Livelihood Coping Strategy
https://schema.aidops.org/vocab/lcs-strategy
An illustrative set of household coping strategies drawn from the WFP Livelihood Coping Strategies (LCS) module, grouped into three severity tiers: stress strategies are reversible and indicate reduced ability to deal with future shocks; crisis strategies directly reduce future productive capacity; emergency strategies are harder to reverse and affect long-term welfare. Under CARI, a household's LCS output is the highest tier reported to have been adopted. WFP VAM expects operations to contextualise the strategy list and tier assignments per country; the codes below should be read as a canonical reference set, not a closed list.
Standard reference
WFP CARI Guidelines (3rd edition, 2021) (https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000134704/download/)
The exact list of strategies and their tier assignments are contextualized per country by WFP VAM. The codes below are a canonical reference set most frequently deployed; country-specific adaptations extend or substitute strategies within each tier.
Values
| Code | Label | Standard code | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
spent_savings | Spent savings | The household spent savings to meet food needs. Stress tier. | |
sold_household_items | Sold household items (non-productive assets) | The household sold household items such as furniture, radio, jewellery to meet food needs. Stress tier. | |
reduced_nonfood_expenses | Reduced non-essential non-food spending | The household reduced non-essential non-food spending, such as recreation or non-urgent purchases, to afford food. Stress tier: reversible reductions that do not by themselves create lasting welfare harm. | |
borrowed_money_food | Borrowed money or bought food on credit | The household borrowed money or purchased food on credit to meet food needs. Stress tier. | |
sold_productive_assets | Sold productive assets (tools, livestock) | The household sold productive assets such as tools, sewing machine, wheelbarrow, or livestock to meet food needs. Crisis tier: directly reduces future productive capacity. | |
withdrew_children_from_school | Withdrew children from school | The household withdrew children from school to save on fees or free their time for work. Crisis tier. | |
reduced_essential_nonfood | Reduced essential non-food spending (health care) | The household reduced essential non-food spending, specifically health care, preventing access to needed treatment. Crisis tier: the reduction creates lasting welfare harm by denying necessary services. | |
consumed_seed_stock | Consumed seed stock | The household consumed seed stocks held for the next planting season. Crisis tier: compromises the next production cycle. | |
harvested_immature_crops | Harvested immature crops | The household harvested crops before maturity. Crisis tier: reduces yield and compromises the current production cycle. | |
sold_house_or_land | Sold house or land | The household sold its house or land to meet food needs. Emergency tier: irreversible loss of productive or sheltering asset. | |
migrated_whole_household | Migrated as a whole household | The whole household migrated to find food or income. Emergency tier: distinct from normal seasonal labour migration, which is not coping. | |
child_labor | Engaged in child labour or high-risk work | Household members, including children, engaged in exploitative or high-risk work to meet food needs. Emergency tier: long-term welfare harm, protection red flag. | |
early_marriage | Arranged early marriage for a household member | The household arranged the early marriage of one or more members (typically a girl) to reduce household burden or obtain bride price. Emergency tier: long-term welfare harm, protection red flag. | |
begging | Begged for food or money | Household members begged for food or money. Emergency tier. |