 13% 5% 11% 21% 12% HAITI Bulletin 1 - June 2016 PERCEIVED CHANGES IN QUALITY OF LIFE Fig. 7: Perceptions of change quality of life for the poor, over the past three months Poverty When asked how the quality of life had evolved for poor people living in their neighbourhoods over the past three months (March-May 2016), the majority of respondents answered “deteriorated”. Source: WFP/mVAM 2016 WFP/Catherine Clark Fig. 8: Sample online survey question. Respondents could complete the survey in French or Creole. METHODOLOGY This mVAM bulletin is based on data collected from 20 May - 9 June 2016, using a specially designed online survey. The survey reaches random respondents as they surf the web: when users navigate to a link that is broken or inaccurate, they encounter a survey form instead of a broken link notification. The exponential growth of global internet access means that in a few years, such surveys could become a widespread and viable tool for measuring food security. Source: WFP/mVAM 2016 For further information please contact: Wendy Bigham wendy.bigham@wfp.org mVAM resources: Arif Husain arif.husain@wfp.org Website: http://vam.wfp.org/sites/mvam_monitoring/ Jean-Martin Bauer jean-martin.bauer@wfp.org Blog: mVAM.org Anne-Claire Mouilliez anne-claire.mouilliez@wfp.org Toolkit: http://resources.vam.wfp.org/mVAM