This report presents the findings of two cohort studies assessing the impact of small-scale livestock interventions, designed to sustain access to and availability of animal milk at the household level over the dry season, on the nutritional status of children under 5 years of age. The studies were conducted for one calendar year, July 2010 to July 2011, in two pastoral Zones of the Somali Region. The results reveal that, in sites exposed to the intervention, animal milk off-take improved dramatically, child consumption of animal milk increased, and child nutritional status stabilized compared to that of children in the control sites. Moreover, the direct costs of the livestock interventions were found to be 45 to 75 percent less than those incurred through therapeutic feeding programs, and the benefits were found to extend beyond nutrition to include developmental, health, and livelihoods aspects. The study represents the culmination of four years of investigative research into the role of milk in pastoral child nutrition and a call for new, holistic, and preventative approaches to addressing child malnutrition in pastoral regions.

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Breast “ironing” or “flattening” is a practice that impacts 1:4 Cameroonian girls and women, in which a heated object such as a grinding stone or pestle is used to massage or press a girl’s breasts to retard or reverse breast development. The practice seeks to prologue a girl’s childlike appearance, thereby protecting her from unwanted sexual attention and the possibility of early/unwanted pregnancy. This report presents the findings of a qualitative field study in Bafut, Cameroon, and contributes to the knowledge and scholarly research on what is a largely understudied practice. Recommendations to end the practice include conducting additional research to better understand prevalence, trends, and health outcomes; supporting advocacy campaigns to raise awareness and increase dialogue about the practice; and strengthening institutional protection of females in Cameroon through sex education, access to family planning, and access to legal protection. This report should be of interest to those working on women’s and children’s rights, as well as human rights and public health.

LE “REPASSAGE” DES SEINS:
UNE ETUDE SUR LES METHODES, MOTIVES, ET RESULTATS DE L’APLATISSEMENT DES SEINS AU CAMEROUN.

L’aplatissement ou repassage des seins est une pratique qui concerne un quart des femmes et des filles au Cameroun et consiste à l’utilisation d’un objet chauffé tel qu’une meule de pierre ou un pilon pour masser les seins d’une jeune fille afin de retarder le développement de sa poitrine. Le but recherché de la pratique de l’aplatissement des seins est de maintenir l’apparence enfantine de la jeune fille afin d’éviter les attentions sexuelles non désirées des hommes qui pourrait aboutir à des grossesses précoces où non désirées. Ce rapport présente les résultats d’une étude qualitative à Bafut au Cameroun et a pour objectif de contribuer à la connaissance et à la recherche académique sur une pratique peu explorée. Les recommandations pour arrêter la pratique incluent : conduire des recherches supplémentaires afin de mieux comprendre la prévalence, les tendances, et les conséquences pour la santé ; appuyer les campagnes de plaidoyer pour sensibiliser la population et accroitre le dialogue sur la pratique ; et renforcer la protection institutionnelle des femmes au Cameroun à travers l’éducation sexuelle, l’accès à la planification familiale, et l’accès aux protections juridiques. Les personnes travaillant sur les questions relatives aux droits des femmes et aux droits des enfants ainsi que les droits humanitaires et la santé publique trouveront un intérêt particulier à ce rapport.

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In July 2010, approximately at the mid‐point of project implementation, Mercy Corps worked with the Feinstein International Center of Tufts University to review specific elements of the RAIN project viz. cash‐for‐work (CFW) and related natural resource management (NRM) activities, and explore opportunities for reshaping project strategies and activities to achieve greater impact. The review process included the collection and review of case studies from Somali pastoralist areas, focusing on asset transfer approaches such as cash distributions during drought, and restocking after drought. Specific areas of interest in these previous approaches were the levels of asset transfer relative to the livelihoods impact, and the time period needed to achieve impact. Complementary to the review of case studies, simple economic modeling was used to predict how different levels of one‐off cash transfers would impact on different types of destitute and poor agropastoral and pastoral households. Spreadsheets with the model were provided to Mercy Corps for further adaptation and to assist revision of project strategies. The overall RAIN project objectives were reviewed, albeit briefly, together with options for
assessing the impact of the NRM activities.

