Coping strategies index

Definition

The reduced Coping Strategies Index (rCSI) measures the frequency and severity of household behaviors when faced with shortages of food or financial resources to buy food. It is calculated using five standard food consumption-based strategies and severity weighting, a higher score indicates more frequent and/or extreme negative coping strategies. It measures the proportion of population using extreme coping strategies (with a rCSI >=19). It is the highest observed daily prevalence throughout the year.

Relevance

Understanding and documenting the type of responses that actors adopt when they are faced with shocks or stressors is an essential part of resilience analysis. In theory the objective of a resilience building intervention is to reduce the propensity of actors to engage in detrimental responses and to increase their ability to engage in more ‘positive’, adaptive or transformative responses. At the present time the rCSI is only recorded in a limited number of, mostly lowincome, countries.