LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. LEARNING OBJECTIVES • Define the purpose and scope of vulnerability • assessment. • Understand how vulnerability assessment relates to • early warning monitoring activities, food security • response planning and national policy and programme • development. • Identify the criteria to select among the tools available • for conducting vulnerability assessments.

2. INTRODUCTION This presentation explains: • how the concept of • vulnerability is applied in • practice to conducting • Vulnerability Assessments • (VA); and • how the assessment • results can be useful in • decision making.

3. INTRODUCTION VA -> emphasis on the constantly changing conditions faced by households. Vulnerability analysis is not a single or standard measurement system. Itbrings together different data sets to investigate causes of food insecurity and predict changes over time.

4. THE VULNERABILITY FRAMEWORK VA methods share a common conceptual framework. Situational Analysis Assessment of risks/hazards Vulnerability analysis Assessment of Risk to food insecurity From analysis to action

5. THE VULNERABILITY FRAMEWORK There is no single way to undertake a vulnerability assessment. Many different methodologies have been applied to the task.

6. LEVELS OF ASSESSMENT Vulnerability Assessment can be conducted at multiple levels: Household Individual Community Within a livelihood zone Administrative zone National or global level

7. LEVELS OF ASSESSMENT The methods used for data collection and analysis will be adapted according to the level of assessment used. There is also a considerable amount of interaction between the different methods.

8. VULNERABLE GROUPS A common feature of many vulnerability assessments is the identification of vulnerable groups. • Groups ofpeoplewith shared characteristics: • of demographic nature; • location specific; or • occupation specific Such vulnerability profiles indicate: • Who and how many people are vulnerable. • Where they are. • Why they are vulnerable.

9. VULNERABLE GROUPS The nature and extent of vulnerability varies amongst social groups. Understanding these variations plays a key role in identifying interventions and targeting those that are most vulnerable and excluding the less vulnerable.

10. VULNERABLE GROUPS We have found that not all members of the defined vulnerable group are equally vulnerable. Some women-headed households have far greater assets than the poorer male-headed households... The criteria used to determine inclusion in our programmes excludes many of the newly vulnerable. For example the farm workers who have lost their jobs do not qualify for assistance.

11. USES OF VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT The main situations where vulnerability assessment can be usefully applied are: • Early Warning System (EWS)  • Emergency Programming • Risk & vulnerability reduction

12. USES OF VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT Primary purpose of an EWS -> to monitor the incidence of shocks in order to give timely warning to decisions makers. Early Warning System Establishing an EWS to monitor the incidence of the large number of shocks that could negatively affect FS would be expensive. A risk and vulnerability assessment can provide an estimation of the most important shocks and hazards for a location or population group. This information will help an EWS manager to prioritize which hazards and shocks to monitor in a specific area.

13. USES OF VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT  It helps to prepare an emergency response to a specific shock. Emergency Programming In this case the emphasis is on predicting the FS outcome. A VA can provide the context to predict the impact of shocks and hazards, and forecast the probable FS impacts. In the context of emergency programming, VA is closely related to strengthening ex-post coping mechanisms.

14. USES OF VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT It guides the design ofinterventions to reduce people’s long-term vulnerability. Risk & vulnerability reduction In this context the emphasis is on analysing the causal factors underlying vulnerability to food insecurity. The focus is on present livelihood characteristics, risks and interventions. It primarily supports recommendations for medium and longer-term interventions to strengthen ex-ante risk management,in both development and emergency programming. This analysis can be used to formulate, fine tune or review either programme or project level activities or strategies and policies.

15. RISK MANAGEMENT TERMS Risk management terms: Prevention Mitigation Coping

16. SELECTING THE RIGHT METHOD Within vulnerability assessment there is an enormous diversity of objectives and analytical approaches. • VA is not a single method • VA is not is not necessarily a distinct analytical process There is no such thing as a standard “vulnerability assessment methodology”. A multiplicity of purposes for VA has resulted in a multiplicity of VA methods.

17. SELECTING THE RIGHT METHOD In conducting a VA, the starting point should be clarity on the purpose or objective, of the analysis. From this it is possible to identify a typology of approaches to VAand the methods that can be used.  EARLY WARNING SYSTEM EMERGENCY PROGRAMMING RISK & VULNERABILITY REDUCTION

18. SELECTING THE RIGHT METHOD Ultimately the choice of vulnerability assessment method will depend on a variety of institutional and technical considerations. Institutional issues Technical issues • Institutions participating in and • responsible for the assessment. • Their organizational mandate and • response capacity. • Decisions to be taken as a • consequence of the assessment • Data and information available. • financial resources available. • skills possessed by the analysts.

19. SELECTING THE RIGHT METHOD Case study: How methods are adapted to institutional needs Within the USAID FEWS Project, VA was initially used to help place its famine early warning indicators in their proper socioeconomic context, as a means to improve the interpretation of those indicators. However, the purpose of VA has evolved from: • developing a more informed basis for predicting severe episodes of • food insecurity; to • targeting the most food insecure and vulnerable populations and • monitoring their situation over time. • Methods were explicitly chosen/developed to answer these questions.

20. SUMMARY Vulnerability Assessment can be used to describe an analysis of different parts of the overall problem of why people may become food insecure in the future. Vulnerability analysis starts by assessing the current level of food security, and then incorporates the elements of risk and risk management into an analysis that is more forward-looking and dynamic. The main applications of vulnerability analysis are to: • provide a context for early warning; • improve emergency response planning; and • lead to long-term reductions vulnerability and food insecurity through development interventions. There is no one analysis approach or method, and the selection of an appropriate technique will depend on a mix of institutional and technical considerations.