
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) Objective III - Covid-19 Response and Resilience Activity in Nepal
The reemergence of Covid-19 in Nepal has resulted in significant threats to agri-food systems and livelihoods. The lockdowns, transportation and marketing disruptions, and social distancing have decreased the ability of farmers and value chain actors to interact with each other. Infection rates have increased and this significantly reduces crucial farm labor availability, especially among marginal and women farmers. At the same time, small- and medium-scale enterprises throughout the Feed the Future Zone of Influence have suffered economically. National food/nutrition security is also undermined by increased costs for imported staples, unreliability of cross-border trade, and shortfalls in national production before and during the pandemic. The pandemic and resulting lockdowns have also exacerbated the need for reliable and timely information on input and output market access, diseases and pests, insurance, and credit, recognizing the inequalities that limit women’s and marginalized groups’ access to information and their disproportionate economic burden. In light of this, the third objective of the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) aims to effectively rebuild key elements of Nepal’s agri-food systems and build the resilience of marginalized groups (in the Feed the Future Zone of Influence) that have been disproportionately affected by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. This objective has four interrelated work packages. It is expected that the activities under each work package will be designed and implemented taking into account gender equality and social inclusion (GESI). The role of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in this objective, therefore, is to focus on GESI analysis under each of the work packages, and provide technical guidance on integrating GESI-specific activities in the work packages. CSISA is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It is led by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and implemented jointly with IWMI, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). In Nepal, new support received from USAID has led to the implementation of Objective III of CSISA, which is being implemented jointly by CIMMYT, IWMI, Texas A&M University (TAMU), Cornell University, and iDE