Ethiopia’s Livelihoods for Resilience (L4R): Recurrent Monitoring Study
USAID's Livelihoods for Resilience (L4R) activity in Ethiopia focused on four priority areas that supported and enhanced livelihood opportunities for chronically food-insecure households in targeted regions and woredas (administrative divisions):
- On-farm, income-generating activities (IGAs) and crop and livestock market systems;
- Off-farm IGAs and non-farm enterprise development;
- Non-farm labor and wage employment; and
- Collaborative learning for scaling up and sustaining gains made in the three livelihood pathways (i.e., on-farm, off-farm, employment).
Recurrent Monitoring Study
To assess the L4R activity's progress and effectiveness, a consortium consisting of AIR, Save the Children, and Tango International, implemented a quarterly Recurrent Monitoring Study (RMS) across the same regions as the 2018 baseline study for eight rounds in total (four rounds per year). The RMS collected and analyzed high-frequency panel data regarding household shock exposure, responses, well-being outcomes, and changes in household resilience capacity. Mixed-method data was collected from a subset of baseline respondents (800 households) and alternated between 32 key informant interviews and 16 focus group discussions to prevent respondent fatigue.
The RMS was used to
- Measure real-time household responses to shocks and/or stressors that occur during the life of the activity; and
- Adapt the activity throughout implementation.
Beginning in April 2020, in response to COVID-19, AIR transitioned from in-person data collection to mobile-based data collection to minimize face-to-face contact with respondents and comply with the Government of Ethiopia’s recommendations, while still ensuring response rates of approximately 98 percent.
