Coping Strategies Index
5th - 9th December 2011, Rome
Objectives
Introduce the coping strategies index in both of its
forms
Describe how it is calculated
Give examples of how it is used
What is the CSI?



The Coping Strategies Index (CSI) is a simple and easy-touse indicator of household food security
The CSI is based on a series of responses (strategies) to a
single question: “What do you do when you don’t have
adequate food, and don’t have the money to buy food?”
The CSI combines:


The frequency of each strategy (how many times was each
strategy was adopted?)
Their severity (how serious is each strategy?)
Two types of CSI
Context-specific CSI
• Develop a context-specific list of strategies
• Identify context-specific severity scores (weights)
• List of strategies should reflect what the households typically do in case of a
shortage of food
• Severity weights for each strategy are identified through focus groups with
communities
• It has been criticized for being relatively unhelpful in comparative anal
Reduced CSI
• A standard short list of five coping strategies are asked
• Standardized severity weights are applied
• It is less valuable in identifying the most vulnerable households in a given
location. But it is very useful for comparing across countries and time because
it focuses on the same set of behaviors.
Reduced CSI – questionnaire example
In the past 7 days, if you did not have enough food and
were unable to buy food, how many times has your
household had to:
Number of days
a. Rely on less preferred and less expensive foods?
[____]
b. Borrow food or rely on help from a friend or relative?
[____]
c. Limit portion size at mealtimes?
[____]
d. Restrict consumption by adults in order for children to
eat?
[____]
e. Reduce number of meals in a day?
[____]
Reduced CSI - strategies and weights

Strategy
Severity
weight
Eating less preferred foods
1
Borrowing food or relying
on help from friends and
relatives
2
Limiting portion size at
mealtime
1
Limiting adult intake in
order for small children to
eat
3
Reducing the number of
meals per day
1
Extensive reseach
demostrated that the
“reduced” CSI reflects
food insecurity nearly as
well as the “full” or
context-specific CSI
Reduced CSI – calculation example
In the past 7 days, if you did not have enough food and
were unable to buy food, how many times has your
household had to:
Number of
days
Severity
weight
Weighted
score
(number of
days *
weight)
a. Rely on less preferred and less expensive foods?
5
1
5
b. Borrow food or rely on help from a friend or relative?
2
2
4
c. Limit portion size at mealtimes?
7
1
7
d. Restrict consumption by adults in order for children to
eat?
2
3
6
e. Reduce number of meals in a day?
5
1
5
Total Reduced CSI =
28
CSI role in the analysis
CSI is a proxy
indicator for
household food
security
It is a continuous
variable and can be
used to compare
means of groups
Households may be
ranked and divided
into terciles (or other)
to show which are the
worst off
Mean CSI
Département
Nord-Ouest
Nord
Nord-est
Artibonite
Centre
Ouest
Grande-anse
Nippes
Sud
Sud-est
Total
CSI reduced (mean)

24.3
25.9
21.9
21.4
22.1
22.1
20.8
18.7
23.7
18.2
22.2

Consider the mean CSI
across categories
(provinces, livelihood
groups, etc.)
Identify and report
differences between
means
Terciles of CSI
trading, commercial activities
24.5%
salary and skilled labor
22.4%
other
17.9%
fishing
34.1%
28.3%
30.2%
32.1%
12.8%
mining
24.0%
12.7%
handicrafts
13.5%
19.9%
32.8%
38.0%
petty trade
19.0%
30.1%
34.3%
10.8%
17.3%
20.1%
26.8%
29.9%
24.4%
30.3%
26.5%
27.1%
32.4%
No coping employed
Low coping
27.6%
Medium coping
food crops
15.0%
cash crops
13.8%
remittances and gift
livestock
32.3%
31.2%
20.1%
5.7%
%
25.9%
12.3%
unskilled labor 4.1%
28.1%
25.8%
29.2%
24.1%
29.9%
42.5%
30.0%
10%
24.6%
20%
39.5%
21.9%
30%
40%
High coping
50%
44.1%
60%
Prevalence of Coping Terciles
70%
80%
90%
100%
Combined Mean CSI and CSI Terciles
100%
14.00
90%
12.00
80%
60%
10.00
8.00
50%
40%
30%
6.00
High coping
Medium coping
Low coping
4.00
20%
No coping employed
CSI - reduced (mean)
2.00
10%
%
Mean CSI
Prevalence of Coping Terciles
70%
.00
CSI: trend analysis

Consider the mean CSI over time (seasonality,
monitoring, etc)
14.0
12.0
Reduced CSI
10.0
8.0
non-beneficiaries
beneficiaries
6.0
4.0
2.0
0.0
Jan-09
Apr-09
Jul-09
Oct-09
Jan-10
Apr-10
Jul-10
Oct-10
Jan-11
Apr-11
Jul-11
Questions?