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Food Security Information for Action
Vulnerability
Lesson 2
Vulnerability Assessment
Learner’s Notes
© FAO, 2008
This course is funded by the European Union and developed
by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Table of Contents
Learning objectives..........................................................................................1
Introduction....................................................................................................2
The vulnerability framework..............................................................................3
Levels of assessment......................................................................................4
Vulnerable groups...........................................................................................6
Uses of vulnerability assessment.......................................................................9
Risk management terms................................................................................16
Selecting the right method..............................................................................17
Summary...................................................................................................20
If you want to know more................................................................................21
Annex 1: Table comparing various tools for vulnerability assessment........1
Learners’ Notes
23
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Learning objectives
At the end of this lesson you will be able to:
• define the purpose and scope of vulnerability assessment;
• understand how vulnerability assessment relates to early warning monitoring activities,
food security response planning and national policy and programme development;; and
• identify the criteria to select among the tools available for conducting vulnerability
assessments.
Learners’ Notes
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Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Introduction
This lesson explains how the concept of vulnerability is applied in practice to conducting
Vulnerability Assessments and how the assessment results can be useful in decision
making.
The main areas of vulnerability assessment and analysis that have been developed from
the vulnerability framework are identified and discussed.
A central concern of this lesson is linking assessment results to action. The various ways
in which vulnerability assessment results are used to reduce food insecurity are discussed.
Finally, a typology of the major food security related vulnerability assessment approaches
and methods is presented along with criteria to select the most appropriate method in a
specific context.
.Vulnerability Assessment (VA) is an important component of food security analysis. VA is
distinguished from other aspects of food security analysis by its emphasis on the
constantly changing conditions faced by households, and of their responses to those
conditions.
Because of this dynamic perspective, the analysis can be used to support both:
efforts to address the short term constraints to food access; and
reduction of longer-term threats to food security and well-being.
Vulnerability analysis is not a single or standard measurement system. Instead,
vulnerability analysis brings together different data sets to investigate causes of food
insecurity and predict changes over time.
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
The vulnerability framework
Vulnerability assessment methods share a common conceptual framework.
The analysis may begin with an assessment of the chronic or current level of Food
Security (FS) and then incorporate the elements of risk and coping capacity into an
analysis that is more forward-looking and dynamic.
At its most inclusive, vulnerability analysis incorporates a number of sequential steps:
1. Situational Analysis - What is the current level of food insecurity?
2. Assessment of risks/hazards - What are the major risks, the intensity and severity?
Who is exposed to these risks?
3. Vulnerability analysis - What is the ability to manage these risks?
4. Assessment of Risk to food insecurity - Given these factors, what is the prognosis
for future food security?
5. From analysis to action - How can this information and analysis be used to reduce
future food insecurity?
There is no single way to undertake a vulnerability assessment. Indeed, the scope of the
vulnerability framework makes it extremely difficult to conduct a comprehensive
vulnerability analysis within a single assessment process.
Many different methodologies have been applied to the task, each relevant to a particular
dimension of the vulnerability problem and a particular question of strategic or operational
importance.
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Levels of assessment
Vulnerability assessment can be conducted at multiple levels.
Table 1: Levels of vulnerability assessment
Level Description
Household The concept of vulnerability is most frequently used to understand the relationship of risk and coping at the household level. This is a basic unit of social organization where resources are shared. Findings of similar households can be aggregated to efficiently characterize population groups (households with similar livelihood strategies, female headed households …) and to develop recommendations for them.However, depending on the purpose of the assessment, it may be appropriate to investigate, analyse or report on vulnerability at different levels of social organization.
Individual At the lowest level vulnerability is a characteristic of an individual. There are important intra-household differences in vulnerability. For example, depending on the local social customs and norms, a shortage of food at the household level may impact the children, women and men very differently. Understanding these differences can be critical to planning and implementing interventions.
Community It may also be appropriate to assess vulnerability at the community level. Collecting vulnerability information at the community level, usually through participatory techniques, is typically cheaper than household level surveys. Furthermore, understanding the dynamics of inter-household relationships can be critical for understanding vulnerability. Community participation in the analysis links well to community level action to address shocks affecting households or individuals.
