Reduced Coping Strategies Index (rCSI) Needs Assessments.pptx

Reduced Coping Strategies Index (rCSI) Needs Assessments , questionnaire design guide, and analysis information

1. The audience of this PowerPoint can range from enumerators to RAM and Programme staff in various offices. It can also be used for the training of partners or service providers. Slide sections have been inserted to assist in the selection of material. AUDIENCE

2. Reduced Coping Strategies Index ( rCSI ) Needs Assessments & Targeting Unit 2023 February

3. Introduction

4. Discuss the objectives of the module, i.e., to gain information on the reduced or consumption-based coping strategies applied by households in the targeted population. Explain the role of this indicator in food insecurity figures and the use of information, internally and externally. This gives the enumerators a clear understanding of the importance of the data they would be soon collecting. RCSI: training instructions 1

5. The reduced Coping Strategies Index , also called Consumption-based CSI, is used to assess a household’s stress level due to a food shortage. The rCSI measures behavioural strategies that people apply when they cannot access enough food or when they foresee a decrease in food security. The rCSI contains five standard strategies – facilitating the comparison over space, time and between groups. The rCSI is highly correlated with other food security proxy indicators, including the Food Consumption Score , and Vitamin A, Protein-rich and Hem Iron intake . RCSI: What is it?

6. The rCSI can be used in a range of ways, including for programme activity monitoring, determining the food security situation, and population-level targeting. The rCSI indicator plays a part in classifying households according to their level of food security, through Consolidated Approach for Reporting on food Insecurity (CARI) . This rCSI is one of the food security outcome indicators in the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) acute food insecurity reference table . RCSI: USEs OF this indicator

7. The reduced Coping Strategies Module

8. Note how the main question is worded. The question is referring to the number of days where the household applied each of the coping strategies. Be sure the question includes a recall period of 7 days and not “last week”. We are always asking about the same period beginning from today and counting backwards (i.e., “the last 7 days” not “the past week,” or “last week”). Interviewees could get confused if the timeframe is not specific. rcsi : training instructions 2

9. RCSI MODULE: MAIN QUESTION The rCSI module asks how many days , in the last 7 days , did your households cope by relying on the following strategies due to a lack of food or money to buy it .

10. Rcsi : strategy 1 After experiencing a shock, households may change their diet. For instance, households might switch food consumption from preferred foods to cheaper, less preferred substitutes. DIETARY CHANGE

11. Rcsi : strategy 1 PROBING example Probing questions should be applied during interviews to better understand unusual household coping behaviour . For example, if a household reported relying on less preferred and less expensive food daily in the past 7 days, then probe: “Is this commonly done by your household?” “And how does this compare with the most recent shock?"

12. Rcsi : strategy 1 (CONTINUED) If a household is used to buying a specific quality of foods such as vegetables and fruits, but due to lack of money, the household had to purchase less fresh or poor-quality as it is the cheapest. If a household does not prefer a specific type of food and they do not like to eat it at all but had to due to a shortfall in food or money, then this strategy can be considered as applied. If a household is buying the cheapest and low-quality foods as normal practice or out of lack of knowledge about healthy habits (not due to food shortages), then it is NOT considered a strategy. DIETARY CHANGE

13. Rcsi : strategy 2 Second, a household can attempt to increase its food supplies using short-term strategies that are not sustainable over a long period. Typical examples include borrowing or purchasing on credit. INCREASING FOOD AVAILABILITY

14. Rcsi : strategy 2 PROBING example If a household reported borrowing food or relying on help from friends or relatives in the past 7 days, then probe: “What was the main reason for this?”

