RAPID FS ASSESSMENT GUIDELINE

ACEH, INDONESIA. FEB 2005

General objectives:

  • Assess the impact of the tsunami/earthquake on food security of the populations and their capacity of recovery
  • Contribute to defining a mid-term food security strategy for ACF in Aceh (phasing out of general food distributions, targeting of food aid, reconstruction/rehabilitation strategy and identification of potential FS activities – first step, more detailed assessments will be necessary)

Specific objectives:

  • Identify a typology of populations depending on their vulnerability
  • Evaluate the population structure and availability of labour force, and the existence of traditional social organisation and leadership
  • Identify the on-going population movements and their causes
  • Analyse how people meet their food needs, through an understanding of their household economy:
  • Assess the availability of, and access to, food
  • Identify the main sources of income and food and their current viability
  • Understand the existing coping mechanisms
  • Evaluate the different opportunities to access income and food in the short- and medium-term
  • Determine the type and access to external aid
  • Assess the existing commercial networks and supply channels
  • Evaluate the nutritional status of the population and the impact of the tsunami/earthquake on the care practices
  • Assess the access to potable water

Methodology:

  • Semi-structured interviews with local and displaced populations and key informants
  • Observation (esp. nut status, if screening not organised)
  • Market survey/Food basket price survey

Identification of assessed areas:

The assessment will be done in ACF food aid intervention areas in Aceh Jaya and Aceh Barat districts. Sub-districts along the coast in Aceh Jaya have been equally affected by the tsunami, but a typology can be distinguished moving inland from the coast, using two main indicators: (i) destruction, and (ii) types of population, as synthesised in the table below.

Level of destruction
/
Type of population
Totally destroyed / Only IDPs
Partially destroyed / IDPs and local population
Not affected / Only local population

Nine theoretical situations can be identified (3 levels of destruction*3 types of population), but only four are commonly in the field:

-Totally destroyed areas with only IDPs (including resettled and returnees[1])

-Partially destroyed areas with both IDPs and local population

-Non-destroyed areas with both IDPs and local population

-Non-destroyed areas with only local population

One representative village will be visited in each of the four zones in Jaya, Krueng Sabe and Teunom sub-districts (4 per sub-district in 3 sub-districts, total 12 villages). Calang area (district administrative centre, totally destroyed) and the village in Teunom, where there are only returnees, will be assessed separately as special cases (Total: 14 villages). An assessment will also be conducted in Samatiga or Wyola sub-districts. These areas are more peri-urban and less isolated (road access to Meulaboh) and may represent other problematiques than the zones mentioned above, and hence an assessment is needed.

Note:

Some questions are pertinent for IDPs, some for returnees, some for host communities. *

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INTERVIEW GUIDELINE

General

Name of village, sub-district, district

Relative wealth of village before tsunami/earthquake

Date

Topography

Type of focus group

Demography and social organisation

Current population

Population before tsunami/earthquake

Current number of HH

Number of HH before tsunami/earthquake

Gender and age distribution. How did the tsunami/earthquake affect this?

Current proportion of working aged population

Proportion of working aged population before tsunami/earthquake

Community hierarchy or organisation (How are community decisions made, are there any user committees established etc?) Impact of the tsunami/earthquake?

Are there many orphans? How are they taken care of?

General impact of the tsunami/earthquake

Estimate roughly the level of destruction (25%, 75%, totally destroyed…)

Which assets remain?

What type of populations were the most affected? Why?

Proportion affected vs non-affected population (%)

  • Loss of housing
  • Loss of main livelihood (main source of income)
  • Loss of head of family
  • Loss of working aged people
  • % HH affected by all these ( i.e. HH with destructed housing and main livelihoods, and loss of working aged people and head of family
  • % HH affected by two of the first three

% of population

  • living in own houses (without IDPs)
  • temporary shelters/camps
  • with host families (not host families themselves)
  • host families

Population movements

What were the population movements immediately after the tsunami/earthquake?

Currently, are there any population movements taking place? If yes, what? From where to where? Who is moving? Why? For how long do you think these movements will take place (projections?)? Why?

Make a map of population movement since the tsunami/earthquake and distinguish times (see example of thematic map in annex. Idea is to understand the global picture (e.g. all village names are not needed) in the whole sub-district by combining the information obtained in different villages).

Have you already visited your village of origin? If so, describe.

Resettlement camps?

Sources of food

How do you normally get food? Through own production, purchase, gathering/wild foods etc? (All sources, e.g. veggies from own production, noodles through purchase, rice from neighbouring villages…)

How do you get food now? (All sources as above, e.g. noodles from distributions, vegetables from own production, bananas through purchase from neighbouring villages etc) What are the main difficulties to get food at the moment?

Have any new ways to get food emerged after the tsunami/earthquake (coping mechanisms)? If yes, what? Do they have negative effects? What? On who?

During a normal year, is access to food affected seasonally? If yes, how and why? What are the ‘lean’ months? (Make a seasonal calendar if it helps you)

External aid

Have you received any aid during the last month (food, NFI, medical…)? What? From who? For how long? When did you last receive aid? (List organisation, type of assistance and number of beneficiaries)

Trade, markets and supply of food (focus on staple foods)

Is there any trade in the village, especially food and other basic items? Since when? If not, where is the closest market?