Within a livelihood zone
Often vulnerability is collected and analysed within livelihood or agro-ecological zones. In regions where livelihood options are limited, which includes many rural areas, it is possible to define geographical zones within which livelihood activities, risks and risk management strategies are relatively homogenous. Collecting and analysing information at this level allows relatively large areas to be efficiently characterized and recommendations developed for these zones.
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Administrative zone
There is often a demand for information, analysis and recommendations at various administrative levels, such as the district or regional level. This level of analysis recognizes that many solutions to reduce vulnerability, especially related to shocks which affect many (co-variant), fall outside of the household. For example, the social services provided by government can be critical. Key decision makers are often located within these administrative units, and require analysis targeted to their jurisdiction.
National or global level
A vulnerability analysis can be undertaken at the national or even global level. This information may be useful in helping to identify areas of high vulnerability and target national or global resources to address this problem. It can also assess the implication of national or international policy level choices on vulnerability.
The methods used for data collection and analysis will be adapted according to the level of
assessment used.
There is also a considerable amount of interaction between the different methods.
Example For example, The results of several community level assessments may be aggregated
to develop a district level vulnerability assessment.
Vulnerability assessment for food security is an emerging profession.
There is still a heavy reliance on simple narrative analyses and more formal, quantitative
methods are only beginning to emerge.
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Vulnerable groups
A common feature of many vulnerability assessments is the identification of vulnerable
groups.
Although the ultimate goal of food security interventions is to enhance the welfare of
individuals, analysing the complex set of information pertaining to each person would be
impossible. Therefore people are clustered into groups of individuals with shared
characteristics.
Often, such common characteristics are either of demographic nature (e.g. age, gender),
location specific (e.g. people in high altitude mountains) or occupation specific (e.g. fisher
folk or urban labourers).
Such vulnerability profiles indicate: Who and how many people are vulnerable (which is important for making resource
allocation decisions);
Where they are (which improves geographic targeting); and
Why they are vulnerable (which allows us to understand what type of interventions are
required).
The nature and extent of vulnerability varies amongst social groups, between and within
different livelihoods and between rural and urban areas.
Understanding these variations plays a key role in identifying interventions and targeting
those that are most vulnerable and excluding the less vulnerable.
Particular groups may be vulnerable for quite different reasons, and therefore the type of
support that is appropriate for them may also differ.
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Examples of vulnerable groups
Some examples of groups that are routinely identified as particularly vulnerable are:
children under the age of five (vulnerable especially to undernutrition, malnutrition
and infectious diseases);
lactating mothers (vulnerable to undernutrition in the context of nursing babies);
the elderly (vulnerable due to loss of assets, or ability to use their assets
productively, or additional burdens of care for the ill and orphans due to HIV/AIDS);
female headed households, including widows and divorced women (vulnerable due
to loss of access rights to land, lack of time to cultivate land, and loss of previous
partner’s contribution to household livelihood);
people with disabilities (lack of access to production or earning opportunities; social
exclusion);
families with members with HIV/AIDS or other chronic illnesses (vulnerable due to
lack of labour, and disposal of assets to cover medical costs);
Occupational groups with low/variable income, such as fisher folk, agricultural
labourers and marginal farmers (vulnerable because of weather dependency, highly
variable income, and limited income diversification);and
remote rural populations (vulnerable due to over reliance on a single livelihood
source, lack of diversification options, high transport costs, poor information).
Factors leading to vulnerabilityThe factors leading to vulnerability differ across the different groups.
Common characteristics used to cluster vulnerable groups include:
demographic characteristics;
geographical location;
position in society; and
sources of livelihoods or main income.
Gender plays a significant part in these different vulnerabilities – women are often more
vulnerable than men.
For example in southern Africa the prevalence of the HIV infection among women is 20%
higher than for men.
Think of the possible limitations of using “vulnerable groups” as a basis for targeting
interventions....
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Example It can happen that not all members of the defined vulnerable group are equally vulnerable.
(e.g. some women-headed households have far greater assets than the poorer male-
headed households...).
Furthermore, it could happen that the criteria used to determine inclusion in a programme
exclude many of the newly vulnerable (e.g. the farm workers who have lost their jobs do
not qualify for assistance).
