Monday, November 18, 2013
Measuring Resilience
Presenter: Nancy Mock, Professor, Co-Director of the Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy, Tulane University
This session provided participants with concepts, strategies and methodologies for measuring resilience and its determinants. A framing presentation provided a conceptual framework for measuring resilience, including the systems factors that characterize resilience such as shocks/hazards, assets/capacities, multi-scale and multi-level interactions among determinants. Measurement approaches such as quantitative and qualitative methods were discussed together with characteristics of indicators such as the degree to which they are subjective versus objective. Systems concepts such as the importance of initial conditions, tipping points, flow and scale provided participants with an approach to measuring changing dynamics that influence households. The session then allowed small group work on resilience measurement in specific programming contexts. The session concluded by giving attendees the opportunity to consider key questions for moving the resilience measurement agenda forward.
The presenter emphasized that there are no standard indicators for measuring resilience and that the process is complicated. She shared several approaches for measuring resilience, which tend to vary according to the particular community of practice (climate change, sustainability, food security, humanitarian). USAID indicators of resilience fall into five categories: (1) income and food access; (2) assets; (3) social capital and safety nets; (4) nutrition and health; and (5) adaptive capacity. One can select different indicators depending on the focus of the program.
The presenter emphasized that collecting the data to measure resilience can cost a lot of money. She pointed out that resilience is most often measured at the household level, but it is important to measure it on the community and systems levels as well because certain indicators, like social capital, will not be easy to capture at the household level. She also pointed out that it is important to use both a quantitative and a qualitative approach since some higher level factors aren’t reflected in quantitative measures. She also noted that measures of resilience need to continue over a period of time and that different indicators need to be selected at different stages of the resilience continuum—from the baseline, to disturbance measures, to resilience measures and to endline well-being measures.
Moving In and Out of Emergencies: How This Affects Health and Nutrition Activities in Development Programs
Panelists: Kerri Agee, Catholic Relief Services, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Noro Hasina Ratsimbazafy, Resiliency Coordinator, Strengthening and Accessing Livelihood Opportunities for Household Impact (SALOHI) Program, Catholic Relief Services, Madagascar; Adriane Seibert, Nutrition Senior Specialist, Save the Children; Moderator: Circe Trevant, Independent Consultant
Many countries are experiencing frequent short-term emergencies or extended cycles of emergencies. This has an effect on development programs in many ways. In this session, a panel of presenters from three different country contexts (DRC, Madagascar and Niger) shared their experiences and discussed how this affects their program planning, communication with communities, etc.
Niger: The presenter explained that emergencies can divert resources from development, including staff going into the emergency. Programs try to support coordination between emergency and development, but there are challenges. Program coordination needs to start at the community level.
Madagascar: Madagascar is an island whose major disasters are flooding and storms, especially in the south. Best practices in dealing with emergencies include linking the early recovery activities (2-6 weeks long) with the program to not disturb the community or other activities, and allowing the community to take some control, so they don’t depend on NGOs. Of course there are also challenges, such as spreading information in areas where telephones are down or roads are blocked, and coordinating between the humanitarian and development teams, as their approaches often differ.
Congo: When the M23 group arrived in 2012, the crisis worsened. Roads were very bad, and communication with the beneficiaries suffered. For example, people who were not registered would arrive to receive food, and transport of the food was not always possible given the insecurity. Program modifications included increasing the number of food distribution centers, and giving food every two months instead of every month. Leader mothers were key in this effort, as they were able to make the program run smoothly and communicate important information about breastfeeding and cooking balanced food.
Productivity and Climate Change: Sustainable Land Development and Restoration
Presenters: Edwige Botoni, Expert in Natural Resource Management, Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel; M. Mathieu Ouédraogo, President, Réseau pour la Promotion des Approches Participatives/Participatory Rural Appraisal Network, Burkina Faso; Moderator: Tom Remington, Agriculture Advisor for Africa, Catholic Relief Services
Many parts of Africa, especially the Sahel region, are highly vulnerable to climate change. Changing rainfall patterns, land degradation, and desertification are key factors affecting local livelihoods. Many climate models predict that the Sahel region will become drier during this century, compounding already difficult conditions. Preventing further land degradation and regenerating already degraded land are critical to long term development in this region.
This session discussed farmer-led innovations that have had a significant impact on transforming arid Sahel landscapes into productive land, such as Famer Managed Natural Regeneration, lessons learned and opportunities for scaling up.
