Mauritania - Resilience Index Measurement and Analysis 2017

Mauritania, like many countries in the Sahel, regularly face recurrent plagues such as droughts, floods, bird invasions, off-season rains, as well as, regional security issues. Drought, for example, is a common phenomenon in the south of Mauritania, which favors food insecurity and malnutrition, and significantly reduces household resilience while increasing their vulnerability to future shocks. Apart from the fact that only 0.5 percent of the land is suitable for agriculture, Mauritania consists of reliefs and very large, fragile agroecological complexes which are also faced with the effects of climate change.In recent years, food crises and nutritional factors have been regularly observed due to structural causes which has poverty as its common denominator. These crises, as well as, climatic factors have a negative consequence on natural resources and reduce the resilience of livelihoods, thereby generating a loss in productivity and poor governance of natural resources. The concept of resilience generally defines the capacity of individuals, households, communities and countries to absorb shocks and adapt to a changing environment, while transforming the institutional environment in the long term. Thus, it is necessary to set up interventions that will have an impact on adaptability and risk management over time, in order to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable households.For more than 10 years, FAO has measured the household resilience index in different countries, using a tool developed for this purpose; Resilience Index Measure and Analysis (RIMA). RIMA analysis requires household data, covering the different aspects of livelihood; activities (productive and non-productive), social safety nets, income, access to basic services (such as schools, markets, transportation etc.) and adaptive capacity. Following the two RIMA surveys carried out in 2015 and 2016 during the lean season and the post-harvest period, this survey was carried out in 2017 to determine the resilience index in all regions of the country.