Steps

STEP 1: The facilitator first asks the group to identify their most important livelihoods resources. These do not have to be resources that they currently have, but those that they consider to be most important in achieving well-being.

STEP 2: The facilitator and group then organizes the list based on the different categories of resources – human, social, physical, natural and financial.

STEP 3: The group is then asked to prioritize the four resources that they consider to be MOST important in achieving well-being. The facilitator lists these priority resources down the left side of the matrix on the vertical. If the group does not read, the facilitator may use drawing/symbols if this will help participants to better understand.

STEP 4: The facilitator then asks the group to identify the greatest hazards to their livelihoods. Hazards may be natural or man-made.

Note: It is important to be specific in the hazards, and to ensure that the issues identified are actually hazards. Participants may identify conditions such as “food insecurity” as hazards. It is up to the facilitator to ask the group to break down these conditions to determine if they are caused by hazards (e.g. food insecurity may be the result of a drought, which is a hazard). Similarly, some groups may identify scarcity of resources, such as “lack of money”, as a hazard. In this case, it should be determined whether the lack of a resource is the result of a hazard, or in some cases, whether the resource should be added to the list of priority resources identified in the previous step.

STEP 5: The four most important hazards should be listed horizontally across the top of the matrix, again using symbols if necessary.

STEP 6: The facilitator then asks the community to score each hazards against the livelihoods resources, identifying significant, medium, low and no hazard. The scoring system should be as follows:

• 3 = significant impact on the resource 2
• 2 = medium impact on the resource
• 1 = low impact on the resource
• 0 = no impact on the resource

It may be helpful to use stones, symbols or different colours of markers (e.g. red = significant risk to resource, orange = medium risk, green = low risk, blue = no risk).

STEP 7: The participants then decide on the degree of impact that each of the hazards has on each of the resources. This will involve coming to consensus as a group. The note taker should note key points of discussion that lead to the scores assigned, and any disagreements on the scores.

Example Matrix from CVCA Handbook

STEP 8: When the matrix is complete, the group members then discuss:

• What coping strategies are currently used to deal with the hazards identified? Are they working?
• Are there different strategies that you would like to adopt which would reduce the impact of hazards on your livelihoods?
• What resources do you have that would help you to adopt these new strategies?
• What are the constraints to adopting these new strategies?