High Frequency Phone Survey 2020-2023 (Burkina Faso)

Abstract

In the West Africa Economic Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries, COVID-19 is expected to affect households in many ways. First, governments might reduce social transfers to households due to the decline in revenue arising from the potential COVID-19 economic recession. Second households deriving income from vulnerable sectors such as tourism and related activities will likely face risk of unemployment or loss of income. Third an increase in prices of imported goods can also negatively impact household welfare, as a direct consequence of the increase of these imported items or as indirect increase of prices of local good manufactured using imported inputs. In this context, there is a need to produce high frequency data to help policy makers in monitoring the channels by which the pandemic affects households and assessing its distributional impact. To do so, the sample of the longitudinal survey is a sub-sample of the Enquête Harmonisée sur les Conditions de Vie des Ménages (EHCVM), a harmonized household survey conducted in 2018/19 household survey in the WAEMU countries.

For Burkina Faso, the survey, which is implemented by the Institut National de la Statistique et la Demographie (INSD), is conducted using cell phone numbers of household members collected during the 2018/19 EHCVM survey. The extensive information collected in the EHCVM provides a rich set of background information for the COVID-19 High Frequency Phone Survey of households. This background information can be leveraged to assess the differential impacts of the pandemic in the country. Every month, the sampled households will be asked a set of core questions on the key channels through which individuals and households are expected to be affected by the COVID-19-related restrictions. Employment, access to basic services, non-labor sources of income are channels likely to be impacted. The core questionnaire is complemented by questions on selected topics that rotate each month. This provides data to the government and development partners in near real-time, supporting an evidence-based response to the crisis.

The main objectives of the survey are to:
• Identify type of households directly or indirectly affected by the pandemic;
• Identify the main channels by which the pandemic affects households;
• Provide relevant data on income and socioeconomic indicators to assess the welfare impact of the pandemic.

Phase one was conducted on a monthly basis during the period of June 2020 and July 2021 for 11 Rounds. Phase 2 (starting from Round 12) will be conducted on a bi-monthly basis starting in April 2022.