Wahenga: The Practitioners' Guide to the Household Economy Approach

The Household Economy Approach (HEA) is a livelihoods-based framework for analysing the way people obtain food, non-food goods and services, and how they might respond to changes in their external environment - a negative shock, such as a drought or crop failure, or a positive policy change, such as a cash transfer scheme.

Co-financed by the Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (RHVP), Save the Children and FEG Consulting, the Practitioners' Guide to the Household Economy Approach provides practical 'how to' tools for those involved in the fieldwork and analysis of HEA assessments. It will also be a useful refresher for experienced practitioners.

The Guide is presented as a series of seven chapters, each of which is a self-contained module specific to a particular aspect of HEA. These are supplemented by two sections; one focussing on how to use market assessment to help determine an appropriate response to acute food insecurity and another for advanced practitioners who are being trained to take on team leader roles.

Although this is not meant to be used as a 'do-it-yourself' guide for those with no exposure to HEA, each subject is presented in clear, logical steps that should - in conjunction with formal training - enable fairly quick uptake for relative newcomers to HEA.

You can read the guide online at the Wahenga website.