| Abstract |
This report presents the findings of the second of five planned rounds of mobile phone surveys, as well as the results of a companion survey funded by UNICEF. The first World Bank High Frequency Phone Survey (HFPS) in Solomon Islands on the socioeconomic implications of the coronavirus pandemic found wide ranging impacts that deserve to be monitored as long as the pandemic continues. The second round of the HFPS interviewed 2,882 households across the country in December 2020 and early January 2021, on topics including employment and income, the economic stimulus package, coping strategies, public services, and public trust and security. The 2020-2021 HFPS survey was complemented by the UNICEF Social-Economic Impact Assessment Survey (SIAS) which collected data in April 2021 on 1,530 households that were re-interviewed based on recontact of all Round Two HFPS households. The SIAS covered areas of impacts including access to health care, family arrangements, education, coping strategies, and water and sanitation. The findings in this report supplement the previous HFPS findings and other data on macroeconomic conditions, firm-level information, and etc., to monitor the evolving impacts of the pandemic situation. While the findings are not without their caveats due to the limitations of mobile phone surveys, they provide an insightful picture of the overall impact on households of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. |
