Testing the Added Value of Market Incentives on Disaster Risk Reduction in Western Nepal

Central and Western Nepal experienced several devastating flooding events from August 11 – 14, 2017, resulting in 180 deaths, 445,000 displaced households, 63,000 fully destroyed homes and 118,000 partially destroyed homes. In addition to this, the Ministry of Agriculture reported that 10 million U.S. dollars’ worth of crops were destroyed and nearly 70,000 livestock died due to the flooding. The 2017 floods covered 35 of 75 districts across Nepal, inundating up to 80% of the land in the Terai region where Mercy Corps works. Since 2013, the Managing Risk through Economic Development (MRED) program, funded by the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies (MACP), has been working to build resilience to flooding in the Far Western region of Nepal. MRED promotes an integrated intervention model (“nexus model”) that combines traditional community-based disaster risk reduction (DRR) approaches with interventions designed to increase market access for crops that have risk reduction potential. This study aims to understand whether households living in communities benefiting from combined marketbased and traditional DRR activities were better off after the 2017 floods relative to households living in communities with only traditional DRR systems. Specifically, the study explores whether these households 1) accessed key resilience resources - financial, social, physical, human and natural prior to the flood, 2) used those capacities to respond to appropriately respond to the flooding and 3) were able to maintain or improve their well-being relative to households who were only exposed to traditional DRR interventions.