Piloting the Household Vulnerability Index to Improve Targeting in WVI programmes in Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe

1
Piloting the Household Vulnerability Index to
Improve Targeting in WVI programmes in Lesotho,
Swaziland and Zimbabwe
SOCIAL PROTECTION AND TARGETING

• Unity Chipfupa
• Pretoria, SA
• Date 2 April 2009

2
Structure

• Background
• Goal and Objectives of the project
• Why WVI is interested in the HVI
• The journey so far
• About the HVI- the theory simplified
• HVI-WVI data collection tools
• Anticipated outputs
• Work plan- key activities

3
Background

• As part of FANRPANs work on HIV and AIDS the
  organization is piloting the Household
  Vulnerability Index to Improve Targeting in WVI
  programmes in Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
• The journey began in 2004 when FANRPAN, through
  support from SADC and EU, conducted a 7 country
  study which focused on the Impact of HIV and AIDS
  on Agriculture and Food Security.
• With support from Southern African Trust, there
  was a follow-up study in 2005-2006 that sought to
  develop an index known as the FANRPAN-Household
  Vulnerability Index (HVI).
• The HVI is able to quantitatively measure
  vulnerability introduced by HIV and AIDS on rural
  households and classifies households according to
  their different degrees of vulnerability

4
The HVI pilot project

• In February 2008, WVI in partnership with FANRPAN
  agreed to conduct operational research in
  Swaziland, Lesotho and Zimbabwe to evaluate the
  applicability of the HVI in WVIs development
  programmes.
• The goal of the project is to
• apply the Household Vulnerability Index (HVI) to
  Improve Targeting in Food Aid Transfers in three
  pilot Area Development Programmes in Lesotho,
  Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

5
Objectives of the pilot project

• To develop and populate a comprehensive household
  vulnerability database in three ADPs in Lesotho,
  Swaziland and Zimbabwe.
• To analyse household vulnerability in these areas
  by computing HVIs and ranking households on a
  vulnerability basis and use this information to
  inform intervention programmes such as the input
  voucher programme
• To assess the requirements for full
  institutionalization of the HVI tool and database
  in WVI programmes.

6
Why World Vision is interested in the HVI

• World Vision works to transform the lives of the
  worlds poorest children and their families
• As a development partner, World Vision is
  concerned about on-going developments in the
  global economy and how they will affect their
  work
• Food prices and declining global food
  availability are major challenges
• climate change, need for bio-fuels, HIV and AIDS,
  poor government policies etc further complicate
  setting
• Communities where WVI work are dynamic and power,
  gender and hh, community and higher level
  priorities challenge equitable distribution of
  aid.
• As the biggest CSO, there is great opportunity to
  influence policy

7
The journey so far..

• Approach The project is longitudinal in nature,
  with a minimum of two years required (Up to March
  2010).
• Preliminary country assessments were made in
  February 2008
• The project was launched at the visioning
  workshop in Swaziland in May 2008
• Three launch workshops in the three countries
  were conducted with stakeholders in the pilot
  communities
• Data collection was completed in Swaziland in
  November 2008, will commence in Zimbabwe on the
  6th of April 2009 and later in Lesotho.

8
The journey so far..

• Swaziland Data Collection
• Started on the 18th of Nov and ended on the 19th
  of Dec 2008.
• 30 enumerators mainly college and university
  students were trained on the HVI tools
• Approximately 3330 households in Mpolonjeni ADP
  were interviewed
• Data was also captured using PDAs. Since WV
  Swaziland is also implementing a GIS project, GPS
  points of the homesteads and important features
  such as infrustructure, natural resources, etc,
  were also taken during the field work.
• Data cleaning is now in progress and before the
  end of the month we will have our first real
  results for Swaziland

9
What is the HVI?

• A detailed discussion of the HVI methodology and
  what is involved is given in the automated
  presentation given here.
• There is a prepared summarized presentation of
  the theory given here.

10
HVI data collection process

• Initially we needed to
• verify what data WV and partners are already
  collecting in the ADP.
• review studies undertaken to inform development
  interventions in the area
• With Communities, review the current targeting
  systems in the three ADPs building on their
  strengths and seeking to address/manage some of
  the challenges.
• Develop a plan on how data collected will inform
  development interventions in areas
• Then

11
HVI Data Collection Tool (ctd)

• We finalized specific HVI data collection tools
  to meet the different types of interventions that
  WVI implements as follows
• Form A A general household data card captures
  information that almost all interventions will
  need to know about a household before planning an
  intervention. This form is for all households in
  an ADP. This generic tool is divided into 5
  sections
• Demographic information
• Productive assets ownership
• State and use of natural assets
• Financial assets and food consumption patterns
• Social networks
• This form is updated annually, or at other
  regular intervals as required by managers. A
  draft of this tool is (given here). It is
  adequate for a generalized programme.

