COVID-19 Somali High-Frequency Phone Survey

Altai Consulting was contracted by the World Bank in 2020 to conduct research on the impact of COVID-19 on households in Somalia and Somaliland. The survey was implemented in three waves to monitor the long-term impact. The first wave was implemented in July 2020, the second in January 2021 and the third in October 2021. In the first wave, 2,800 households were interviewed, followed by 1,800 in each of waves 2 and 3. The survey covered all population groups including urban, rural, IDPs and nomads. The survey was conducted country-wide over the phone. Initially, random digit dialling was conducted, while households were called back during wave 2 and 3. Topics included the socio-economic impact of COVID-19, knowledge of COVID-19-related policies, perceptions around COVID-19, perceptions of vaccinations campaigns surrounding COVID-19, with the aim to inform the Government's, the World Bank's and other development partners' programs. The project used advanced statistical techniques, such as Propensity Score Weighting, to generate representative data for Somalia. The survey was complemented with a parallel research examining the impact of COVID-19 on the Somali private sector which is published separately.