Seasonal Assessment Training Incorporating Livelihood Strategies and Coping Strategies Livelihoods Integration Unit (LIU) Early Warning & Response Department Disaster Management & Food Security Sector Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA: DISASTER MANAGEMENT & FOOD SECURITY SECTOR, MOARD

What is a Livelihood? A livelihood is the sum of ways in which households obtain the things necessary for life, both in good years and in bad GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA: DISASTER MANAGEMENT & FOOD SECURITY SECTOR, MOARD

These necessities include :  Food  Water  Shelter  Clothing  Health care  Education What is a Livelihood? GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA: DISASTER MANAGEMENT & FOOD SECURITY SECTOR, MOARD

What are Livelihood Strategies? In HEA, the analysis of livelihood strategies includes an investigation into how people obtain their food and cash, and what they need to spend their money on GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA: DISASTER MANAGEMENT & FOOD SECURITY SECTOR, MOARD

How do we find out about Livelihood Strategies?  Own crop production  Own livestock production  Wild foods (inc. plants, fish and game)  Purchase  Exchange (labour or goods for food)  Gifts and loans How do people get their food? GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA: DISASTER MANAGEMENT & FOOD SECURITY SECTOR, MOARD

How do we find out about Livelihood Strategies? How do people get their cash?  Sale of crops (food crops, cash-crops such as coffee, gesho)  Sale of livestock production (dairy, live animals, hides)  Sale of wild foods, fish and game  Employment (casual labour, salaried employment)  Self-employment (firewood, charcoal, handicrafts, etc.)  Small business and trade (purchase and resale of goods)  Other (gifts, loans, remittances etc.) GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA: DISASTER MANAGEMENT & FOOD SECURITY SECTOR, MOARD

What do people spend cash on?  Staples (cereals, pulses, tubers for basic calories)  Minimum non-food (e.g. salt, soap, water, kerosene for cooking, etc.)  Sustaining and promoting livelihoods (health, school, agricultural inputs, vet drugs etc)  Other (money spent on non-essential items: more expensive foods, clothes) How do we find out about Livelihood Strategies? GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA: DISASTER MANAGEMENT & FOOD SECURITY SECTOR, MOARD

What are Coping Strategies? Coping strategies are the things that households do to try to increase their food and cash income after a shock or hazard GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA: DISASTER MANAGEMENT & FOOD SECURITY SECTOR, MOARD

Some Typical Coping Strategies  Increasing livestock sales  Collecting more wild foods  Sending more household members to do casual work in town or in the fields of other people, near or far Examples include: GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA: DISASTER MANAGEMENT & FOOD SECURITY SECTOR, MOARD

Why are Coping Strategies Important in HEA? Analysing coping strategies determines how much of a gap is left to be filled by external assistance Hazard example: 50% crop failure The baseline pictureEffect on access to cropsFinal result Coping step example: 1 household member migrates for labour

Why are Coping Strategies Important in HEA? Provides monitoring guidance to test and revise a predicted outcome Final result Coping step example: 1 household member migrates for labour Are people migrating? What is happening to daily wages? What is happening to food prices?

How are Coping Strategies Analysed in HEA? Each coping strategy has a cost attached to it High cost (or destructive) strategies are left out of the analysis Why? GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA: DISASTER MANAGEMENT & FOOD SECURITY SECTOR, MOARD

Because the government and humanitarian partners want to prevent people from damaging their livelihoods just to survive. HEA helps identify appropriate points of intervention How are Coping Strategies Analysed in HEA? GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA: DISASTER MANAGEMENT & FOOD SECURITY SECTOR, MOARD

By leaving a destructive coping strategy out of the analysis, we are saying that an intervention should occur before households have to revert to that option (i.e. prostitution, reduced consumption, child labour, excessive livestock sales, etc.) How are Coping Strategies Analysed in HEA? GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA: DISASTER MANAGEMENT & FOOD SECURITY SECTOR, MOARD

Low Cost Examples Medium Cost Examples High Cost Examples Left out of HEA Outcome Analysis High Cost Examples Left out of HEA Outcome Analysis Reduced expenditure on non-essential items Harvesting of reserve crops (e.g. cassava, enset) Increased sale/slaughter of livestock (at sustainable levels to maintain herd viability) Intensification of local labour activities Short-term/seasonal labour migration Intensification of self-employment activities (firewood, charcoal, building poles, etc.) Unsustainable sale/slaughter of livestock Long-term/permanent migration (including distress migration of whole households) Excessive sale of firewood/charcoal (e.g. because of its effect on the environment) Sale/mortgaging of productive assets (land, tools, seeds, etc.) Prostitution How are Coping Strategies Analysed in HEA? GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA: DISASTER MANAGEMENT & FOOD SECURITY SECTOR, MOARD