Transcript From Commitment to Action: Promoting a Demand

Social Protection and Livelihoods
Thematic Area
FANRPAN Partners’ Meeting
13 June 2011, Pretoria, South Africa
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Background
• Failure of agriculture in Africa to secure
livelihoods for 70% of its population that
depends on it for survival
• 1/3 of population suffering from chronic
poverty and malnutrition
• Continent not on course to eradicate
extreme poverty and hunger (MDG1)
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Social Protection
A framework for public and private initiatives
that:
• provide income or consumption transfers to
the poor;
• protect vulnerable populations against
livelihood risks; and
• enhance the social status and rights of
marginalized populations.
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Why Social Protection?
• Increasing poverty and vulnerability in
Africa due to factors that include:
– Changing climate
– Poor macro-economic performance
– Escalating food prices
– Diseases (e.g., HIV and AIDS)
– Social unrest and civil strife
• Effective social protection contributes to fair
growth, social stability and enhanced
productivity
• But, who are the vulnerable?
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Why Social Protection?
• Households have varying degrees of
vulnerability
• There is need to quantify the vulnerability
levels of households
• Data on household vulnerability is often not
available at local levels to inform the
implementation of development, relief and
advocacy programmes
• Baseline surveys are based on samples
– they are fragmented and not longitudinal
• Lack of reliable evidence to inform policy
processes and practice
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What has FANRPAN done?
Year
What was done
Partners Involved
2005
Seven-country study on relationship
between HIV and AIDS and agricultural
productivity at household level.
Household Vulnerability Index (HVI) tool
developed
EU, SADC
2008
Follow-on initiative to scale up and test
the utility of the HVI tool
Southern Africa Trust
2008 - 2010
HVI Pilot Project in Lesotho, Swaziland
and Zimbabwe
World Vision Int.,
Southern Africa Trust
2010
Analysis of agriculture input distribution
systems and policies in Malawi (a country
study)
Bunda College of
Agriculture, University
of Malawi
2011 - 2012
To integrate HVI livelihood databases with
climate and crop models and cost/benefit
analysis to inform policies (SECCAP
project)
Universities (Cape
Town, Lesotho,
Malawi, Swaziland and
Venda); World Vision;
IFPRI
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The Household Vulnerability Index
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The HVI Tool
• The HVI is a composite index used to assess a
household’s access to five livelihoods capitals,
namely:
– Natural assets such as land, soil and water;
– Physical assets such as livestock, equipment and
fixed assets;
– Financial assets such as savings, salaries,
remittances or pensions;
– Human assets such as farm labour, gender
composition and dependents; and
– Social assets such as information, community
support, extended families and formal or informal
social welfare support
• A total of 15 variables (called dimensions) are
assessed together, and a statistical score is
calculated for each household.
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Household vulnerability categories
The HVI places households in one of 3
categories:
• Low vulnerability – those able to cope
without external assistance
• Moderate vulnerability – those ordinarily
able to cope, but require assistance when
affected by a temporary shock, e.g. drought
• High vulnerability – those that always
depend on external assistance to survive
(the chronically poor or food insecure)
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The HVI Pilot Project
• Aim
– To improve the quality of programme
design, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation
• Objectives
– developing livelihoods databases for pilot
sites in each of the three participating
countries
– institutionalise and scale up the HVI tool
• Output
– Livelihoods databases on asset ownership
by rural communities to inform policy and
practice
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The HVI Pilot Project
Summary of HVI Pilot
Duration
July 2008 and September 2010
Focal
Countries
Lesotho
Swaziland
Zimbabwe
Funding
partners
World Vision International (WVI)
Southern African Trust (SAT)
Implementing World Vision national offices
partners
University of Venda
Development Data
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HVI Pilot Sites
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Results from HVI Pilot
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Vulnerability Levels: Comparison
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Country Profiles:
A Comparison of HVI Dimensions
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Human Capital
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Human Capital
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Financial Capital
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Financial Capital
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Physical Capital
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Social Capital
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Social Capital
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HVI Pilot Outcomes
• Improved targeting and prioritisation due to
availability of empirical data
• Community participation, enhancing bottomup learning
• Linking research to practice - partnership with
local universities
• Monitoring of impact of interventions
• Evidence-based programming and policy
advice
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CAAP Alignment
Pillar 1
Natural resource management
Pillar 4
Research, technology
dissemination and adoption
Pillar 2
Rural infrastructure and traderelated capacities
Pillar 3
Increasing food supply and
reducing hunger
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Panel Discussion
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Panellists
• World Vision Lesotho:
Thato Lepele
• World Vision Swaziland:
Dalton Nxumalo
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Conclusion
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Take home message
• You cannot change what you cannot measure!
• HVI provides an objective tool for assessing
household vulnerability
• Results from HVI assessments are useful in
informing policy processes and programming
(baselines, targeting, monitoring, evaluation)
• Cost of HVI assessment: less than $15 per
household (incl. data collection, analysis, GIS
mapping, etc.)
• Opportunities for development and funding
partners to support roll out of the HVI beyond
the pilot sites and pilot countries
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“Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is
not natural. It is man-made, and it can be
overcome and eradicated by the actions
of human beings.
And overcoming poverty is not a gesture
of charity. It is an act of justice.”
Nelson Mandela
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