Supporting Rural Livelihoods Amid Rising Global Fragility: Learning from the effects of the Ukraine conflict in the southern African development community

Rural people in Southern Africa are increasingly suffering both directly and indirectly from global fragility and crises. Effective ways to build resilience to these crises and respond more effectively when they arise are needed.

This policy note takes stock of government responses to the impacts of the war in Ukraine on food, fertilizer and food. It draws lessons for policymakers, including:

• policy responses must respond to the clustered effect of multiple crises, rather than responding to each in isolation;
• invest in early warning, disaster management and cost-effective input subsidy programmes; and
• diversify sources of food, fertiliser and fuel.

Presentations from the consultation process with government are provided in the related documents section.