Why is it some households fall into poverty at the same time others are escaping poverty? Evidence from Kenya

Presents study carried out to evaluate how different households have fared over time in the communities. The aim of the study was to determine the proportions of households that Why is it some households fall into poverty at the same time others are escaping poverty? The study presents results from a study of poverty dynamics across Kenya using a participatory poverty assessment methodology known as the ‘Stages of Progress Methodology.’ This method is a relatively rapid, effective and participatory way to learn about poverty processes at both community and household levels. The approach generates very useful information for identifying the poor, and for understanding the factors that push people into and pull them out of poverty. Using this methodology, the typical stages through which people progress out of poverty were elicited for 71 Kenyan communities and 4773 households. The discussion of the different stages, and the order in which they occur, provoked lively debate among assembled villagers. The findings show that in virtually all 71 communities, house-holds progress out of poverty first by acquiring food, followed by obtaining adequate clothing, making improvements in their shelter, securing primary education for their children, starting small businesses. The paper presents the results of recent investigations, carried out specifically to gain knowledge about the reasons underlying poverty. Reasons for escape and reasons for descent operating in each livelihood region of Kenya were identified through a careful examination of poverty dynamics

Poverty dynamics and the role of livestock in the Peruvian Andes

Livestock play an important role for poor rural households in regions such as the Peruvian Andes. Research methods leading to a better understanding of the role of livestock in household poverty dynamics, and what better targeted policies and interventions may enhance that role, however, are not readily available. We utilized multiple methods, including Stages-of-Progress and household surveys, which gave us a combination of qualitative and quantitative results. We examined how over the last 10 and 25 years households have moved into and out of poverty in 40 rural communities in two different highland regions of Peru. We also examined the role played in these movements by different livestock assets and strategies. We found a significant number of households had escaped poverty, while at the same time many households have fallen into poverty. The reasons for movements up versus down are not the same, with different strategies and policies needed to address escapes versus descents. Diversification of income through livestock and intensification of livestock activities through improved breeds has helped many households escape poverty and this method allowed us to explore what exactly this means in the diverse areas studied. These findings can contribute to better targeted livestock-related research and development strategies and policies, not only in Peru, but in other regions where similar livelihood strategies are being pursued

