| Improving the needs assessment process in EthiopiaFor the last several years, food
security analysis has increasingly contained a strong livelihoods element. That is, the household has been taken as the point of reference, and analysis has been based on the economic operation
of typical households. It has been found that this is an essential balance and complement to the more traditional, sectoral analysis of climate, agricultural production, market prices etc.
To this end the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) has initiated an improved needs assessment approach which is based on the analysis of livelihoods at the household level, the Household Economy Approach
(HEA). HEA was primarily initiated in Ethiopia by Save the Children UK (SC/UK) in the early 1990s. The GoE, through its Early Warning Working Group (EWWG), piloted a household
economy-based needs assessment methodology during late 2003 and in January 2004 in Somali and Amhara Regions, respectively. Following this, the DPPA (in collaboration with Emergency Preparedness
Strengthening Program of USAID, or EPSP, and FEWS NET) undertook a pilot livelihood-based study in Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) in 2005. The SNNPR activity was
deemed successful in incorporating the livelihoods framework into the current needs assessment process. To tackle the underlying causes of poverty and food insecurity, the GoE with strong
support from donors, started providing secure safety nets to support more than 4.5 million chronically food insecure people starting from February 2005. (The productive safety net program
works through cash or food resource transfers to meet basic needs via labor based public works or direct support. It is also planned to protect and build household and community assets. It
is also where the chronically food insecure can participate in development.) More than 7.3 million chronically food insecure people have benefited in 2006 from participation in the Productive
Safety Net Program (PSNP), receiving predictable food or cash transfers during the hungry season. Safety Net transfers in pastoral region of Afar started in 2006 and in Somali are scheduled to
start in the future. These developments are expected to ease the demands on the development of needs assessment methodologies that will only focus on acute problems.At the same time, the
World Bank funded Pastoral Communities Development Program (PCDP) (started in 2001) and the Pastoral Livelihoods Initiative (PLI) (September 2005 to September 2007) have early warning components in
their livelihood effort which focus on HEA in pastoral areas. When these various initiatives are added together, the livelihood scheme covers most of the pastoral regions.Despite various
livelihood related initiatives in the country, there had been limited attempts to rationalize the disparate sets of information emanating from different agencies in Ethiopia. This gives an
opportunity to the GoE, through the DPPA, to integrate the existing livelihood-based efforts into a more sustainable system that will in the future lead to a comprehensive system.Taking this
opportunity, the DPPA in collaboration with EPSP/USAID created a unit called Livelihood Integration Unit (LIU) within the DPPA's Early Warning Department in September 2006. The main focus of the
LIU includes: improving needs assessment and standards; playing a leadership role in non-food emergency assessments; integrating all livelihood efforts in the country; and scaling up the SNNPR
HEA-based effort to other regions. The expansion to other regions has already started in Tigray in October and is envisaged to continue in Amhara and Oromiya regions during 2007.Different
agencies following the livelihood framework share much in common, notably the focus on assets and micro-macro links as well as common roots in the definitions of livelihood. Given the current
efforts, however, there had been various challenges, concerns and constraints raised around HEA which LIU is currently focusing on, that need to be tackled as the current efforts are strengthened and
consolidated in a national system. The improved HEA should go beyond estimating food gaps and beneficiaries by providing enough attention to a holistic and integrated understanding of
food security and avoid biases against other multi-sectoral needs. By using a holistic approach, and taking note of trends (and forecasts) over time as well as identifying key indicators for
monitoring, the underlying causes of food insecurity can be understood more clearly, as can the opportunities for positive change. The information system under development to bring together
these initiatives needs also to look at all aspects of livelihoods including education, water and sanitation, health and nutrition, agriculture and livestock, HIV and AIDS, etc.Furthermore,
while the current developments of needs assessment in the country intend to link with the overall Food Security Program through the Early Warning System, there is a notable and acknowledged lack of
conceptual and practical discussion of the linkages between these potentially complementary components of an overall food security information and needs assessment system. Particularly in the
context of recurrent food security crisis, needs assessment should not be considered in isolation, but should be seen as part of a broader food security information and analysis
system. |
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