Household vulnerability mapping in Africa's Rift Valley

Abstract

This study develops an interdisciplinary framework to investigate the relationship between environmental processes and human wellbeing that can be adapted to any geographic location. Based on the use and availability of open-source data, the methodology advanced in this research has the capacity to examine household-level drivers of vulnerability that are rarely accounted for in regional and global indices. A household level vulnerability analysis is conducted for four countries – Malawi, Uganda, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. This research seeks to develop a vulnerability model that can be both applied to vulnerable countries in the East African Rift and offer insight into internal dynamic processes and drivers of vulnerability. The enhanced methodology presented in this paper can assist stakeholders and policy-makers in determining what drives vulnerability at a household level, where vulnerable populations are, and suggest what type of aid to target specific locations to be of greatest benefit.