ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This report draws on hundreds of case studies, in-depth reports, quick impact assessments, newspaper articles and focus-group interviews shared by government ministries, UN agencies and civil society partners. Selected documents are available at www.voicesofthevulnerable.net.

The report has also benefited from numerous conversations with UN agency colleagues who over the past few months have generously given their time to this project. Equal thanks must go to the UN Country Teams and their national counterparts, who jumped into action and helped us understand what is really happening to people on the ground.

Our greatest thanks, however, are due to the individuals who agreed to share with us their stories of enormous hardship and immense resourcefulness. They remind us that macroeconomic indicators, estimates and trends can only reveal so much about the economic crisis. The rest of the story must be told by the people themselves.