12
HVI Data Collection Tool (ctd)

• Form B1, B2, B3, etc An intervention-specific
  data card which captures information that a
  particular intervention will need to know about a
  household or beneficiary. This specific tool is
• linked to the main household data by use of
  carefully developed ID system.
• Does not need to collect data already collected
  by FORM A
• include information on benefits received by
  beneficiaries over time
• be updated regularly, tracking implementation of
  the intervention.
• A draft sample of this tool is (given here)

13
HVI Data Collection Tool (ctd)

• Form C A generic intervention-specific data card
  will be developed to capture information that a
  new particular intervention will need to know
  about a household or beneficiary. This tool will
  be used for those unique interventions that are
  not mainstream for ADPs. This specific tool will
  
• Be linked to the main household data by use of
  carefully developed ID system.
• Not need to collect data already collected by
  FORM A
• Will include information on benefits received by
  beneficiaries over time
• May be updated regularly, tracking implementation
  of the intervention.
• May have a definite beginning and end.
• A draft sample of this tool will need input in
  from programme implementers

14
HVI Data Collection Tool (ctd)

• Form D A semi-static data card developed to
  capture information at the ADP level. Information
  will be on general ADP profile data such as
  location, contact details, soils, geography,
  socio-economics and administrative boundaries.
  The form is
• linked to the main household data by use of
  carefully developed ID system.
• No need to collect data already collected by FORM
  A
• be updated once in a while, but a more regular
  sub-tool can be used to track market related
  statistics, e.g for food prices.
• form the context for the ADP.
• A draft sample of this tool is (given here).

15
Database Structure

• So how will all these tools be linked?

FORM A and D data cards
The areas of intersection will indicate which
households/individuals have benefited from the
intersecting interventions. A graduation system
for beneficiaries is thus possible.
16
Database Structure

• So what is the data collection structure?

Tool Frequency Data collected by who?
Form A HH Data annually HH, WVI staff, schools, hired enumerators
Form B Interventions (eg SFP) Daily to annually according to project. Eg Meals card-daily, distributions bi-monthly, Beneficiaries, WVI staff, schools, hired enumerators
Form C Unique projects, eg feeding for ART patients Same as form B Beneficiaries, WVI staff, schools, hired enumerators, representatives of networks for beneficiaries.
Form D Annually or biannually. May be updated with Form B. WVI staff, schools, hired enumerators,
17
Database analysis and reporting
The following analysis will be generated from the
database
A General Contextual Physical and
environmental information, Key features and
trends, Political, Social, Economic, Ecological,
Infrastructure, Institutions Community Level
Social differentiation, Socio-political
considerations, Institutional types, Spatial
considerations, Livelihood systems Household
Level Livelihood resources Physical, Natural,
Social, Economic, Human Intra-household Level
Gender, Generational
18
Database analysis and reporting
B Basic analysis embedded within the
database Household vulnerability indices (HVI) as
food security proxy nutritional status, health
status, education, poverty indicators (income,
assets, social network) Vulnerability Dynamic
perspectives, Trends in household dynamics,
Trends in livelihood strategies, Current
vulnerability (snapshot) of individuals that are
vulnerable,
19
Database analysis and reporting

• C Programme design tools embedded within the
  database
• Tweaking for sensitivity of HVI computations
• Distribution lists for households/individuals
  that meet set HVI criteria
• Comparison of HVI to community ranking or other
  targeting tools for checking for errors of
  inclusion or exclusion
• Sampling for monitoring and evaluation (including
  for both beneficiaries and non- beneficiaries if
  required).

20
Anticipated outputs

• Improved targeting
• Community participation
• Integration
• Prioritizing
• Evidence base
• Impact assessment

21
Work plan

• Planning
• Database development
• Instrument alignment
• Further project design
• Country launch
• Developing data collection structure with
  communities input
• Database design update
• Data collection (Lesotho and Zimbabwe are at this
  stage)
• Data entry and HVI generation (Swaziland is at
  this stage)
• Reporting and publication
• Report writing and publication
• Policy dialogues on findings
• Re-positioning and re-visioning
• Minimum duration 2 years

22
Thank you