Agile online platforms and virtual spaces for knowledge-sharing and convening
The Resilience Platform is an online inventory of resilience expertise (organizations, networks, solutions, stories and people) to help design, implement and evaluate the resilience components of development plans, policies and investments. This platform curates proven resilience knowledge, case studies and evidence.
The Resilience Platform is dynamically linked with SEI’s Connectivity Hub through the PLACARD tool – a pilot that is being expanded to partner platforms. The Connectivity Hub is currently dynamically linked various platforms such as WeAdapt, PreventionWeb, etc. to curate knowledge and evidence on Climate Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction. Linking the Resilience Platform to the Connectivity hub brings curated resilience knowledge and evidence to the hub as well.
The coalition is exploring the possibility of creating a virtual space to connect and interact with others to share, build on and amplify insights. The experience of the COVID-19 crisis will be used to ensure grassroots communities are involved and heard, and not “digitally excluded”.
This evaluation examined three interrelated samples to systematically assess a community-based, structural, multilevel health and development intervention implemented by CARE International-Malawi from January 2008 to December 2010. The intervention focused on improving farming practices and sustainable agriculture through Farmer Field Schools in over 9,000 households, increasing access to savings and investment through the formation of 443 Village Savings and Loans Groups (VS&L), building the capacity of local governance structures via training and meetings, and integrating HIV education and gender empowerment through training programs.
The study used a quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group design to compare intervention participants (n = 598) with individuals in unrelated programs in comparable geographical areas (control, n = 301). Participant interviews were conducted at baseline, 18 months, and 36 months to assess HIV vulnerability, health outcomes, food security, and economic vulnerability. The Generalised Estimating Equation method was used to control for repeated within-subject measurements, accommodating the varying number of observations across the longitudinal study.
Findings revealed that, compared to the control group, the intervention resulted in increased HIV testing and case finding, reduced food insecurity, enhanced nutritional diversity, and improved economic resilience to shocks. Most positive effects were sustained over the three-year period. While general improvements were observed in both intervention and control areas, only intervention participants demonstrated significantly better outcomes. Surveys of randomly selected households did not show significant differences in change over the three-year study, reinforcing the unique benefits of the targeted intervention for participants.
This paper examines the short-term impacts of a labor-intensive public works (PW) program on household welfare and economic prospects. PWs can offer economic opportunities to disadvantaged households by generating higher and more consistent incomes, even in the absence of negative events. According to the design of the project, the beneficiaries were entitled to a minimum of 50 days and a maximum of 75 days of work at a daily wage rate of Le 7,500, which was equivalent to approximately $1.80 at the time of the evaluation in 2012. The design also stipulated that the wage rate should be set lower than the market wage to discourage nonpoor applicants from participating; however, in practice, ad hoc market studies were used to determine the wage rate.
The researchers assessed the causal effects of PW in post-conflict Sierra Leone using a randomized control trial approach. The findings indicate that, in the short term, the impacts are due to an increase in economic activity within households. However, these increases go beyond the direct effects of program participation. In fact, participating in PW appears to significantly change the overall allocation of labor within households by encouraging non-participating members (those not engaged in PE) to engage in labor market activities. As a result, there is an increase in household spending on food and medicine. Treated households also show an increased participation in informal savings groups and make substantial investments in improving their homes and existing businesses. The most significant improvement in the productive capacity of poor households comes from investments in new businesses.
The research aims to examine the effects of unconditional cash grants on micro enterprises and their post-disaster recovery following Cyclone Idai in central Mozambique. The intervention specifically targeted informal businesses, which are not registered with any government agency. Informal enterprises are generally more susceptible to vulnerability compared to formal businesses due to their smaller size and lower performance.
Through the implementation of a randomized controlled trial, it was shown that cash grants had a positive impact on various aspects of firm performance, including income, profit, savings, and roof repair. In particular, the income returns of these grants were more pronounced in the city that experienced the greatest impact of Cyclone Idai, compared to the less affected location. This suggests that the availability of cash resources can significantly contribute to the recovery of businesses after a disaster. Specifically, one year after the cyclone and six months after the implementation of the grants, the firms that received treatment in the most affected area exhibited a monthly income that exceeded what would have been expected in the absence of such intervention. Furthermore, the treatment proved to be particularly effective for carpenters.
The objective of this study is to examine the effects of cash transfers in reducing the adverse consequences of weather shocks. The Child Grant Program (CGP) offers cash transfers to households living in extreme poverty. Through a randomized control trial and by considering rainfall shocks (variations in rainfall amounts compared to the lower limit of the confidence interval based on historical rainfall data), the researchers assess the influence of this intervention on household well-being and the ability to access food. Social protection programs play a crucial role in supporting individuals in dealing with increasingly frequent and long-lasting threats to their means of living. Social policies have proven to be beneficial in reducing both economic and social vulnerability, as well as enhancing resilience to weather-related risks. Although many social cash transfer programs in Sub-Saharan Africa are not explicitly aimed at helping households manage weather shocks, there are valid reasons to believe that they can contribute to building resilience to weather variability. This can be achieved through enhancements in human capital, enabling households to pursue different productive activities by alleviating financial constraints, promoting better management of natural resources, and fostering local economic development. They have defined rainfall shock as the deviation of the quantity of rainfall from the lower limit of the confidence bound calculated based on the average historical rainfall. They showed that in the model specification, the relationships between the rainfall shock variable and the dependent variables are consistently negative and statistically significant. This implies that a greater shortage of water leads to a worse household response in terms of welfare and food security.
The objective of this study is to examine the effects of a cash tranfer in isolated markets after a drought. the role of local food markets after weather shocks as a facilitating factor for program impacts on nutrition. As food prices tend to be negatively correlated with households’ own production in isolated markets, we expect the purchasing power of cash transfers to decrease after harvest failures in such markets. They used the Kenya's Hunger Safety Net Program (HSNP), an unconditional cash transfer intended to reduce malnutrition as well as poverty and food insecurity and to promote asset retention and accumulation. In terms of resilience, they seek to analyze the impact of the program on food expenditures and the availability of nutrients at household level during the extreme drought of 2011 in the horn of Africa. They analyze the role of local food markets as a mediating factor of program impacts after the drought.
To assess drought, they used the vegetation index. For vegetation conditions, they predicted treatment impacts at VCI-values between 0 (extreme drought) and 50 (normal vegetation conditions). The results showed no impact heterogeneity for food consumption, purchased food goods, and the satisfaction of nutrient requirements. Findings show positive impacts on households’ calorie intake after the exposure to an extreme drought that decline with improving vegetation conditions. The study assessed at the program impacts at different levels of market isolation for the sample of households that were affected by the drought in the follow up wave and those who experienced normal vegetation conditions in the month before the interview. For drought-affected households it showed positive impacts on calorie availability and the satisfaction of nutrient requirements in less isolated communities and larger impacts on the value of purchased foods in isolated communities.
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