Some of the technological innovations mentioned included digging trenches to increase water infiltration, planting baobob trees, and using textile bags that are degradable. Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR) was also discussed as an agroforestry technique that takes care of the offspring of plants.
Environmental Enteropathy, Stunting and Behavior Change
Presenter: Bonnie Kittle, Independent Consultant, Kittle Consulting
Recent studies have shown that there is a link between poor sanitation and stunting in children. During this session participants heard an introduction to Environmental Enteropathy (EE) including what EE is and how it leads to stunting, what the primary causes are and how food security projects could address EE. Through small group work participants identified the potential causes of EE in their own project areas and discussed ways to address these in culturally appropriate ways.
Participants discussed the ways children ingest feces, including children playing in dirty places and using the same water to drink, wash, swim, etc. They also discussed how to prevent children from eating dirty things. Suggestions included using clean mats, not leaving the children alone, increasing participation of grandmothers in care of children, increasing participation of husbands in gathering water, closing off the kitchen to chickens, and using a playpen.
Risk Management: Early Warning, Drought Cycles, and Other Key Tools for Practitioners
Presenters: Idriss Leko, Senior Agriculture/Livelihoods Manager, Sawki Development Food Aid Program, Mercy Corps, Niger; Abdou Karim Ouédraogo, Regional Food Security Specialist, Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net), West Africa; Clare Oxby, Researcher; Moderator: Tom Remington, Agriculture Advisor for Africa, Catholic Relief Services
Natural disasters, such as droughts and floods, as well as transboundary animal diseases, economic crises and civil conflicts adversely affect many parts of Africa, including West Africa and the Sahel. Typically, natural disasters were viewed as one off catastrophes requiring emergency responses. More recently, it has become increasingly accepted that natural disasters, especially drought, are often normal occurrences that can be planned for. Early warning systems and information, linked to pre-planned adaptive change at the project and community level, can play a critical role in helping governments, NGOs, communities and households prepare for and reduce the negative consequences of these events.
In this panel session, speakers discussed regional, national and community early warning systems, providing insights into what has worked well, lessons learned and new directions, as well as the application of the Drought Cycle Management model as a tool for adaptive programming and increased resilience.
One presenter discussed FEWS Net, which is designed to provide relevant and impartial information on food security. FEWS Net’s approach includes converging evidence, analyzing evidence, developing the scenario, comparing results, and making an effective decision. FEWS Net partners with local governments and other organizations to disseminate information.
Another tool discussed was the SCAP/RU Project, which aims to help vulnerable communities recover from shock and stress. This early warning system started in national government and moved to local communities, but more work needs to be done on communication at the community level. Capacity building within local communities is necessary to enable people to use the tools available. Other constraints include lack of literacy in the communities and lack of volunteers.
Lastly, the Drought Cycle Management Model is a tool for project staff to better understand which activities should be implemented during the different phases of a drought.
Fraud Prevention in Commodity Management
Presenters: Hassan Ben Baha, Regional Technical Advisor, Commodity, Catholic Relief Services; Syon Niyogi, Deputy Regional Director for Management Quality, Catholic Relief Services
Each year, thousands of metric tons of food commodities, donated by the United States Government, are programmed all over the world. Food aid is usually distributed to the recipient beneficiaries through national or international cooperating partner NGOs with heavy reliance on local infrastructure and local capacity which varies from one country to another or one agency to another. Adequate capacity, or lack thereof, determines the quantity of food that reaches the intended beneficiaries. Most of the countries, where food aid programs are implemented have to deal with local challenges on a daily basis; it could be with security or governance or shortage of qualified staff or lack of appropriate supervision. Challenges could be both internal as well as external. Food is as good as cash. It can be very tempting to misappropriate in situations where controls are lax.
Yet the responsible agency will have to pay to the US government the value of such commodities lost, damaged or misused, unless USAID determines that such improper distribution or use or loss or damage could not have been prevented by the agency under reasonable circumstances. Senior Managers should not only ensure adequate checks and balances but also should have close oversight of food aid programs. In this session, participants gained an understanding of risks and potential loopholes in food commodity management. The session assisted them to be mindful about fraud prevention in designing and staffing food aid programs, developing control mechanisms and closely monitoring and oversight of food aid programs.
The moderator began the session by giving a knowledge management quiz to participants to test their understanding of fraud and to compare their perceptions about fraud with evidence from the field. Then the presenter discussed the definition of fraud, its various aspects and the steps that can be taken to manage residual risk with fraud. The participants ended the session by engaging in case study exercise in small groups.