1. Vulnerability Analysis
and
Mapping Unit

2. VAM IS
VAM is a WFP institutional structure for capacity building, data collection, analysis and synthesis in food security and poverty.
VAM works closely with national governments, other UN agencies, and NGO/PVO partners to integrate vulnerability analysis and mapping techniques into broader anti-poverty and food insecurity initiatives. 7

3. WFP: “vulnerability to food insecurity”
An aggregate measure, for a given population or region, of the risk of exposure to food insecurity, and the ability of the population to cope with the consequences of that insecurity.
Vulnerability = Food security risks + Inability to cope

4. VAM COVERAGE

5. Activity-Themes within VAM
a) Vulnerability Analysis
b) Project Targeting
b) Needs Assessment
c) Early Warning
d) Contingency Planning
e) M & E
f) Specific Programming support activities

6. VAM IN CHINA
Targeting of WFP/IFAD Projects
Support to M&E activities

7. Provinces and Counties of China
Provinces:32 Counties:2450 Townships:45,000 Villages:750,000

8. Targeting of WFP/IFAD projects included five steps:
In 1997, VAM was established in WFP China Office supported by IFAD. Since then, VAM has been playing an important role in area and beneficiary targeting for WFP/IFAD projects in China.
Targeting of WFP/IFAD projects included five steps:
Countrywide Area Identification
Project Counties
Project Townships
Villages
Households/beneficiaries
Vulnerability Analysis
Participatory Approach

9. Indicators used for County analysis:
Targeting
The analysis at provincial level hides significant intra-provincial differences therefore, a tentative classification of Counties based on available food security risk indicators was carried out ( socio-economic data was not available for all the counties across China).Approximately 2000 counties were analyzed.
Indicators used for County analysis:
Land availability
Food production
Crop yield
Crop pattern
Husbandry production
Output value of agriculture, livestock, fishery and forestry
Activity rate (rural labor/rural population)

10. Government’s poverty stricken counties
Targeting
The result of county level preliminary food security analysis was compared with
Government’s poverty stricken counties

11. Targeting Area 1 Area 2 Area 3
75% of government poverty-stricken counties match with WFP/VAM food insecure county list. After consultation with Ministry of Agriculture, three priority areas were identified for WFP/IFAD assistance.
Area 1
Area 2
Area 3
A new project in Shaanxi-Hubei (Area 2) has been approved by the Executive Board.
A new project in Guangxi Province (Area 3) is under preparation.

12. Disparity within counties must be considered
Targeting
Counties: 24
Population: 7.8 million
Counties: 46
Population: million
Shaanxi-Hubei (Area 2)
Guangxi (Area 3)
Area 1
Area 2
County analysis
Counties: 9
Townships: 247
Population: 2.8 million
Counties: 10
Townships: 140
Population: 2.3 million
Area 3
Disparity within counties must be considered
Counties: 9
Townships: 128
Population: 1.5 million
Counties: 10
Townships: 74
Population: 1.2 million
Rural net income yuan—816yuan yuan--1650yuan
Grain per rural capita kg—350kg kg—365kg

13. Indicators for township targeting
The selection of indicators is guided by the definition of vulnerability:
Vulnerability = Exposure to risk – Ability to cope
Indicators for township targeting
Ø Exposure to Risks
Coefficient of variation of grain production
land availability
annual growth rate of rural population
Ø Coping Abilities
rural net income
per capita grain and meat production
growth rate of per capita grain production
grain yield
Ø Access to social services
% of HHs with safe drinking water
% of HHs with electricity
% of villages with clinic
number of doctors per 1000 farmers
Ø Amount of relief and population below poverty line

14. Targeting

15. 3. Project villages selection
Targeting
3. Project villages selection
The selection of project villages within project townships will take into consideration the following criteria proposed by VAM:
Per capita grain production of the village;
Per capita net income of the village;
Distance from the location of township government;
Frequency of and damage caused by natural disasters.

16. 4. Households selection Household selection
Targeting
4. Households selection
Household selection
A household typology has been developed for beneficiary selection based mainly on income and food availability. There are four categories:
Better off
Poor
Very poor
Poorest
The selection will be done by the farmers in the villages on a participatory basis and the priority will be given to the poor and very poor households which are usually between 70-80% of total households.

17. M&E Proposal by VAM-China
China Project 6147
WFP/IFAD Qinling Mountain Poverty Alleviation Project
M&E Proposal by VAM-China

18. The long term objective of the project is to
M&E
The long term objective of the project is to
enable food and income security of vulnerable households
The overall objective is
to achieve increase in productive capacity, both on-farm and off-farm;
to offer increased access to economic and social resources, including education, health, sanitation and social networks.
Expected outcome/impact would be: changes in the livelihoods of vulnerable households

19. Data collection system designing Indicator selection
M&E
VAM has been actively involved in the following work for the impact evaluation:
Data collection system designing
Indicator selection
Baseline survey designing

20. The weaknesses of GRS are:
M&E
1. Data collection system designing
During the appraisal mission of the project preparation, VAM conducted a comprehensive investigation of Government’s reporting system (GRS) in the project area, including
Definition of data/indicators
data collection methodology
data reporting channel
data processing and analyzing system
The weaknesses of GRS are:
Definitions of data/indicators are not unified
Data collection methodology are not standardized
Difficulty of comparison, both for targeting and evaluation.

