The Household Economy Approach: A resource manual for practitioners

The Household Economy Approach (HEA) enables planners to predict communities’ vulnerability to crises and shocks like drought or sudden increases in food prices. Focusing on how families make ends meet, it provides a framework to analyse how people get food and non-food goods and services. As well as anticipating food shortages and other emergencies, HEA is a useful tool in designing development programmes and shaping policy.

The aim of this manual is to describe the components of the HEA and the practical techniques needed to use them. It is primarily intended as a reference for people who have already had, or are engaged in, practical training in HEA. We suggest that readers of the manual who wish to use the approach to make significant operational decisions (for example, to supply food aid) should also obtain training. Save the Children is now developing training in field techniques and information use. ​