Developing Context-Relevant Trigger Indicators

Facilitator: Jen Peterson, Chief of Party for the SALOHI MYAP, Catholic Relief Services

Content: In November 2007, USAID’s Office of Food for Peace released Occasional Paper #5: Trigger Indicators (TI) and Early Warning and Response Systems in Multi- Year Title II Assistance Programs. This paper introduced the concept of early warning and response mechanisms (including TIs), reviewed previous country program experience with TIs, and included recommendations to operationalize the use of TIs within Title II Programs. The idea behind the use of these indicators is to facilitate the transition from development to emergency programming without undermining existing development outcomes.

The purpose of TIs is to identify when a shock (or series of shocks) may undermine food security sufficiently to warrant either adjustments in programming of Title II resources or additional emergency food resources. A TI plan should include: a list of the most common shocks, their immediate effects, and response strategies in times of stress (coping mechanisms); dietary and nutritional effects, as well as thresholds and baseline levels; an M&E plan; a reporting plan; a partnership plan; and an action framework. TIs should only target MYAP beneficiaries.

Discussion: Using a roundtable format, this session focused on sharing country program experience working with TIs. Highlighted issues:

• Projects do not have a clear idea about what trigger indicators are and how to measure them. One project (WALA in Malawi) is using the Household Hunger Scale as a trigger indicator. The project does not know, however, whether it is the right indicator and what the threshold level would be.
• Different indicators require different data collection tools, techniques, and frequencies (e.g., rainfall data vs. price data); also, a response to an emergency would depend on the extent and severity. Participants are unclear about the use of TIs in MYAPs. There is no clear guideline about how to set up a threshold level and the link between early warning and changes in project plans.

A participant from FFP described a TI workshop in Haiti which identified three indicators:  rainfall as an indicator of food availability, the price of food as an indicator of food access, and MUAC as an indicator of food utilization. Setting thresholds was challenging, however. Rainfall varies by agro-ecological zones but historical data by agro-ecology was not available.

Participants highlighted the following issues:

• How do the trigger indicators used in development food aid programs link to the food security situation of the country?
• It is a challenge to identify a small list of robust indicators that are sensitive to the local situation.
• How are triggered responses to be financed?
• TIs are supposed to allow implementers of FFP-funded development food aid programs to shift some of their resources (funds, food commodities) in their development programs to emergency programming. The participants were not sure that FFP has firm guidance about this yet.
• How do TIs work in chronic emergency situations?
• How can we find trend data?
• How do we set thresholds when human factors/politics influence food security?
• Information collected is specific to one target area and may not match with the national level data collected by the government or other agencies.
• A local emergency may not be national or regional.
• There are questions about sample size and coverage issues.

 

The Way Forward: Participants made the following recommendations: 

Processes

• Establish models for TI development – including context-specific indicators - and for data collection and analysis
• Develop a set of SMART TIs

Information Sharing

• Make list of standard TIs available with threshold level specified
• Compile and share country experiences with development and use of Tis
• Develop forums that could help someone understand what TIs are, learning how to apply them and learning how to design thresholds for TIs

Training / Tools and Resources

• Creation of tools and guidelines to assist in TI development and utilization
• Establish exchange visits for learning
• Training and technical assistance needed on how to develop appropriate indicators as Tis, how to set thresholds, how to set appropriate responses and interventions, and how to integrate monitoring of Tis into the M&E plan
• In-country trainings/support related to response strategies, sharing experiences among PVOs and government as well as more help on how to develop indicators/early warning strategy and to develop context-specific Tis

Donor Policy and Processes

• Governments should link their Trigger Indicators with national/local early warning systems
• There is a need for more capacity building of USAID program staff on Tis
• More funding necessary for organization to conduct operations research on different methodologies and tools