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.
In total, LIFT’s COVID-19 support amounts to USD25.5 million. By the end of March, more than 30 of LIFT’s partners pivoted within their projects and repurposed USD2.3 million for immediate preparedness and response activities in support of the most vulnerable groups. By mid-April, LIFT’s donors had allocated a further USD20 million to LIFT’s COVID-19 response and, by July, a further USD3.2 million to support communities suffering from the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19.
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.
