RAPID ASSESSMENTS IN URBAN AREAS: LESSONS FROM BANGLADESH AND TANZANIA

An understanding of urban issues is extremely important for programming, especially for organizations that have traditionally focused on assisting poor households and communities in rural areas. Development organizations and governments frequently use rapid assessment methods because they have limited resources and little time to devote to longer-term, more complex research projects. Generally these methods employ qualitative techniques to solicit information from relatively small numbers of people. The size and diversity of the urban environment complicate the ability of these methods to generate a reliable, representative picture of urban livelihoods and the needs and constraints facing the urban poor. CARE’s experiences in Bangladesh and Tanzania suggest a number of ways that rapid assessment procedures can be strengthened to address these concerns. The experiences in Bangladesh and Tanzania suggest that the principal challenges to the validity of rapid assessments in urban areas, when used for exploratory purposes, can be met through use of representative samples; use of a number of qualitative and quantitative approaches; incorporation of team members who represent a variety of perspectives, knowledge areas, and professions; and linkages with local organizations and community members who are familiar with the economic, political, social, and cultural context of the city, to ensure local involvement and a local perspective.

[1]  Manfred Zeller,et al.  Repayment performance in group-based credit programs in Bangladesh , 1997 .

[2]  D. Maxwell.  The Political Economy of Urban Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa , 1999 .

[3]  S. Morris,et al.  Socio-economic differentials in child stunting are consistently larger in urban than rural areas , 2000 .

[4]  S. Morris,et al.  Good care practices can mitigate the negative effects of poverty and low maternal schooling on children's nutritional status , 1999 .

[5]  K. Hallman.  Mother-father resource control, marriage payments, and girl-boy health in rural Bangladesh , 2000 .

[6]  James Beebe,et al.  Rapid Assessment Process , 2001 .

[7]  D. Jolliffe,et al.  Whose Education Matters in the Determination of Household Income? Evidence from a Developing Country* , 2002, Economic Development and Cultural Change.

[8]  M. Patton.  Qualitative evaluation and research methods, 2nd ed. , 1990 .

[9]  Hanan G. Jacoby.  Is There an Intrahousehold 'Flypaper Effect'? Evidence from a School Feeding Programme , 2002 .

[10]  M. Fafchamps,et al.  Social roles, human capital, and the intrahousehold division of labor , 1999 .

[11]  Manfred Zeller,et al.  Market access by smallholder farmers in Malawi: implications for technology adoption, agricultural productivity and crop income , 1998 .

[12]  A. Quisumbing,et al.  Women's assets and intrahousehold allocation in rural Bangladesh: testing measures of bargaining power. , 2000 .

[13]  A. Winkvist,et al.  Appraising Studies in Health Using Rapid Assessment Procedures (RAP): Eleven Critical Criteria , 2001 .

[14]  M. Zeller,et al.  Empirical measurements of households' access to credit and credit constraints in developing countries , 2000 .

[15]  A. Quisumbing.  Intrahousehold allocation and gender relations : new empirical evidence , 1999 .

[16]  K. Otsuka,et al.  Women's land rights in the transition to individualized ownership: implications for the management of tree resources in western Ghana. , 2003 .

[17]  R. Chambers.  The Origins and Practice of Participatory Rural Appraisal * ROBERT CHAMBERS ? , 1994 .

[18]  J. Chavas,et al.  Supply response of West African agricultural households: implications of intrahousehold preference heterogeneity. , 1999 .

[19]  James Beebe,et al.  Rapid Assessment Process: An Introduction , 2001 .

[20]  Gaurav Datt,et al.  Computational tools for poverty measurement and analysis , 1998 .

[21]  H. Bouis.  Agricultural technology and food policy to combat iron deficiency in developing countries , 1994 .

[22]  B. Popkin,et al.  THE NUTRITIONAL TRANSITION AND DIET-RELATED CHRONIC DISEASES IN ASIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR PREVENTION , 2001 .

[23]  Peter Goodwin,et al.  The Role of the State , 1999 .

[24]  M. Ruel,et al.  Assessing the potential for food-based strategies to reduce Vitamin A and iron deficiencies , 2000 .

[25]  S. Bennett,et al.  A computer simulation of household sampling schemes for health surveys in developing countries. , 1994, International journal of epidemiology.

[26]  J. Hoddinott,et al.  THE IMPACT OF PROGRESA ON COMMUNITY SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS , 2000 .

[27]  M. Patton,et al.  Qualitative evaluation and research methods , 1992 .

[28]  M. Drinkwater,et al.  Operationalizing Household Livelihood Security: A Holistic Approach for Addressing Poverty and Vulnerability , 2000 .

[29]  J. Behrman,et al.  Attrition in Longitudinal Household Survey Data: Some Tests for Three Developing-Country Samples , 1999 .

[30]  Daniel Maxwell,et al.  Measuring food insecurity , 1996 .

[31]  P. Cooke.  Changes in intrahousehold labor allocation to environmental goods collection , 2000 .

[32]  S. Morris,et al.  The constraints to good child care practices in Accra , 2000 .

[33]  J. Holland,et al.  Whose voice? Participatory research and policy change , 1998 .

[34]  D. Coady,et al.  On the Targeting and Redistributive Efficiencies of Alternative Transfer Instruments , 2004 .

[35]  P. Engle,et al.  URBAN CHALLENGES TO FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY: A REVIEW OF FOOD SECURITY, HEALTH, AND CAREGIVING IN THE CITIES , 1998 .

