RURAL BANGLADESH - PreventionWeb

Socio-Economic Profiles of WFP Operational Areas and Beneficiaries
COPING STRATEGIES INDEX EXERCISE
What are the major shocks facing the community?
As a result of these shocks, have the families in the community experienced a shortage of food? If so, when?
The purpose of the discussion is twofold: 1) identify coping strategies, and 2) group the strategies by severity.
Use the following as a guide to facilitate a focus group discussion.
a) Begin by explaining what we mean by coping strategy. Ask open ended questions about types of
coping strategies employed by the group, using the list of questions below as a guide.
b) The Coping Strategies Matrix (attached) mirrors the strategies in the Quantitative Survey. Record any
new coping strategies discussed in the group on the matrix, and ask about the specific strategies listed
in the matrix if they do not come out in the discussion.
c) The next step is to determine the ‘severity’ of each coping strategy, as follows:
4= very severe
3 = severe
2 = moderately severe
1 = not severe
d) Next ask the group to select the most severe and least severe strategies first. It is easiest to establish
the extreme types of coping strategy.
e) Then ask if there are other individual strategies that are more or less the equivalent of these two in
terms of how severe they are perceived to be. When these two extreme categories are established, it is
easier to group the remaining strategies into intermediate categories.
1. Limit portion sizes at mealtimes (less amount of food consumed)
2. Reduce number of meals eaten per day
3. Rely on less expensive or less preferred foods (change in the type of food consumed). Has the family
substituted preferred staple or other food for another?
4. Borrowing food from relatives / friends (or other social exchange networks)
5. Purchase or borrow food on credit
6. Gather wild foods / unusual amounts of wild foods types or hunt.
7. Household members eat meals at relatives or neighbours.
8. Reduce adult consumption so children can eat.
9. Consume seed stocks to be saved for next season.
10. Skip entire days without eating.
11. Rely on casual labour for food.
12. Abnormal’ migration for work (Differentiate between seasonal and distress migration.)
13. Other coping strategies. Please specify other important coping strategies used to cope with shocks.
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