Presented by Cleo Roberts, IFPRI at the Africa RISING–CSISA Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Meeting, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 11-13 November 2013

1. Characterizing Households and
Communities for Africa RISING
Cleo Roberts
Africa RISING–CSISA Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Meeting,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 11-13 November 2013

2. Why Characterize Households?
 Identify household dynamics affecting technology
adoption
 Identify types of households vulnerable to
poverty
 Ensure the hard-to-reach are not missed

3. Why Characterize Communities?
 Ensure appropriate interventions for context
 Identify challenges to adoption
 Figure out how to overcome barriers

4. Sustainable Intensification
Cereal Systems
Crop-livestock Systems
Maize-legume-livestock
Systems

5. Africa RISING Goals
 Sustainable agricultural intensification for:
 Improved livelihoods
 Better food security
 Healthy environment

6. Africa RISING: M&E System
 Monitoring
 Information from the field
 Feedback to implementers
 Evaluation
 Outcomes of the project
 Design of future projects and
M&E efforts

7. Africa RISING: Evaluation
 Panel surveys
 Characterization survey
 Endline after project completion
 Two levels
 Household survey
 Community questionnaire (according to megasitespecific definitions)

8. Farming Systems
 “Interdependent gathering, production, and postharvest processes” to meet households’
nutritional, economic, and other needs (FAO
2001)
 Can include:
 Crop production
 Livestock production
 aquaculture
Smith and Subandoro (2007)

9. Farming Systems, cont.
Survey sections:
 Cropping systems
 Crop production
 Crop inputs
 Crop sales
 Crop storage
 Crop labor
 Livestock production
 Livestock ownership
 Livestock feed

10. Common Crop Combinations

11. Seasonal Cultivation

12. Livelihoods
 Defined as the “capabilities, assets (including both
material and social resources) and activities
required for a means of living.” (Chambers &
Conway, 1991).

13. Livelihoods and Agriculture
Poverty Headcount
Agricultural Engagement
84 - 93
80 - 84
74 - 80
55 - 74

14. Livelihoods and Agriculture, cont.

15. Livelihoods at the Household Level
 Labor
 Land
 Cropping systems
 Crop production
 Crop inputs
 Crop sales
 Crop storage
 Crop labor
 Health
 Livestock ownership
 Livestock feed
 Agriculture-related
challenges and coping
strategies
 Other income sources
 Credit
 Housing
 Food and non-food expenses

16. Measuring Poverty
 At the household level:
 Expenditures are more reliable than income
 Easier to recall than income
 Use assets to estimate wealth
 More stable over time
 At the community level:
 Infrastructure: Roads, clinics, and other public
services

17. Livelihoods at the Community Level
 Agricultural extension
 Access to
services/infrastructure
 Community land
 Community
demographics
 Water, shocks, foodsupply
 Market prices

19. Food Security
 Three pillars:
 Availability: Is there enough food?
 Access: Do people have the resources to obtain
food?
 Use: Are people eating healthy combinations of
foods?
WHO (2013)

20. Food Security at the
Household Level
 Health
 Crop production
 Livestock ownership
 Welfare and subjective
food security
 Food consumed inside
the household
 Anthropometry
 Women of
childbearing age
 Children under 5 years
old

21. Obtaining Measures of Food Security
and Nutritional Status
 Collect source, quantity and monetary value of
foods consumed over a particular period
 Necessary to standardize units of measurement
 Include foods purchased, foods from own production, and inkind payments
 Record times of self-reported food scarcity
 Take anthropometric measurements
 Identify stunting, wasting, and underweight children
Smith and Subandoro (2007)

22. Food Security at the
Community Level
 Access to services
 Water, shocks, and food

23. Overview of Food Security: Malawi 2004-2005

24. Food Inadequacy Acute Undernutrition
self-assessed food inadequacy & child wasting
6
8
% of children
.6
.5
.4
Au
gu
st
Ju
ly
Ju
ne
M
ay
Ap
ril
M
ar
ch
Fe
br
ua
ry
9
Ja
nu
ar
y0
De
ce
m
be
r
No
ve
m
be
r
O
ct
ob
er
.3
Se
pt
em
be
r0
8
% of households
10
last month
month of interview
% of households
% of children wasted

25. Higher education better nutrition
Child undernutrition indicators
20
30
40
50
by mother education
10
Child undernutrition indicators
0
50
by father education
40
30
wasting
20
underweight
higher
10
stunting
secondary
0
primary
% of children
none
none
primary
stunting
secondary
underweight
higher
wasting

26. Natural Resource Management
at the Household Level
 Crop inputs
(conservation)
 Crop inputs (seed)
 Livestock feed
 Agricultural extension
services
 Land use

27. Natural Resource Management at
the Community Level
 Agricultural extension
services
 Community land use
 Water, shocks, and food

28. Top Input Combinations

30. Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation
africa-rising.net