Self-evaluation and Holistic Assessment of climate Resilience of farmers and Pastoralists (SHARP)
SHARP training in Virei, Angola (©FAO/Txaran Basterretxea)

Overview of the tool

SHARP+ is a customizable digital survey using a tablet-based application (software application using the Android programming language, available on KoBoToolbox). The tool can be used directly on a computer or with a tablet or android smartphone, allowing the questionnaire to be completed without an internet connection. The survey includes questions related to critical aspects of the household and farm system covering environment, social, agricultural practices, economic and governance factors; as to assess in an integrated manner all aspects of the farm/ pastoral system using a holistic approach.

The SHARP+ standard survey consists of 33 modules, of which 17 are mandatory (marked with an asterisk*) for the assessment and 16 optional, each relating to different aspects of the household and farm system. Optional modules are provided to allow users to customize their questionnaire, based on their context and the purpose of the project/programme.

 

For each module, two types of questions are asked: 1) the technical component, that collects factual information on the livelihood/farm/pastoral system as 2) the self-assessed adequacy component which records  the respondent’s own assessment of the resilience of a given aspect of their livelihood/farm/pastoral system. By combining internal and external assessments of the household’s resilience, the SHARP allows an integrated assessment of resilience. Based on the responses given to questions for each component, resilience scores are compiled per module. Based on the overall results of the assessment, SHARP allows users to identify the least and most resilient aspects of the household and farming system with the aim of strengthening them.

The last module of the SHARP covers the self-assessed importance component. This module gives respondents the opportunity to reflect on the different aspects covered and discussed through the assessment and prioritize those they consider as the most important ones for resilience building. Respondents can list the three most important aspects to change and the means to achieve this change (e.g. increased knowledge, better infrastructure, better access to services, etc).

Why a tablet application?

The use of tablets for recording information allows for maximum accuracy, flexibility and immediate results: several people can be interviewed at the same time and in a participatory manner in group settings and data collected can be easily shared with a central database. In addition, the application automatically generates a report containing a preliminary analysis of data collected - and offers the possibility to compare in real time the scoring and highlight the best or worst components of the farming or pastoral system in terms of climate resilience in order to engender discussions while in the field.