While the use of vulnerable groups can help in targeting limited resources, the use of
standard criteria without a careful analysis of the relevance to the local context may be
counter-productive. Vulnerability can be thought of as a continuum with some people being
more vulnerable than others, even within the same group.
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Uses of vulnerability assessment
An understanding of vulnerability can be helpful in analysing food security problems and
formulating advice and recommendations in a range of different contexts. Whilst three
distinct contexts are presented below, a VA often can serve several purposes.
Let’s look at the main situations where vulnerability assessment can be usefully applied:
1. Early Warning System
2. Emergency Programming
3. Risk and vulnerability reduction
1. The Early Warning System
A primary purpose of an Early Warning System (EWS) is to monitor the incidence of
shocks or hazards in order to give timely warning to decisions makers. This information
may be used to trigger appropriate response plans.
Potentially there are a large number of shocks that could negatively affect food security in
a given country. However, establishing a EWS to monitor the incidence of all of these
shocks would be expensive and probably unnecessary.
Shocks that could negatively affect food security
Potentially there are a large number of shocks and trends that could negatively affect food security in a given country. Amongst the co-variant shocks affecting many people simultaneously are : drought; floods; storms; disease and pest outbreaks; volcanoes; earthquakes; tsunamis; landslides; war; increases in food prices or inflation; and macro-economic crisis, e.g. sudden devaluations.
A risk and vulnerability assessment can provide an estimation of the most important
shocks and hazards for a location or population group.
This would include:
an analysis of the frequency and characteristics of these phenomena;
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
how many people are exposed to these risks; and
how susceptible people are and their ability to manage these without external assistance.
Taken together, this information will help a EWS manager to prioritize which hazards and
shocks to monitor in a specific area.
Case study: Linking vulnerability analysis to early warning – DjiboutiIn this case the baseline vulnerability analysis provided essential context information for
designing an appropriate EWS.
Food security is often closely linked with agricultural production outcomes. Hence, a
chronic or temporary production deficit against local food requirements immediately
translates into chronic or temporary food insecurity. Consequently most early warning and
food security monitoring systems draw heavily from two information sources: (1) crop
and/or livestock production data; and (2) market price information.
Prior to establishing an early warning system in Djibouti, FEWS NET, with assistance from
the Government of Djibouti, undertook a national baseline food economy study. This study
profiled the major characteristics of different food economy zones. It included elements of
vulnerability analysis; identifying the major hazards and the relative capacity of different
types of households to withstand them.
The study pointed out that:
The vast majority of the population lives in Djibouti City and depends on non-agricultural formal, or informal, employment. Casual employment in the construction sector is critical for the poorest groups.
Persistent drought, conflict and a desire to access health and education services has led to a major decline in nomadic pastoralism.
There is an increasing dependence of the rural population on the urban economy, with assistance flowing from the city to rural areas in the form of regular remittances of money and/or food.
The country produces minimal amounts of food and is almost entirely dependent on food imports.
Therefore in the case of Djibouti it was decided that monitoring domestic agricultural
production and wholesale prices was of limited relevance. Instead the key variables
included in the EWS were urban employment statistics (formal and informal), the cost of a
food basket in the urban market and factors influencing the food trade.
2. Emergency Programming
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Vulnerability analysis can also be applied in helping to prepare an emergency response to
a specific shock.
Example: Emergency response to a specific shockIf a region experiences a prolonged lack of rainfall, the food consumption of the affected
population may not decline immediately.
However, if the shock is severe enough in terms of duration, intensity or coverage, then
the food security situation may well deteriorate in the period before the next harvest.
A vulnerability analysis can be conducted to analyze the short-term food security
consequences for a given shock. In this case the emphasis is on predicting the food
security outcome.
A vulnerability assessment can provide the context to predict the impact of shocks and
hazards, and forecast the probable food security impacts. It can give an indication of how
close to the edge people are before the shock and the extent of their ability to cope with
the effects. Depending on the VA method employed this may produce recommendations
that:
target assistance to the most severely affected regions and socio-economic
populations; and
calculate the actual quantity of assistance (food, cash or other transfers) required.
In the context of emergency programming, VA is closely related to strengthening ex-post
coping mechanisms.