15. Rcsi : strategy 2 (CONTINUED) If a household reported having to rely on this strategy in the last 7 days due to their inability to acquire food during this time, then this household had relied on this strategy. If a household had to borrow some vegetables from a neighbour or friend because she has forgotten to buy them from the store, then it is NOT considered a strategy. DIETARY CHANGE

16. Rcsi : strategy 3 Third, if the available food is still inadequate to meet needs, households can try to reduce the number of eaten per day. For example, combining breakfast and lunch. MANAGING AVAILABLE FOOD

17. Rcsi : strategy 3 PROBING example If a household reported reducing the number of meals in the last 7 days, then probe: “ What is the usual number of meals that your household consumes?” "What was the reason behind this?”

18. Rcsi : strategy 3 (CONTINUED) If a household used to eat 3 meals a day in recent times, but due to lack of food and money, they had to eat 2 meals on any of the days within the last 7 days, then this strategy was applied. If a household reduced the number of meals due to health issues or diet, then is strategy is NOT considered as applied. If a household ate fewer meals in the past 7 days during a fasting period, and not due to lack of food or money to buy food, this should NOT be counted. MANAGING AVAILABLE FOOD

19. Rcsi : strategy 4 Fourth, and most commonly, households can attempt to manage the shortfall by rationing the food available to them by cutting the portion size of meals. This allows them to stretch out the available food. MANAGING AVAILABLE FOOD

20. Rcsi : strategy 4 PROBING example For example, if a household reported reducing the portion size of meals within the last 7 days, then probe: “Is it the usual portion of food that the household used to consume?” “Have you reduced the portion of food because of lack of food or money?”

21. Rcsi : strategy 4 (CONTINUED) If a household used to cook and eat 5 cups of rice, but due to lack of food and money, they had to cook 3 cups of rice then the household had coped. If the household reduced the portion of staples in their household, due to health reasons, or because they are on diet, then the strategy is NOT considered as used. MANAGING AVAILABLE FOOD

22. Rcsi : strategy 5 Fifth, and the most severe of all reduced coping strategies is the reduction in quantities consumed by adults/mothers to leave enough food for young children in the household. MANAGING AVAILABLE FOOD

23. Rcsi : strategy 5 PROBING example For example, if a household reported restricting consumption in the past 7 days, to allow small children to eat, then probe: “Do you have young children in your households?” “What was the reason behind this?”

24. Rcsi : strategy 4 (CONTINUED) If the household does not have young children, the answer should be zero. If adults within the household, such as mothers, do this out of normal practice and did not lack food then the household did not apply this strategy. MANAGING AVAILABLE FOOD

25. SEVERITY Weights

26. rcsi : severity weights The frequency of each strategy is multiplied by the standard weights (based on the well-established perceived severity of each behaviour ), and this is summed up across all the coping behaviours . How “severe” is each of these individual coping strategies considered to be? This information was collected from community-level focus groups to help in setting the weights.

27. How do they all come together?

28. rcsi : CALCULATION Multiply the value obtained for each strategy by its weight and sum the weighted scores, thus creating the reduced Coping Strategies Index. During the last 7 days , were there days (and, if so, how many) when your household had to employ one of the following strategies (to cope with a lack of food or money to buy it)?   READ OUT STRATEGIES   Weight      Frequency (number of days from 0 to 7)       Frequency x weight 1. Relied on less preferred, less expensive food 1 | _5_ | 5 2. Borrowed food or relied on help from friends or relatives 2 | _2_ | 4 3. Reduced the number of meals eaten per day 1 | _5_ | 5 4. Reduced portion size of meals 1 | _7_ | 7 5. Restricted consumption by adults in order for small children to eat 3 | _2_ | 6 rCSI 27

29. Enumerator’s Quality Checks

30. Enumerator’s notes Enumerators and field supervisors should take notes about any irregular consumption-based coping patterns that may stand out during the pilot or actual data collection phases.  Enumerators’ notes should be presented and discussed during debriefing sessions, along with observational information.