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The L‐SAP project of CHF International was funded by OFDA for one year, in three woredas in Gode zone, and ended in December 2008. The project aimed to improve the household income and assets of targeted poor households through establishing group‐based small scale irrigation schemes along the Wabe Shabelle River for the production of food and cash crops. The project established 18 ‘Asset‐building Groups’ (ABGs), each comprising at least 50 households. The ABGs were provided with water pumps, fuel, seeds and tools, and training. Each group was to be allocated 25 ha of land, equivalent to 0.5 ha/household for a group of 50 households. The project was assessed in mid 2010, 18 months after the project ended.

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• What is the nature of change in labor relations in rural Nepal? Has labor shifted from ‘semi-feudal’ and ‘peasant’ modes of production in agricultural settings to ‘wage labor’ in urban and non-agricultural settings?
• Has this process benefited laboring households at the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum?
• Who are the winners and losers?

Our field research suggests that labor relations in rural Nepal have undergone major changes in recent decades accompanied by livelihood diversification and mobility. Although traditional forms of semi-feudal labor relations have not disappeared completely and some poorer households are still engaged in semi-feudal and caste-based labor arrangements in agriculture, there is clear evidence of increasing numbers of laboring households involved in wage labor within, or increasingly outside, the village. Overall, we argue that these changes indicate a clear shift in the social and economic position of the laboring population from subjects to citizens. This change has increased economic and political agency of the laborers and laboring households but is not free from vulnerabilities and risks.

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Increasing numbers of the world’s rural population are moving to urban areas, and refugees, internally displaced people and humanitarian populations are amongst the recently urbanized. UNHCR estimates that almost half of the world’s 10.5 million refugees now reside in urban areas.

In seeking to develop effective programmatic interventions, it is useful for humanitarian agencies to understand whether displaced people in urban areas are worse off than the urban poor and other migrants amongst whom they live. There is controversy around this issue. A widely held belief is that refugees and IDPs are worse off in urban settings, because they have lost their assets and social networks, and lack secure housing, land and property rights, and the cultural knowledge required to survive in a city. Others have argued that refugees are not necessarily more vulnerable than other migrants, and these differences are eroded over time. In particular, some research suggests that international migrants, including refugees, are often better equipped to deal with cities than newly urbanized citizens of the host country. Whether refugees and IDPs are more economically vulnerable and at greater risk is one of the questions we explore in this research.

One problem confronting humanitarian agencies is the difficulty of distinguishing refugees and IDPs from the urban poor amongst whom they live. In the towns and cities of Africa, the Middle East and Asia, refugees live in low-income areas, experiencing the same problems of poverty, poor services, crime and lack of employment, and often even sharing housing with the urban poor. This mixing of humanitarian and local populations creates a range of difficulties for aid agencies. While the government and/or UNHCR can register refugees who present themselves to the relevant office, many refugees, including some of the most vulnerable, are often not reached or even known about by agencies. Some of these ‘hidden’ refugees deliberately choose to avoid contact with aid agencies; others may not know about or be afraid to access agencies that could potentially assist them. This creates difficulties for humanitarian agencies wishing to assist refugees or estimate their numbers.

Finding ways to locate refugees, distinguish them from other migrants and the urban poor, and determine whether and how they are more vulnerable than other groups, thus become important programming issues. A profiling approach can help provide information about these issues. In this set of reports and case studies, we have developed a methodology to obtain profiling information about the population of refugees in an urban setting and how their experience compres to other groups amongst whom they live.

In low-income areas, where most refugees tend to live, it is important to determine whether and in what ways refugees are worse off than their neighbors, the local host population. In countries of first asylum, the urban poor face significant health, crime and poverty problems. Humanitarian programs can be seen as discriminatory when they target refugees whose neighbors may be equally badly off. Agencies need to justify – to host governments, to local people, and to donors – why they use resources to support one group and not others. If agencies can demonstrate that the target group is more vulnerable, or has special needs not faced by the larger population, targeting of resources can be more easily justified. Special needs can include for example, family tracing, trauma counseling, provision of documentation, and other problems arising from displacement which are less likely to be experienced by stable (non-displaced) populations.

