As the COVID-19 pandemic hit Myanmar in March 2020, LIFT’s implementing partners started redirecting funding to COVID-19-specific actions, and LIFT’s Fund Board decided on additional funding for more COVID-19 activities.
At the onset of COVID-19, LIFT quickly responded to deliver immediate preparedness and prevention activities in support of the most vulnerable. LIFT’s Fund Board met on 17 March to provide a steer for LIFT’s actions in response to COVID-19. Eight days later, just two days after the first COVID-19 case was detected in Myanmar, more than 30 of LIFT’s partners had pivoted and repurposed USD 2.3 million of their existing project budgets to respond to COVID-19. LIFT provided additional funding for civil society, social protection, migration, Rakhine and communication at the end of March; and in May, LIFT, with the Department of Social Welfare announced USD 9 million in COVID-19 cash payments to pregnant women, children aged under two and the elderly. A further USD 3.2 million was allocated in June to support internally displaced people affected by COVID-19. To date, LIFT’s COVID-19 support amounts to USD27.8 million.
LIFT’s donors adopted a strategic approach to provide: 1) an immediate frontline response to enable communities to prepare for and prevent the spread of the virus, 2) a medium-term strategic response in LIFT’s programme areas of high need and 3) a longer-term response to the socio-economic impact of COVID-19, including through adaptation of LIFT’s programmes in agriculture, livelihoods and the rural economy.
The response is based on target beneficiary groups and areas: migrants, social protection, access to finance, civil society response and Rakhine State. LIFT’s assistance is delivered through a front-line response by implementing partners and focuses on supporting the most vulnerable: migrants, the elderly, internally displaced people, pregnant women, and those with children under the age of two.
LIFT’s donors are the United Kingdom, the European Union, Switzerland, Australia, the United States of America, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Norway.
For more information, please see LIFT’s COVID-19 response report and relevant content below.