21. The major roles of UIS are:
M&E
To improve the data quality and ensure the success of monitoring and evaluation, a Unified Information system(UIS)
was proposed.
The major roles of UIS are:
To supplement the existing GRS with additional surveys
To organize and unify data collection by standardizing definition and methodologies
To organize data entry and retrieve, and to carry out analysis
To provide information/feedback to project management for better project implementation
To build up UIS and make it effective, capacity building is essential. Therefore, we will use our projects to introduce the system, to test it, to improve it and to replicate it.

22. M&E Weighing Summary Chart of UIS for M&E of Qinling Project
Secondary data collection
Primary data collection
UIS
Unified
formation
System
for
M & E
based
County PMOs
HHs Survey
Project progress
(food delivery, micro-credit, physical achievements, training, etc.)
Village survey
general context formation
Regular reported information of production,yield,etc.
Weighing
<5 years old children
Ad hoc small size surveys and market analysis when necessary
reporting
Government Reporting Systems
Additional
surveys
monitoring
Evaluation
PMOs
donors

23. 2. Indicator Selection M&E
According to the project objectives and activities, VAM proposed to measure the following possible changes in people’s living standard and alleviation poverty for Outcome/Impact evaluation  
 2. Indicator Selection
Food security
Food production
Access to food
HHs diet patterns
Food consumption
HHs income level and income sources
Living expenditure, especially on education,medicine,etc.
Socio-economy
school drop-out rate by gender
nutrition status of children under 5
adult illiteracy rate by gender
HHs access to electricity
Environment protection
Fuel wood production
Other outcomes
relief food for natural disasters

24. M&E 3. Evaluation designing
Evaluation will be carried out by three steps.
1. Baseline survey—to establish the benchmarks with which the changes/improvements will be compared
2. Mid-term Evaluation— the middle of the implementation
when few initial responses from the targeted population will express
3. Final Evaluation -- at the end the project
It is expected that significant outcomes /improvements should be noted of the targeted population, as a result of increased yield, greater food availability, income generating activities, nutritional and health status improvements.
For the mid-term and final evaluation, household surveys will be carried out to collect the same information from the same households as in the baseline survey. Information from non-project areas will also be collected for comparison.

25. Standardization of Data collection methodology
4. Technical support to the Implementation
During the implementation of impact evaluation, VAM will provide technical support to UIS set-up and operation, especially in:
Standardization of Data collection methodology
Data management and analysis
Capacity building
Mapping

26. M&E
Assessment of Current Monitoring and Evaluation of Projects in China
Present proposed schedule
Dec.
February
-          Annually
-          Project start and
& mid-term
·         (Results-Oriented Performance Reports)
-          Impact Profile Report of the Project Area
-          Results-Oriented Project Report (Summary)
-          Results-Oriented Log Frame
New Reporting Requirement
-          Project start
-          Redundant
-          Baseline Survey
Govt. Expenditures
-          Utilization of Govt. Savings
-          Socio-Economic Profile
Annually
Dec. & June
-          Half-yearly
-          Physical and Financial Summary
-          Allocation & Utilization of workdays
-          Quality Assessment (further review needed prior to deletion)
-          Project Beneficiary
-          Gender Participation in FFW & FFT &
Gender participation in Project Management
6 Month Cycle
Timing
-          Quarterly
-          Commodity Data
-          Project Credit Operations
Quarterly
·         All information written with italic should be deleted and replaced with the appropriate input.

27. M&E Results-Oriented Project Report
Monitoring and Evaluating Relevance, Performance and Success
Same as above
Answer: i) How does one or more of WFP's five global strategies for Enabling Development assist national efforts, and ii) how does the project relate to the WFP global policies.
Enabling Development:
 WFP's strategy on Enabling Development with focus on five areas of assistance.
Answer regarding Success: What has the project done to bring about change, refer to what the relevant indicators show.
Success:
 - Impact
- Sustainability
- Contribution to Enabling Development
Answer regarding Performance: What progress is being made by the project relative to its objectives and relevant indicators.
Performance:
 - Effectiveness
- Efficiency
Timeliness of inputs and results 
 Proposal for action to be taken in a specific circumstance including the parties responsible for the action, and/or view as to improve the project.
 Refer to the effects of the project: Outputs, Outcomes and Impact describe more precisely the different types of results
 Answer: Is the project valid and pertinent, reflect on what the relevant indicators show.
Relevance:
 - Target groups
- Direct beneficiaries
- Comparative advantages