CMS 5: Tracking Studies

What is it?

CMS5 is a qualitative longitudinal tracking tool which documents the dynamics of extreme poverty as it is experienced and changes in beneficiaries’ lives as a result of project interventions. It looks in-depth at the original positions of households before the project (through Life Histories) and then tracks their change throughout the intervention (through Reflections on the Interventions).

The methodology tracks households along employment, diets and asset based indicators.   Movement in and out of extreme poverty is then analysed according to 6 well-being categories.  A presentation given at the Extreme Poverty Research Group (EPRG) in August 2011 on the methodology and a number of case studies is available here.

The Centre for Development Studies (CDS) at Bath University (UK) is the shiree consortium partner supporting this element of the Change Monitoring System.  Researchers in each of the Scale Fund NGO partners are engaged in the development and implementation of the CMS5 tracking studies. The households have been anonymised to protect the identity of participant beneficiaries.

The following are some of the questions which CMS5 seeks to answer.

What events and crises in someone’s life made them extreme poor? What risks and vulnerabilities do households face?  In what way are the shiree-supported projects working to meet these threats?  What is the position of children in households?  How are households’ spending money and reinvesting profits from income generating activities?  Has the change to a household through a project been maintained over time?  What are the outside factors (such as social relations and networks, or risks such as theft and disaster) which bear importance and need programmatic attention?

What can I see?

Reflective CMS 5 – Life Histories and Reflections on the Interventions

Click on names in the table below to read the stories of a sample of Scale Fund beneficiaries before the project. These life histories provide a stark picture of the reality of beneficiaries’ lives in extreme poverty before the projects began (a baseline situation).

The first round of tracking studies for these 36 beneficiaries are now also available online. These document all the major changes and events that have occurred in the beneficiaries lives from initial intervention until the date stipulated. To view these in full, click on the dates next to the beneficiary that you are interested in.

Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis

An analysis comparing quantitative (CMS3) and qualitative (CMS5) data between March 2010 and March 2011 has been completed.  The report provides a picture of the state of extreme poverty among Shiree beneficiaries in this period. Click the below link to read the report.

Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of the Changes in Extreme Poor Households between March 2010 and March 2011

Care

Care beneficiaries in the North-West of Bangladesh face seasonal hunger (known locally as ‘Monga’).  The qualitative accounts draw particular attention towards women’s separation, widowhood and domestic abuse, and the role that these play in causing downward livelihood mobility.

Dushtha Shasthya Kendra (DSK)

Living in urban Dhaka, DSK beneficiaries have diverse histories. A number have migrated to Dhaka from situations of extreme vulnerability such as the coastal region. These stories show the challenges faced from sickness, early marriage and unexpected events like road accidents, and the overall impact these have on poverty status.

NETZ

Adivasis living in the Barind Tract (North-West Bangladesh) have faced a long history of economic deprivation and social exclusion. The following narratives show how the political turmoil of the 1970s, followed by famine, impacted a family’s experience of chronic food insecurity. Other household stories have been shaped by widowhood, a dependence on begging, managing survival in a large household with 9 children, coping with disability, and being tied into ongoing traps of informal lending.

Practical Action Bangladesh (PAB)

Practical Action beneficiaries live on the river eroded embankments in North-West Bangladesh. Many have lost their land due to river bank erosion and still face the challenge of seasonal flooding. Finding employment here where agricultural land is scarce is particularly difficult.

Save the Children

Working in the flood prone areas of Bagerhat and Khulna in South-West Bangladesh, these households face a variety of climatic and disaster specific vulnerabilities. One of these beneficiaries has worked as a domestic helper in a brothel, and another is a widow of 9 children. Issues of chronic illness and children labour are also highlighted in these accounts.

Uttaran

Also working in the flood-prone South-West (Khulna and Satkhira), these beneficiaries have faced losses to their livelihoods from multiple cyclones and tidal surges. The stories hold accounts of struggles with land grabbers, shrimp production, early marriage and mental illness.

ADD International

Caritas

Concern Worldwide

Eco Dev

iDE

Oxfam