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Case study: Vulnerability Assessment in NepalFollowing a failure of the winter rains of 2005/06 in the far-west and mid-west regions of
Nepal, a preliminary assessment indicated a failure of the rain-fed winter wheat crop.
Consequently the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agricultural
Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized a vulnerability assessment in order to:
verify and validate information on current food availability, market conditions and the
extent and scale of crop damage;
identify affected villages and populations;
recommend an appropriate response strategy for addressing the impact of the
drought.
The assessment collected data on:
agricultural production;
food self-sufficiency;
crop losses;
the food gap;
food availability on markets; and
coping mechanisms.
This information was used to analyse the probable food security status of the population
later in the year.
Based on this analysis, the recommendations included the immediate provision of
emergency food assistance and an expansion of food for work programmes. In the
medium term, seed distribution and micro-irrigation projects were also recommended.
Predicting the consequences of potential shocks
A similar analysis may be conducted to predict the likely consequences of potential
shocks, rather than actual shocks.
In this case it would be termed scenario planning and in particular used to develop
contingency plans.
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
3. Risk and vulnerability reduction
A further application of vulnerability analysis is in guiding the design of interventions to
reduce people’s long-term vulnerability.
If we can reduce people’s exposure to risk or reduce their sensitivity to shocks and/or
strengthen their ability to manage risks, then the incidence and severity of future food
crises can be reduced.
In this context the emphasis is on analysing the causal factors underlying vulnerability to
food insecurity.
The focus here is on present livelihood characteristics, risks and interventions.
This analysis primarily supports recommendations for medium and longer-term
interventions to strengthen ex-ante risk management, in both development and emergency
programming.
VA can produce recommendations to minimize vulnerabilities by avoiding (prevention) or
limiting (mitigation and preparedness) the adverse impacts of shocks.
This analysis can be used to formulate, fine tune or review either programme or project
level activities or strategies and policies.
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Case study: Vulnerability Assessment in SahelIn 2005, there was a food crisis in the Sahel that highlighted the extent of the region’s
vulnerability. This increased international attention to the region and led to large sums of
money being provided to help those people survive the immediate crisis. However, several
agencies shared a concern that too much attention had been paid to the quite specific
situation and too little to the unacceptable and growing levels of vulnerability that pre-dated
the crisis and persisted afterwards.
Consequently the Sahel Working Group (an inter-agency group) conducted a study to
analyse how vulnerability is understood and addressed by development agencies and
government departments in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. The areas of investigation
included a theoretical examination of the way that vulnerability is understood, an analysis
of the root causes of vulnerability in the Sahel and an analysis of the impact of past aid
programmes on vulnerability. The methods used were primarily interviews and a review of
other studies.
The conclusions and recommendations were broad and long-term, with an emphasis on
finding ways of reversing the increasing vulnerability in the region. Specifically the
assessment called for:
a commitment to significant and sustained increases in funding for long-term
development, with less short-term emergency interventions;
support to maintain the mobility of pastoralists;
measures to reduce the impact of drought and improve the ability to manage the
impact of drought as part of development plans;
greater decentralization to improve accountability and representation of local interests
in decision-making.
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Risk management terms
The following are definitions of risk management terms:
Prevention: Measures designed to provide permanent protection or reduce the
likeliness or intensity of a hazardous event so it doesn’t become a disaster (e.g.
reforesting an unstable slope to prevent landslides).
Mitigation: Measures taken to respond to and manage a hazardous event. These
measures prepare people to react appropriately before, during and after the event (e.g.
temporary evacuation of people and property from threatened locations, insurance
against crop losses).
Coping: Measures taken to minimize the adverse impacts on communities or
households after a hazard has occurred (e.g. providing food assistance to assist
drought affected populations).
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Selecting the right method
The contrasting examples of vulnerability analysis given illustrate the tremendous diversity
of objectives and analytical approaches which fall under the umbrella of vulnerability
assessment.
Several points should be apparent about Vulnerability Assessment (VA):
Vulnerability Assessment is not a single method. This term can be used to describe a
large variety of methods that address one or more elements of the vulnerability
framework. The common characteristic is that it is a forward looking analysis.
Vulnerability Assessment is not necessarily a distinct analytical process. Elements of
vulnerability analysis may be incorporated into many tools, such as food security
baselines or early warning systems.