Profiling studies can address the following programming issues identified above:

• Distinguishing refugees from other types of migrants

A profiling study provides a clear definition of who the agency includes and does not include in the refugee group in a particular setting, and how refugees are defined differently from other migrant groups.

• Mapping where and how refugees are distributed in the urban setting

Profiling data reveal where refugees (or the target population) are located, whether they are living interspersed throughout the city or concentrated in a specific neighborhood, and whether they live near hazardous areas (like industrial areas or garbage dumps).

• Determining locally specific factors that influence the vulnerability of poor households (i.e. their ability to respond to economic shocks, disasters, etc), and how refugees differ from other urban groups in these factors

A profiling approach identifies a range of information about refugees vis-à-vis other migrant groups and local residents living in the same districts. Such information can be simple demographics (age, sex, ethnicity) that point to potential vulnerability differences. A profiling study can also identify contextually-specific factors that increase vulnerability. Determining what type of data to gather can be a useful exercise for the agency or researchers to think through the factors that may increase vulnerability in the relevant context. Profiling can also reveal (relative) strengths, i.e. skills and other livelihood assets possessed by refugees and whether and how these differ from their neighbors.

Knowing the whereabouts, strengths and weaknesses of the target population can provide entry points for programming. Profiling can be used for political/advocacy purposes, as it is a relatively technical exercise that produces straightforward and verifiable data. Both the profiling exercise and the data can be used to engage with host governments to promote the rights of refugees. Faced with data that are rigorously and objectively collected, governments are less likely to deny the problems facing refugees, and the study can open a path to negotiating programming or rights. Profiling data can even potentially be used to show that refugees contribute to the economy, for example  by showing that refugee entrepreneurs employ members of the local host community and support local markets.

The value of using a profiling approach to increase information about displaced populations has been recognized for several years. The approach was conceived and initiated by IDMC in the late 1990s, and has since been developed and implemented by a  joint UN group, JIPS, with the support of UNHCR and other UN agencies and NGOs.

The research built on earlier studies by the principal investigator (Karen Jacobsen) and our partners, and sought to make the mixed methodology easily utilizable by operational agencies.

The study’s outcomes include our final report, three stand-alone case studies, and a profiling toolkit, each accessed through this site.

Our final report is presented in the following sections:

Introduction – the need for profiling in urban setting

We describe why profiling is important for refugee (or other humanitarian groups such as IDPs) programming.

Conceptual framework

We outline the theory underpinning our profiling approach. We explain how we distinguish refugees from other migrants and residents, the link between livelihood security and vulnerability, and the constructs and key indicators we used to measure different kinds of livelihood security. We propose a model that explains the causes of livelihood security.

Summary of findings and recommendations

We summarize our research findings and include two types of recommendations: good profiling practices (for use by donors when reviewing proposals), and programming recommendations that could be acted upon by implementing agencies.

Research methodology

We describe our survey methodology, qualitative methods and mapping tools, and how they evolved and were revised over the course of our study.

Separate from this final report are the three case studies we conducted – in Aden, Yemen; Mae Sot, Thailand; and Polokwane, South Africa. In each case study site we collaborated with the following local partners:

• Aden, Yemen – INTERSOS
• Polokwane, South Africa – African Center for Migration Studies, Univ. of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
• Mae Sot, Thailand – International Rescue Committee

Each case describes how we adapted the methodology to make it contextually relevant, presents our findings, and provides specific programming recommendations. The survey questionnaire utilized for each site (including translation) is included as an annex to each case. The datasets for each of the three cities are available for use by other researchers upon request.

Finally, our toolkit includes our revised profiling tools and training module, all designed to be easily utilizable by field organizations. The profiling tools include:

• the revised survey questionnaire*,
• survey data entry template,
• survey sampling strategies,
• urban mapping instructions,
• qualitative interview schedules,

and

• the outline of a two-day training workshop.

* We revised the questionnaire following analysis of our case study data, and tested it during a short field trip to Nairobi, Kenya in September 2011. We worked with IRC-Kenya’s urban field office to pilot the new instrument and ensure it was easily adapted and utilizable.

Requests for either data or tools should be directed to Karen.Jacobsen@tufts.edu.

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