Coping Strategies Index

5th - 9th December 2011, Rome

Objectives

Introduce the coping strategies index in both of its forms

Describe how it is calculated

Give examples of how it is used

What is the CSI? The Coping Strategies Index (CSI) is a simple and easy-to-

use indicator of household food security The CSI is based on a series of responses (strategies) to a

single question: “What do you do when you don’t have adequate food, and don’t have the money to buy food?”

The CSI combines: The frequency of each strategy (how many times was each

strategy was adopted?) Their severity (how serious is each strategy?)

Two types of CSI

Context-specific CSI • Develop a context-specific list of strategies• Identify context-specific severity scores (weights)• List of strategies should reflect what the households typically do in case of a

shortage of food• Severity weights for each strategy are identified through focus groups with

communities• It has been criticized for being relatively unhelpful in comparative anal

Reduced CSI• A standard short list of five coping strategies are asked• Standardized severity weights are applied• It is less valuable in identifying the most vulnerable households in a given

location. But it is very useful for comparing across countries and time because it focuses on the same set of behaviors.

Reduced CSI – questionnaire example

In the past 7 days, if you did not have enough food and were unable to buy food, how many times has your household had to:

Number of days

a. Rely on less preferred and less expensive foods? [____]

b. Borrow food or rely on help from a friend or relative? [____]

c. Limit portion size at mealtimes? [____]

d. Restrict consumption by adults in order for children to eat?

[____]

e. Reduce number of meals in a day? [____]

Reduced CSI - strategies and weights

Strategy Severity weight

Eating less preferred foods 1

Borrowing food or relying on help from friends and relatives

2

Limiting portion size at mealtime

1

Limiting adult intake in order for small children to eat

3

Reducing the number of meals per day

1

Extensive reseach demostrated that the “reduced” CSI reflects food insecurity nearly as well as the “full” or context-specific CSI

Reduced CSI – calculation example

In the past 7 days, if you did not have enough food and were unable to buy food, how many times has your household had to:

Number of days

Severity weight

Weighted score (number of days * weight)

a. Rely on less preferred and less expensive foods? 5 1 5

b. Borrow food or rely on help from a friend or relative? 2 2 4

c. Limit portion size at mealtimes? 7 1 7

d. Restrict consumption by adults in order for children to eat? 2 3 6

e. Reduce number of meals in a day? 5 1 5

Total Reduced CSI = 28

CSI role in the analysis

CSI is a proxy indicator for

household food security

It is a continuous variable and can be

used to compare means of groups

Households may be ranked and divided

into terciles (or other) to show which are the

worst off

Mean CSIDépartement CSI reduced (mean)

Nord-Ouest24.3

Nord25.9

Nord-est21.9

Artibonite21.4

Centre22.1

Ouest22.1

Grande-anse20.8

Nippes18.7

Sud23.7

Sud-est18.2

Total22.2

Consider the mean CSI across categories (provinces, livelihood groups, etc.)

Identify and report differences between means

Terciles of CSI

unskilled labor

livestock

remittances and gift

cash crops

food crops

handicrafts

petty trade

mining

fishing

other

salary and skilled labor

trading, commercial activities

% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

4.1%

5.7%

20.1%

13.8%

15.0%

13.5%

12.7%

10.8%

12.8%

17.9%

22.4%

24.5%

30.0%

12.3%

25.9%

31.2%

32.3%

26.5%

29.9%

38.0%

34.3%

32.1%

28.3%

24.0%

21.9%

42.5%

24.1%

25.8%

24.6%

32.4%

30.3%

26.8%

32.8%

30.1%

30.2%

34.1%

44.1%

39.5%

29.9%

29.2%

28.1%

27.6%

27.1%

24.4%

20.1%

19.9%

19.0%

17.3%

No coping employedLow copingMedium copingHigh coping

Prevalence of Coping Terciles

Combined Mean CSI and CSI Terciles

unskille

d labor

livest

ock

remittan

ces an

d gift

cash cr

ops

food crops

handicr

afts

petty t

rade

mining

fishing

other

salary

and sk

illed la

bor

trading,

commerc

ial ac

tivities

%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

.00

2.00

4.00

6.00

8.00

10.00

12.00

14.00

High copingMedium copingLow copingNo coping employedCSI - reduced (mean)

Prevalence of Coping Terciles

Mean CSI

CSI: trend analysis

Consider the mean CSI over time (seasonality, monitoring, etc)

Jan-09 Apr-09 Jul-09 Oct-09 Jan-10 Apr-10 Jul-10 Oct-10 Jan-11 Apr-11 Jul-110.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

14.0

non-beneficiariesbeneficiaries

Redu

ced

CSI

Questions?