There is no such thing as a standard “vulnerability assessment methodology”. A multiplicity
of purposes for VA has resulted in a multiplicity of VA methods.
The question for a manager is how the idea of vulnerability can be applied to contribute
useful information to their decision making tasks.
See the Annex 1: Table comparing various tools for vulnerability assessment
In conducting a vulnerability assessment, the starting point should be clarity on the
purpose or objective, of the analysis.
From this it is possible to identify a typology of approaches to vulnerability assessment and
the methods that can be used.
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Table 2: Vulnerability Assessment Methods
Objective Uses VA Approach VA Methods
Early Warning System
To derive a qualitative understanding of the proper socioeconomic context for early warning indicator selection and use in the short term, typically within an agricultural season.
A historical analysis of patterns in food access and consumption, as well as the causal patterns of relationships between those outcomes and household risk exposure and risk management capacity.
Can be accomplished through a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods, including a simple narrative analysis or the use of statistical methods to derive explicit relationships between key variables.
Emergency Programming
To calculate the severity of acute short-term changes in food security outcomes across regions and socio-economic groups.
A comparison of historical patterns of food access and consumption to current levels, with less explicit emphasis on causal relationships.
Many use a combination of secondary quantitative indicators to construct current vulnerability indexes and field assessment methods, either formal, survey-based assessments, or rapid assessment methods that combine quantitative and qualitative information.
Risk and Vulnerability Reduction
To obtain an understanding of the causal structure of vulnerability, highlighting sources of risk and determinants of coping capacity in order to identify appropriate areas of short and medium term interventions to support sustainable reduction in transitory or chronic food insecurity.
An historical analysis of patterns in food access and consumption, as well as the causal patterns of relationships between those outcomes and household risk exposure and coping capacity.
Can be accomplished through a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods, including a simple narrative analysis or the use of statistical methods to derive explicit relationships between key variables.
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Ultimately the choice of vulnerability assessment method will depend on a variety of
institutional and technical considerations. These include:
1. Institutional issues Which institutions are participating in and responsible for the assessment?
What is their organizational mandate and response capacity?
What decisions need to be taken as a consequence of this assessment? – and when?
2. Technical issues What data and information is already available?
What financial resources are available (for secondary or primary data collection and
analysis)?
What skills do the analysts possess (for qualitative and quantitative methods of
enquiry)?
Existing VA methods have been developed to meet the specific information needs of the
various institutions involved.
Case study: How methods are adapted to institutional needsWithin the USAID Famine Early Warning Systems (FEWS) Project, VA was initially used to
help place its famine early warning indicators in their proper socioeconomic context, as a
means to improve the interpretation of those indicators.
However, the purpose of VA has evolved from:
developing a more informed basis for predicting severe episodes of food insecurity; to
targeting the most food insecure and vulnerable populations and monitoring their
situation over time.
Methods were explicitly chosen/developed to answer these questions.
Where national governments have different institutional structures and capacities, and
different information needs, the optimal approach to VA for national planning purposes
might be different, or encompass various aspects of the various methods developed to
date.
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
SummaryVulnerability Assessment can be used to describe an analysis of different parts of the overall problem of why people may become food insecure in the future.
Vulnerability analysis starts by assessing the current level of food security, and then incorporates the elements of risk and risk management into an analysis that is more forward-looking and dynamic.
The main applications of vulnerability analysis are to: provide a context for early warning; improve emergency response planning; and lead to long-term reductions vulnerability and food insecurity through
development interventions.
There is no one analysis approach or method, and the selection of an appropriate technique will depend on a mix of institutional and technical considerations.
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
If you want to know more
Online resources
Cannon, T, John Twigg and Jennifer Rowell. Social Vulnerability, Sustainable Livelihoods
and Disasters. Report to DFID Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance Department (CHAD)
and Sustainable Livelihoods Support Office.
(http://www.livelihoods.org/info/docs/vulnerability.doc)
World Food Programme (WFP). Vulnerability Analysis: Concepts and case studies in
emergency, recovery and development settings. 2004.
