Needs Assessment
The first phase of the research programme on Pastoralism and the Environment «Pastoralisme et Environnement au Sahel» (PESah) and the development of the Pastoral Information System «Système d'Information Pastoralisme - Environnement au Sahel» (SIPES)
Key areas for improvement
The concept of endowments and entitlements elaborated by Amartya Sen in his work Poverty and Famine (1981) has shifted the focus of attention from a geographic region to a household unit of analysis and influenced the set-up of livelihoods focused early-warning systems.
Endowments:
Sen defines endowments “as resources provided by the ecosystem and as goods services supplied by markets”. Traditionally, most EWSs focus on monitoring endowments such as rainfall, crop production and vegetation, as indicators for the probability of an emerging drought or other hazards. However, while these indicators are useful to forecast drought, they provide very little information which groups are likely to be most affected by the drought and the reasons why drought affects different groups in different ways within the same locality.
Entitlements:
Sen defines entitlements as "the set of different alternative commodity bundles that the person can acquire through the use of the various legal channels". The introduction of the term entitlement is based on the idea that a person’s command over food is based on the spectrum of his/her entitlements and that a person is more vulnerable when he/she does not have the ability to command enough food with the given entitlements. In order to be able to assess vulnerable groups early Warning Systems need to incorporate measures of entitlements, such as market prices, assets, and migration, and other measures of human welfare and livelihoods in their Monitoring System.
The approach of the programme was to identify the information needs for better management of the interactions between pastoralism and the environment in order to design an Information System according to such needs.
The programme had three components:
(i) Analysis of the already existing information systems and decision support tools in the Sahel region and their applicability for policies to manage the interaction between pastoralism and the environment
The programme started with an intensive analysis of the needs of information and information flow of various user groups such as pastoral people and development projects. In addition it undertook a comprehensive assessment of the existing Early Warning Systems in the Sahel region. This research identified a strong need for an information system with a focus on pastoralism and the environment.
(ii) Development of a prototype model for an information system on pastoralism and the environment (système d'information Pastoralisme - Environnement au Sahel SIPES).
Three regional workshops took place between 2002 and 2004 in Dakar and Ouagadougou:
- regional workshop in Dakar in 2002,
- regional workshop in Ouagadou in 2002 and
- regional workshop in Dakar in 2004
Building on the results of these workshops the partners of the programme elaborated a conceptual model of the information system for the regional, national and local level. Based on the prior analysis of the demand for information 14 thematic areas were identified and datasets and indicators for each theme were assigned to them.
The concept of entitlement and endowments was integrated into the conceptual model, emphasizing the need to determine the vulnerability of different livelihoods. (see box on the right). A logical model was elaborated linking the different tables containing data on the themes, the time, the geography etc. Finally this logical model was transformed into a physical model, managed by a geographical information system (Arc Gis). According to the level of application, the potential user groups and the available indicators for the themes various information products processing the raw data have been determined, such as maps, graphs, bulletins, broadcast per TV and radio. Furthermore, aweb-based interfacehas been developed allowing for the consultation of information by selecting a combination of geographical unit, timeframe, theme and type of information product.
(iii) Testing and evaluation of the SIPES in Senegal
The prototype of the SIPES has been tested in Senegal at two different levels: A prototype has been tested at the national/regional level at the sylvopastoral zone of Northern Senegal in the Ferlo region; and at the local level a prototype has been applied to the pastoral unit in Tatki in the Ferlo region. In addition, a network of institutions that provide reliable data and information to the SIPES was established. In order to obtain a reliable and useful information system the data received was processed adjusting temporal and spatial incoherencies of the different datasets received. Information sheets on various indicators have been produced and are to be inserted in the web-based interface. Finally, the team of the PPZS made multifactorial analysis in order to verify the pertinence of the indicators and their interrelations.