Targeting the Vulnerable: A Review of the Necessity and Feasibility of Targeting Vulnerable Households

Abstract

This article examines whether it is possible to target vulnerable households within a geographically defined area. It looks first at the justification for targeting and then reviews recent practical experience in actually trying to reach vulnerable groups. As complex emergencies increasingly last longer, strategies to target vulnerable households are common in the protracted phase of the emergency. While this is often necessary because of a decline in resources, it is not always justified by an improvement in nutritional status or food security of the beneficiary population. Common target groups are the poor and the malnourished, but in complex emergencies these are not always the most vulnerable. Moreover, recent practical experience has shown considerable difficulties in targeting the poor. Methods to target the poor rely on community-based relief committees, whose priorities are not necessarily the same as those of external agencies. This paper gives examples of such targeted assistance programmes in Kenya, south Sudan and Tanzania. The paper concludes that situations where targeting vulnerable households is justified and feasible are extremely limited. It is suggested that if targeting has to be done because of scarce resources, this should be done on a geographical basis and on the basis of nutritional status. Case-study material shows that it is essential to understand the political determinants of vulnerability and to design methods that will reach the most vulnerable.

Disadvantaged black and coloured infants in two urban communities in the Western Cape, South Africa differ in micronutrient status

“…Conclusions with regard to infants aged 6-12 months are limited in such studies. Specific information on infants is necessary in order to plan community nutrition intervention programmes to reduce the vulnerability of young children at the age of weaning 5 . Adequate nutritional status is a prerequisite for good physical and mental development of vulnerable commu-nities 1,6 .…”

Measuring populations' vulnerabilities for famine and food security interventions: the case of Ethiopia's Chronic Vulnerability Index

“…Sen's revolutionary contribution to famine theory was the understanding that famine was more than just a crisis in overall food supply; rather, a famine could result from a failure in people's ability to have access to food (Sen, 1981). 2 Other studies point to the dangers of assuming that certain groups (such as women and the poor) are more vulnerable than others simply because of their presumed socioeconomic status (see, for instance, Jaspars and Shoham, 1999;Webb and Harinarayan, 1999). Vulnerability analysis developed as a means of identifying who is unable to obtain food and the factors that restrict their access (Stephen and Downing, 2001).…”

Cash‐based interventions: lessons from southern Somalia

“…It should be stressed that targeting in general is a challenge (see, for instance, Jaspars and Shoham, 1999;Taylor and Seaman, 2004; Save the Children UK, 2004), and that targeting of cash, often using the same or similar targeting methodologies as commodity distributions, for example, should be part of this broader debate. Targeting of cash, however, may be perceived as more difficult, since cash is of value to everyone.…”