[36]  Gaurav Datt,et al.  Determinants of Poverty in Egypt , 1999 .

[37]  B. Davis,et al.  Targeting the Poor in Mexico: An Evaluation of the Selection of Households into PROGRESA , 2001 .

[38]  M. Ruel,et al.  Are determinants of rural and urban food security and nutritional status different , 1999 .

[39]  R. Naved,et al.  Child Care Practices Associated with Positive and Negative Nutritional Outcomes for Children in Bangladesh: A Descriptive Analysis , 1997 .

[40]  A. Janvry,et al.  Cash transfer programs with income multipliers , 2001 .

[41]  J. Maluccio.  ENDOGENEITY OF SCHOOLING IN THE WAGE FUNCTION: EVIDENCE FROM THE RURAL PHILIPPINES , 1998 .

[42]  K. Simler,et al.  Quality or quantity? The supply-side determinants of primary schooling in rural Mozambique. , 2000 .

[43]  D. Stull,et al.  Doing Team Ethnography: Warnings and Advice , 1997 .

[44]  J. Hoddinott,et al.  Adult health in the time of drought , 1999 .

[45]  L. Haddad,et al.  Are urban poverty and undernutrition growing? Some newly assembled evidence , 1999 .

[46]  S. Handa,et al.  Poverty, inequality, and spillover in Mexico's education, health, and nutrition program , 2001 .

[47]  S. Scrimshaw,et al.  Rapid Assessment Procedures for Nutrition and Primary Health Care: Anthropological Approaches to Improving Programme Effectiveness , 1987 .

[48]  Hanan G. Jacoby,et al.  EARLY CHILDHOOD NUTRITION AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT: A LONGITUDINAL ANALYSIS , 2001 .

[49]  L. Christiaensen,et al.  Validity of rapid estimates of household wealth and income for health surveys in rural Africa , 2000, Journal of epidemiology and community health.

[50]  James Beebe,et al.  Basic Concepts and Techniques of Rapid Appraisal , 1995 .

[51]  L. Smith.  Can FAO's measure of chronic undernourishment be strengthened? , 1998 .

[52]  C. Nishida,et al.  Food Security and Nutrition Implications of Intrahousehold Bias: A Review of Literature , 1996 .

[53]  A. Ervin.  Trying the Impossible: Relatively "Rapid" Methods in a City - Wide Needs Assessment , 1997 .

[54]  L. Haddad,et al.  Women's Economic Advancement Through Agricultural Change: A Review of Donor Experience , 1996 .

[55]  D. Maxwell.  Can qualitative and quantitative methods serve complementary purposes for policy research , 1998 .

[56]  Frank Z. Riely,et al.  Alternative Approaches To Locating The Food Insecure: Qualitative and Quantitative Evidence From South India , 1997 .

[57]  R. Adams.  Livestock income, male/female animals, and inequality in rural Pakistan , 1996 .

[58]  S. Morris,et al.  Does geographic targeting of nutrition interventions make sense in cities , 1999 .

[59]  John Campbell,et al.  Participatory Rural Appraisal as Qualitative Research: Distinguishing Methodological Issues from Participatory Claims , 2001 .

[60]  A. Quisumbing.  Gender Differences In Agricultural Productivity: A Survey of Empirical Evidence , 1995 .

[61]  J. Olmsted,et al.  AGRICULTURAL WAGES AND FOOD PRICES IN EGYPT: A GOVERNORATE-LEVEL ANALYSIS FOR 1976-1993 , 1995 .

[62]  C. Udry,et al.  Gender Differentials in Farm Productivity: Implications For Household Efficiency and Agricultural Policy , 1995 .

[63]  R. Adams.  Remittances, income distribution, and rural asset accumulation , 1996 .

[64]  Lawrence Haddad,et al.  Explaining Child Malnutrition in Developing Countries: A Cross-Country Analysis , 1999 .

[65]  Stuart Gillespie,et al.  STRENGTHENING CAPACITY TO IMPROVE NUTRITION , 2001 .

[66]  S. Morris,et al.  Working Women in an Urban Setting: Traders, Vendors and Food Security in Accra , 1999 .

[67]  Marcel Fafchamps,et al.  Human Capital, Productivity, and Labor Allocation in Rural Pakistan , 1998 .

[68]  L. Christiaensen,et al.  Comparing village characteristics derived from rapid appraisals and household surveys: A tale from northern Mali. , 2001 .

[69]  J. Hoddinott,et al.  The impact of changes in common property resource management on intrahousehold allocation , 1999 .

[70]  A. Quisumbing.  Better Rich, or Better There? : Grandparent Wealth, Coresidence, and Intrahousehold Allocation , 1997 .

[71]  M. Zeller,et al.  How Can Safety Nets Do More with Less? General Issues with Some Evidence from Southern Africa , 1996 .

[72]  J. Hoddinott,et al.  Participation and poverty reduction: issues, theory, and new evidence from South Africa , 2000 .

[73]  Stephen B. Fawcett,et al.  Rapid Assessment Procedures: A Review and Critique , 1997 .

[74]  M. Ruel,et al.  The GAPVU Cash Transfer Program in Mozambique: An Assessment , 1997 .

[75]  B. Agarwal.  ''Bargaining'' and Gender Relations: Within and Beyond the Household , 1997 .

[76]  S. Morris,et al.  How reliable are group informant ratings? A test of food security ratings in Honduras , 1998 .

[77]  Manohar Sharma,et al.  A Profile of Poverty in Egypt , 2001 .