Pathways out of poverty in western Kenya and the role of livestock

A community-based methodology called the ‘stages of progress’ approach was used to assess household poverty dynamics in 20 communities and for over 1,700 households representing two different ethnic groups in Western Kenya. The objectives of the study were to obtain a better understanding of households’ pathways into, and out of, poverty, with poverty defined from the communities’ own perspective. The proportion of households that have managed to escape poverty over the last 25 years was ascertained, as well as the proportion of households that have fallen into poverty during the same period. The major reasons for movements into or out of poverty were elicited at both the community and household-level, and in particular, the role that livestock play in the different pathways was examined.Ten communities in Vihiga District and ten in Siaya District were included in the study. Vihiga District (Western Province), with an extremely high population density of 886 persons per square km, has seen average farm sizes steadily declining to a current 0.5 ha. Poverty rates here are amongst the highest in Kenya, rising from 53 percent in 1994 to 58 percent in 1999. HIV prevalence rates rose from 12 percent in 1994 to 25 percent in 2000. In Siaya District (Nyanza Province), with a lower population density of 316 persons per square km, 47 percent of the population fell below the rural poverty line in 1994, increasing to 64 percent in 1999. While average farm sizes are higher in Siaya, most of them are located on lower potential agricultural land than that found in Vihiga. Most of Siaya’s population depends on small-scale agriculture (mainly subsistence crop farming), local businesses, livestock production and fishing. Siaya has the highest levels of HIV prevalence and HIVrelated sickness and death rates in Kenya, rising from 14 percent in 1994 to 27 percent in 2000. Key to the approach used was to define with the participating communities a common understanding of poverty. What, for example, does an extremely poor household do when a little bit of money becomes available to the household? Which expenses are usually the first to be incurred? As a little more money flows in, what does this household do in the second stage? The third stage? And so on. Discussions of these questions provoked lively debate among assembled villagers followed by high levels of consensus as to the successive stages of household progress from acute poverty to economic self-reliance. Most interesting was the broad agreement across nearly all villages on the sequence of these stages. The results show that households, as they climb out of poverty, typically first acquire food, then (in the following order) clothes, shelter, primary education for their children, and small animals including chickens, sheep and goats. Beyond these initial stages of progress, households are no longer considered poor. A remarkably similar understanding of poverty exists within the different villages and across the two main ethnic groups found in Vihiga and Siaya Districts of western Kenya. In almost all the villages, purchasing local cattle came in the first stage beyond the poverty threshold drawn by the villagers. Community members were then asked to describe each current household in the village in terms of whether they were above or below that poverty line 25 years ago (a full generation) and today. The Pathways out of Poverty in Western Kenya and the Role of Livestock 2 reasons why particular households had moved into or out of poverty were discussed at the community-level and followed up in more detail with individual households. The field researchers conducting this study received considerable facilitation training towards delving in detail into the reasons, many of which are ‘nested’ or linked, for household movements into and out of poverty. The results show considerable movement over the last 2½ decades by households in this region both into and out of poverty, and the main reasons behind households’ escape from poverty are completely different (i.e. not merely the opposite) from the reasons for descent into poverty, and hence have different policy implications. In Vihiga District, 27 percent of households managed to escape from poverty in the last 25 years, while 11 percent fell into poverty at the same time. In Siaya District, only 8 percent of households managed to climb out of poverty, while 29 percent became impoverished during the same period. A similar set of reasons for these movements, while varying slightly from village to village, was found to be broadly shared among all the study villages. Most households (73 percent) in both districts that escaped poverty over the last 25 years did so because they diversified their income sources when a household member obtained a job in the urban formal or informal sector. Over 80 percent of these jobs (accounting for a total of 61 percent of successful escapes) were found within the private sector. Of the households that escaped poverty, a major reason for 57 percent of those that did so was by diversifying on-farm income through cash crop production. These households were able to produce and consistently sell either surplus food crops (sorghum, maize, bananas) or cash crops (tea, sugarcane, rice). In 42 percent of the cases, households that had escaped poverty diversified their on-farm incomes through livestock, ranging from poultry to dairy animals. Diversification of income sources through livestock farming emerged as a particularly important strategy for escaping poverty in Vihiga District. Poor health and health-related expenses were the principal reasons overwhelmingly cited as responsible for households declining into poverty in both Districts (cited by 73 percent of households that had fallen into poverty). Following these were heavy funeral expenses, particularly the slaughter of a household’s livestock assets, mentioned in 63 percent of the cases. Over half of households cited low levels of education within the household as another critical factor in explaining why they became poor. The striking importance of health and health-related problems and expenses in poverty status is also seen in India and in other areas of western Kenya and Tanzania. The devastating loss of livestock assets due to funerals is also found in other African countries such as Madagascar and Zambia. And the critical importance of non-farm income diversification in pathways out of poverty has been highlighted in many other studies across Africa. The findings of this study have implications in terms of what has been referred to as ‘cargo net’ versus ‘safety net’ interventions. Cargo nets help poor people climb out of poverty; safety nets stop people from falling into poverty. Redistributive programs to build up the assets of poor people (such as giving heifers to poor households) may be effective in achieving long-term reductions in chronic poverty, but will have to be complemented by safety net policies. The results of the study suggest that the most important safety nets required by poor households in western Kenya are those that help protect the health and improve the education of community members. This study has highlighted the key role that livestock play in both pathways into and out of poverty. On-farm diversification of income sources away from a sole reliance on crops through investment in chickens, sheep, goats and/or cattle helped many of the households in the study escape poverty. Given that investment in large animal stock is typically beyond the means of the poorest households, this finding suggests that projects that provide a heifer or a loan to buy a sheep or goat, for example, could provide a one-time transfer sufficiently substantial to help households lift themselves out of poverty. Such livestock acquisitions, however, must be accompanied by policies and interventions that reduce the risks associated with keeping farm animals alive and productive in Pathways out of Poverty in Western Kenya and the Role of Livestock 3 harsh environments. And without safety net strategies aimed at the huge health and education constraints facing these communities, livestock-related investment strategies may well fail. To open up opportunities for poor households to benefit from livestock even more than they do now, problems of poor roads and market infrastructure, widespread insecurity and high and multiple animal disease risks will have to be addressed. The potential for dairy enterprises in particular would be much larger if some of these risks were lowered. These are areas where local, regional and national authorities have an obvious role to play. Improving access to appropriate information regarding livestock management and disease strategies is an area where research organisations can help

CCAFS Site Portfolio: Core Sites in the CCAFS Regions: East Africa, West Africa and South Asia

The CGIAR Research Program Climate Change, Agriculture, Food Security (CCAFS) is a 10-year research initiative launched by CGIAR and the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP). CCAFS seeks to overcome the threats to agriculture and food security in a changing climate, exploring new ways of helping vulnerable rural communities adjust to global changes in climate. CCAFS brings together the world’s best researchers in agricultural science, development research, climate science, and Earth System science to identify and address the most important interactions, synergies and trade- offs between climate change, agriculture and food security. CCAFS also involves farmers, policy makers, donors, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders to integrate their knowledge and needs into the tools and approaches that are being developed. The overall goal of CCAFS is to overcome the additional threats posed by a changing climate to achieving food security, enhancing livelihoods and improving environmental management. In 2010/2011, CCAFS initially focused on three regions: East Africa (EA), West Africa (WA) and South Asia (SA). Two additional target regions (Southeast Asia and Latin America) were added in late 2012. This report outlines the site selection process of current and future sites and provides a brief overview of the initially selected CCAFS sites

