Migrant Emergency Food Security Report - Libya (May 2020)

This report presents findings of IOM Libya’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) migrant food security assessment conducted by IOM field staff between 01 - 23 April 2020 in 37 municipalities (baladiya) across 21 regions (mantika) amongst a total of 1350 migrants. Data was collected through individual interviews with migrants which were conducted in compliance with WHO guidelines on preventing the spread of COVID-19 and practicing physical distancing.

The assessment tool included questions on demographics, drivers of migration, employment, living arrangements, as well as health, access to health care and food security. Food security specific questions were developed in partnership with WFP Libya’s team based on the main WFP’s standard food security indicators to capture two key dimensions of food insecurity: current status and coping capacity.

Highlights

• Food security, which was already a challenge for migrants, is being compromised by a deteriorating security situation and the threat of COVID-19 and its socioeconomic impacts, which include the lack of daily casual labour opportunities.
  Access to health services emerged as a critical constraint for the majority of interviewed migrants who reported having limited or no access to health services.

• Food consumption levels, which are measured by the frequency and diversity of foods consumed over the past seven days, were generally low for nearly one in three migrants (32%) interviewed.
  Migrants who are unemployed or rely on daily casual labour, those who have been in Libya less than a year and those living in urban centres in Western Libya and along the main migratory routes are more likely to suffer from high levels of inadequate food consumption.

• The coping strategy adoption analysis confirms that the disruption of livelihoods caused by measures implemented to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic can hamper resilience and living standards and increase migrants’ vulnerability to food insecurity. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of migrants surveyed had to resort to a stress, crisis or emergency livelihood coping strategy in the past 30 days due to a lack of food or means to buy food.

• Food coping strategies were widely adopted by 63 per cent of migrants due to a lack of food or means to buy food (in the seven days prior to the survey).
  Moreover, a high proportion of migrants with acceptable food consumption levels (64%) are using coping strategies to mitigate a lack of food or the means to buy food and should the security and economic situation continue to deteriorate, they could fall into food insecurity

• Type and availability of employment appear to be among the driving factors of food insecurity. Overall, there were consistently higher levels of inadequate food consumption amongst those who reported seeking casual labour on a daily basis (34%) than for those who enjoy regular employment (11%).

• The survey results confirm that the length of stay in Libya has an influence on migrants’ vulnerabilities and humanitarian needs as migrants who have arrived recently suffer from greater levels of inadequate food consumption. A total of 43 per cent of migrants who arrived in Libya less than a year ago have inadequate food consumption levels. This proportion is more than twice that of those who have been in the country for one to four years (19%) and over seven times that of those who have been in the country for five years or longer (6%).

• Food consumption levels were lower for migrants living in unstable and improper accommodation. More than 70 per cent of migrants living in informal settings (such as makeshift shelters) and 41 per cent of migrants who live in rented accommodation paid by others had inadequate levels of food consumption. Moreover, of the 148 migrants who do not have access to a kitchen, nearly half (49%) had low food consumption levels.