(http://www.foodsec.org/DL/course/shortcourseFV/en/pdf/Vulnerability_Analysis-
Some_Examples-Final.pdf)
Riely, F. 2000. FIVIMS synthesis document: a comparison of vulnerability analysis
methods and rationale for their use in different contexts.
(http://www.foodsec.org/DL/course/shortcourseFV/en/pdf/IAWG5-
12_Vulnerability_Analysis_Methods.pdf)
Christian Romer Lovendal and Macro Knowles, 2006. Tomorrow’s Hunger: A Framework for Analysing Vulnerability to Food Security.ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/008/af140e/af140e00.pdf
John Hoddinott and Agnes Quisumbing, 2003. Methods for Microeconometric Risk and Vulnerability Assessments.http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/otherpubs/spdp0324.htm
Additional reading
WFP. 2006. Emergency Food Security Assessment (EFSA) Far-west and Mid-west
drought – Nepal. Draft Report. May 2006.
FEWS NET. 2004. Djibouti Livelihood Profiles. October 2004
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Annex 1: Table comparing various tools for vulnerability assessmentTool Advantages Disadvantages Time
requiredResource requirements
Level of technical skill required
Degree of standardization with other measures
Best application in vulnerability analysis
Rapid assessments using participatory tools
Quick Many possible tools available according to the contextParticipatoryInclusive
Difficult to convert to quantitative data and so not easily integrated into quantitative data bases and not easily mapped
Low Low Relatively high in terms of participatory and facilitatory skills
None Livelihood baseline assessment
Key informant interviews
Quick Draws on local knowledge
Reliability depends on participants Only people with position in society included, excludes marginalized groupsAggregation difficulties
Low Low Relatively high in terms of participatory and facilitatory skills
None Baseline assessment for vulnerability and identification of vulnerable groups
Expert panels Quick May not be community people with real knowledge of the situation in the community or households
Low Low Relatively high in terms of participatory and facilitatory skills
None Baseline assessment for vulnerability and identification of vulnerable groups
Livelihoods analysis Quick ParticipatoryInclusive of community membersLocal knowledge
Difficult to convert to quantitative data and so not easily integrated into quantitative data bases Aggregation difficulties
Med Low Relatively high in terms of participatory, facilitatory and participatory methodologies
None but widely accepted
Baseline assessment for vulnerability and identification of vulnerable groups
Focus group discussions
Quick Many possible tools to select specific to the contextParticipatoryInclusive
Not converted to quantitative data Low Low Relatively high in terms of participatory, facilitatory and participatory methodologies
None Baseline assessment for vulnerability and identification of vulnerable groups
Household surveys Detailed informationRepresentative sampleQuantitative data for comparisons and statistical analysisMany variables can be included
Often too many variables included and there is difficulty in determining the best indicators for inclusion and analysis.Questions can miss critical issues.Can miss causal relations
High High High in terms of field work and analysis and management of large data bases.
High Baseline where no national statistics are available and continual assessment to create time-series data for comparisons.
Brainstorming sessions Quick Clarification of key vulnerability groups
Quality of data depends on who participates and on good facilitation.Not able to be included in
Low Low Relatively high in terms of participatory, and facilitatory skills
None but good as a base for triangulation
Triangulation with other methods
Learners’ Notes 23
Course - VulnerabilityLesson 2 - Vulnerability Assessment
Tool Advantages Disadvantages Time required
Resource requirements
Level of technical skill required
Degree of standardization with other measures
Best application in vulnerability analysis
quantitative dataNational surveys such as agricultural production, health, welfare etc.
If available, usually representative and large scale.Wide range of variables.Quantitative data for statistical analysis
Not specifically collected for vulnerability analysis and so can have missing indicators.Sometimes not able to be disaggregated at district levels.
High but low if already existing
Very high but if existing data used this is inexpensive.
Relatively high in terms of analysis.
Good Useful for secondary data sources for baselines
Census data If available, usually representative and large scale.May be available in time series.Wide range of variables.Quantitative data for statistical analysis
Not specifically collected for vulnerability analysis and so can have missing indicators.Sometimes not able to be disaggregated at district levels.Data sensitivity means sometime unwillingness to share.
High but low if already existing
Very high but if existing data used this is inexpensive.
Relatively high in terms of analysis
Good Useful for secondary data sources for baselines