Measuring how communication and engagement efforts help deliver outcomes

Key messages Initial steps towards outcome-focused monitoring, evaluation & learning (MEL) on communication and engagement can be small, but they must be systematic. To achieve broad participation, MEL needs to be lean and do-able. Well-designed MEL adds value by feeding information and lessons into future work and decision-making. Adequate time must be devoted to embedding MEL into the initial activity plan and following it throughout the communication engagement activity and afterwards. MEL is easier when it is done more often. It is helpful to draw upon resource persons. Preparatory work and capturing feedback through mechanisms built into the communication- engagement activity is more informative than soliciting responses afterwards. Peer exchanges about MEL practices and adaptable templates are beneficial. Aligning specific communication activities with the established impact pathway can ensure more strategic and focused activities and products that contribute to outcomes and impact

Promosi Kesehatan dan Perilaku Kesehatan

Promosi kesehatan masih menjadi primadona dan strategi kunci upaya kesehatan dalam peningkatan kesehatan individu, keluarga ataupun komunitas. Hal tersebut dapat dilakukan dalam semua rentang kehidupan, dalam rentang sehat-sakit dan di berbagai tatanan. Promosi kesehatan tidak hanya berfokus meningkatkan kesehatan melalui perubahan perilaku namun juga mengoptimalkan seluruh faktor yang memengaruhi (determinan) kesehatan untuk turut mendukung peningkatan kesehatan. Optimalisasi peran determinan sosial kesehatan dalam peningkatan kesehatan menjadi fokus program Healthy People 2030. Keterkaitan konsep, teori dan aplikasi mengenai Promosi Kesehatan dan Perilaku Kesehatan dibahas secara komprehensif dan disusun menjadi 11 bab, yaitu: 1. Konsep dan Perkembangan Promosi Kesehatan 2. Konsep Perilaku Kesehatan 3. Determinan Perilaku Kesehatan 4. Model-Model Promosi Kesehatan 5. Ruang Lingkup dan Prinsip Promosi Kesehatan 6. Tiga Level Pencegahan Pada Berbagai Tatanan 7. Strategi Promosi Kesehatan 8. Pendidikan Kesehatan 9. Metode dalam Promosi Kesehatan 10. Pengembangan Media dalam Promosi Kesehatan 11. Program Promosi Kesehatan di Indonesia dan Duni

Rwanda Climate Services for Agriculture: Evaluation of farmers’ awareness, use and impacts

Climate services are important in helping smallholder farmers manage climate-related risks and adapt to climate change, especially for rainfed agricultural production systems. In order to increase the resilience of farmers to the changing climate in Rwanda, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded a four-year project—Rwanda Climate Services for Agriculture (RCSA) from 2016 to 2019. Through the project, climate services were disseminated directly to more than 111,000 farmers in four provinces across Rwanda through Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA), Radio Listeners Clubs (LCs) and cell phones; as well as broadcast by a radio network accessible to about 70% of the population. This report presents analyses of the project end-line survey of 1525 households, sampled across 15 of Rwanda’s 30 districts, in order to assess the influence of PICSA training and LCs on awareness, access and uptake of climate services by smallholder farmers; and their impact on household welfare (i.e., crop productivity, income, food security) on a quasi-experimental sampling design with a non-participant control sample. Analyses show that farmers use climate services to make decisions on the types of crops to grow (75%), the types of crop varieties to plant (58%), timing of planting and land preparation (75%) and when and how to prepare land (65%). Participation in PICSA and LCs, alone and in combination, is associated with a substantial increase in the proportion of farmers that report changing crop, livestock and livelihood management practices in response to weather and climate information. Relative to the control, PICSA participation increased the value of crop production by 24%, and income from crops by 30%. The combination of PICSA and LCs was associated with a 47% increase in the value of crop production, and a 56% increase in income from crops

The climate-smart village approach: Framework of an integrative strategy for scaling up adaptation options in agriculture

Increasing weather risks threaten agricultural production systems and food security across the world. Maintaining agricultural growth while minimizing climate shocks is crucial to building a resilient food production system and meeting developmental goals in vulnerable countries. Experts have proposed several technological, institutional, and policy interventions to help farmers adapt to current and future weather variability and to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This paper presents the climate-smart village (CSV) approach as a means of performing agricultural research for development that robustly tests technological and institutional options for dealing with climatic variability and climate change in agriculture using participatory methods. It aims to scale up and scale out the appropriate options and draw out lessons for policy makers from local to global levels. The approach incorporates evaluation of climate-smart technologies, practices, services, and processes relevant to local climatic risk management and identifies opportunities for maximizing adaptation gains from synergies across different interventions and recognizing potential maladaptation and trade-offs. It ensures that these are aligned with local knowledge and link into development plans. This paper describes early results in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to illustrate different examples of the CSV approach in diverse agroecological settings. Results from initial studies indicate that the CSV approach has a high potential for scaling out promising climate-smart agricultural technologies, practices, and services. Climate analog studies indicate that the lessons learned at the CSV sites would be relevant to adaptation planning in a large part of global agricultural land even under scenarios of climate change. Key barriers and opportunities for further work are also discussed