I try to assess the vulnerability to water scarcity in a semi-arid environment on the household level (smallholders). For analyzing people's capacity to cope, I would like to follow the 'Household Economy Approach'. Does anyone have experience in carrying out HEA surveys in the field?
http://www.heawebsite.org/about-household-economy-approach
Sorry dear Robert, I dont have. but send me your email , will get some materials for you. is that okay
Dear Robert, have not used this approach in the field, but have found the detailed stats the HEA generates quite helpful in understanding - for example - the proportions of HHs in a given region at different levels of asset wealth, and the typical ways these different groups of HHs get by. Save the Children's in Ethiopia's Southern Region, now about 8 years old, is a good example. What I take from it is that, for a HEA to be meaningful, it needs to have fairly finely-grained detail: there were around 18 different farming systems identified in this one region, each requiring detailed breakdowns of the crops, livelihood activities, wealth groups, nutritional status, etc etc. Once the data are in, then the HEA certainly has been used for modelling scenarios of disaster response, (see link 1), or for water stress (e.g. Coulter et al, attached).
I doubt, however, that such aggregate data, plus modelling, really helps us understand adaptive capacity for the future. Many factors will affect this which can change quickly, or work at very local scales, and are not so amenable to collection through a baseline survey. E.g. access to innovation (alternate crop repertoires, for ex), the quality of information exchange, the dynamics of resource access (& disputes), intra-household dynamics, and so on. Put more simply, it's not just material resources, measured by HEA, that affect adaptive capacity, but many aspects in the social and political realm which also shape peoples' options, and their ability to innovate and adapt.
The HEA can be useful, but it depends on your purposes. In my view, understanding capacities best start from actors' perspectives. hope this is helpful, Shawn
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/226157/TEERR_Ethiopia_Report.pdf
For me, HEA seems to be to close to Disaster Risk/Crisis Management from a local point of view and emergency scale instead of long-term analysis combining different scales. As Shaw McGuire argues individual and familial decisions are shaped in collective structures of power and social dependance (such as merchants-producers relations in rural areas). Unfortunately HEA doesnt put the emphasis on political topics.
A good concept is the sustainable livelihoods appraoch, which can be used to easily define indicators and compare communities.
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