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Analysis of Coping Capacity
Over the years, poor households have developed their own strategies for coping with crises. The process of analyzing coping capacity involves adding up the sum total of these strategies in any given set of circumstances. In every crisis, the limits on coping will vary; for instance, in a drought, households might be able to increase migratory labor, whereas a flood might cut off access to roads, keeping people close to home. Floods, on the other hand, may increase the potential for extended cropping along riverbanks, but see a drop in the price of livestock. Thus every hazard and set of shocks must be analyzed in its own context, and the resulting ability of households to cope on their own is factored into the overall outcome accordingly, as demonstrated in the illustrations below.