31. Module Design

32. RCSI: Survey Designer rCSI Codebook (Survey Designer)

33. RCSI: Survey Designer

34. RCSI: Module design When designing your questionnaire, including the rCSI module, please refer to the Survey Designer as it offers the WFP’s standard modules in XLSform and word formats. Additional consumption-based coping strategies can be included but the core module must reflect the standard main question and strategies. If you have to rely on data collection tools and platforms that do not support XLSforms then you must replicate the standard module correctly, including the visibility and validation constraints.

35. Data quality checks

36. Quality check examples Run simple frequencies of each strategy variable to help understand the patterns. For example, this could show the stress level faced by the target population, thus their response to cope with a crisis/shock. Or could show improvements due to seasonality or provision of assistance. Closely examine data to highlight and resolve any errors or inconsistencies. This includes checking the data for missing, inconsistent, out-of-range values, spelling mistakes, and erroneous categorizations.    Compare the mean rCSI and the mean number of days of consumption of the different food items/groups by enumerator, administrative levels and/or stratum , to detect unusual values/results.

37. rCSI : descriptives and frequencies Closely examine the data records to highlight and resolve any errors or inconsistencies by running descriptive analyses (frequencies, min, max, mean, mode) on each of the variables in the rCSI section. This includes checking rCSI data for missing values, inconsistencies, and out-of-range values (when 0-7 constraints hadn't been set). Secondly, understanding the spread of variance by graphing the distribution in the dataset.   

38. rCSi : descriptives and frequencies example DESCRIPTIVES VARIABLES= rCSILessQlty rCSIBorrow rCSIMealNb rCSIMealSize rCSIMealAdult /STATISTICS=MEAN STDDEV MIN MAX. Descriptive Statistics   N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation rCSILessQlty 6858 7 2.86 2.495 rCSIBorrow 6847 7 1.08 1.603 rCSIMealNb 6847 7 0.96 1.487 rCSIMealSize 6847 7 0.88 1.506 rCSIMealAdult 6846 7 0.54 1.182 Valid N (listwise) 6845        

39. rCSi : descriptives and frequencies example FREQUENCIES VARIABLES= rCSILessQlty /HISTOGRAM NORMAL /ORDER=ANALYSIS. Repeat this step for all consumption-based strategies

40. rCSi : examine data/zero values Unusual zero values or high values, whether across cases or strategies must be investigated at both the dataset level and field levels. Analyze this data by enumerators' IDs and HH demo info. Make a judgement call on the data quality after investigating such red flags.

41. rCSi : examine data /correlations Investigate with other highly correlated indicators such as FCS. e.g., relying on less expensive and/or less preferred food was applied heavily by households. This may be true, or the question may have been misunderstood by enumerators or respondents. Again, make a judgement call on the data quality after investigating such red flags.

42. rcsi : examine data /correlations Investigate with other highly correlated indicators such as FCS. e.g., HHs with high rCSI and high FCS

43. FCS: examine data /correlations Investigate with other highly correlated indicators such as FCS. e.g., HHs with low rCSI and low FCS Again, make a judgement call on the data quality after investigating such red flags.

44. rCSi : Data cleaning/Missing & out-of-range values In case the questionnaire/database was not programmed correctly, a larger amount of missing data or nonresponse rates should be anticipated, hence appropriate measures to address the missing and out-of-range data should be considered such as case trimming or imputation depending on the amount of data missing. Depending on the size of data with issues, options are: In the case of missing values, do not replace them but drop such cases from your analysis. In case of more than 7 values (days of coping) trim the values down to 7 days.

45. Analysis

46. rCSi : Survey Designer Survey Designer Find the latest standard rCSI module in XLSform on

47. rCSi : GITHUB GitHub WFP RAM Find the SPSS, STATA and R scripts on

48. Reporting

49. RCSI: REPORTING EXAMPLE

50. RCSI: REPORTING EXAMPLE

51. RCSI: REPORTING EXAMPLE

52. Available Resources

53. rCSi : VAM Resource Centre  rCSI (Resource Centre) For more information and guidance go to

54. Thank You!