Is the supply adequate? If not, why? What is available?

Where do the foods come from? Where are the main markets in the area? Make a map of current and pre-tsunami/earthquake food supply/trade links (Note reasons for rupture). See example in annex.

Current and pre-tsunami/earthquake prices of basic food items, availability and origin (See market survey sheet, separate document)

If produce of the village is sold: producer prices (farm-gate prices)

During a normal year, is trade affected seasonally? How, when and why?

Sources of income

What are the main sources of income normally? Rank in order of importance and establish % of population involved.

  • Agriculture
  • Livestock
  • Fishing
  • Debt (from who, how to pay back, interest, guarantee?)
  • Sale of assets (what, how often, to who, why?)
  • IGA/industry (specify type)
  • Trade
  • Remittance/migration labour (how many times/year, destination?)
  • Wage/labour contracts (specify type)
  • Other

Do HH normally have more than one source income? If yes, what and how?

How did the tsunami/earthquake affect the sources of income/food? (Differentiate between immediate impact and a mid/long term impact on each source – note impact on productive capital/means of production) Which sources are the most affected? How? Why? What kind of populations are the most affected?

Are you going to re-establish the affected sources? How? How long will this take? What are the main constraints to re-establish the activity? If some sources of income will not be re-established, why?

Have new sources of income emerged? What? Who benefits of these? Do these have any negative effects? What? Who is affected?

How is the work traditionally divided (including household tasks) among men, women, children and the elderly (who does what)? Has this been affected by the tsunami/earthquake? How?

During a normal year, are the sources of income affected seasonally? How, when and why? (Make a seasonal calendar.)

Specifics for agriculture

What proportion of the population was involved in agriculture before the tsunami/earthquake?

How is access to land assured? (own through hereditary rights, rented…)

Where is the land located?

How much was irrigated? How much is irrigated?

What do you cultivate normally? Make agric calendar of main crops, including cash crops. See example of agric calendar in annex.

How are the crops used (own consumption, sales, saved for seed…)

How was agriculture affected by the tsunami/earthquake? % of crops destroyed? % of land destroyed?

What kind of harvest do you expect? List all main crops (including cash crops) and estimate in % the harvest as compared to last year.

Specifics for fishing

What proportion of the population was involved in fishing before the tsunami/earthquake?

What type of fishing is normally practiced (close to the shore, out in the sea, big boats, small boats, in a group, individually…)?

How is the fish used (sold, eaten, processed…? If processed, how and for what? If sold, where and to who?

What types of boats are used? How do fishermen get access to boats (e.g. are there big boat owners who rent their boats to fishermen, own their boats…)?

How was fishing affected by the tsunami?

Has fishing restarted? If yes, how? To what extent? If not, why? When will it be restarted?

Make a seasonal calendar of fishing (seasonal variations in the intensity of fishing, place and type of fishing)

Expenditures

What are your biggest expenditures normally (rank in order of importance)?

  • Food (Within food expenditure, differentiate and rank in order of importance: staple, pulses, oil, meat/fish, dairy)
  • Hygiene
  • Health care, medicines
  • Education
  • Reconstruction (of what?)
  • Purchase of productive capital (e.g. boats)
  • Ceremonies (e.g. burial)
  • etc

Now, what are the main expenditures (broad categories as above) i.e. has the tsunami affected the expenditures and if so, how?

Water

How do you get drinking water now?

How did you get drinking water before the tsunami/earthquake?

No and type of functional water points before the tsunami/earthquake

No and type of functional water points now

Health

What are the most common illnesses? When do they occur and why (seasonality)? Who is affected (gender, age specific illnesses)?

Has the tsunami/earthquake affected health? How? Who is the most affected?

Has the tsunami/earthquake affected the nutrition of infants and care practices?

Problem ranking and solutions

What are the main problems faced by your village (list in order of importance)?

What can you do about these problems? What solutions do you propose?

What different potentialities currently exist in your village? How could these be used to re-establish livelihoods?

Future plans

What are your future plans? Where will you go (return to village of origin, remain in current place, go to camp…)? How will you survive?

EXAMPLES

Agricultural calendar for Mugu (for around 2000 metres altitude)

Note: There are great variations in the harvest and sowing times from village to village according to the altitude

JAN / FEB / MAR / APRIL / MAY / JUNE / JULY / AUG / SEPT / OCT / NOV / DEC
Cropping calendar
Millet / TP
Wheat, Barley / Lower / higher
Upland rice / end
Lowland rice / TP
Potato / I / II / I / II
Corn
Chino (paddy like) / Higher / lower / Lower / Higher
Kaaguno (millet)
Amaranth
Beans
Soybean
Apple
Climate
Rainfall
Seasons / winter / (winter) / winter / winter
harvest / Sowing/transplanting (TP) / main monsoon

I = first possible set of planting/harvest II = second possible set of planting/harvest

Cropping cycle for vegetables is 60-90 days.

‘Lower’ and ‘higher’ refer to low and high altitude, respectively.

Figure 10: Inter- and intra-district trade links in Mugu and Humla, and impact of the conflict

[1] “Returnee” will be defined as people who have returned to their village of origin (even if they do not live in their own house). “Resettled” will be defined as people who have resettled/relocated to a new location after the initial displacement.