Africa-Press – Lesotho. The Lesotho Vulnerability Assessment Committee (LVAC) has embarked on the annual Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis for the current year 2022/23.
The Committee is mandated by law, under the coordination of Disaster Management Authority (DMA), to conduct surveys and compile statistics of vulnerability in Lesotho.
The countrywide data collection commenced last week Monday and was expected to run for 10 days followed by five days of data collection on market functionality index.
In a press statement dated June 7, DMA revealed that the final outcome after data analysis will be the total of food insecure population per district, classified
according to their level of severity in relation to their food security status. The LVAC will provide recommendation to the government and its development
partners to guide programming for relevant intervention in addressing food insecurity in the country and upon completion of the process, the information
will be published in the LVAC Dashboard which is yet to be launched. This ongoing data collection is taking place in all districts across all Livelihood Zones as
follows: Mountains, Foothills, Northern Lowlands, Southern Lowlands and Senqu River Valley. “The ongoing data collection will cover the following thematic areas: Seasonal Performance
looking into rainfall performance and shocks that affected crops and other livelihood sources at household level. Agriculture and food security which will
provide information on crop and animal production, and household food security status. Water and sanitation which looks into proportion of households that
have access to portable drinking water and improved sanitation facilities. Health and Nutrition with more focus on Infant and Young Child Feeding practices, dietary adequacy, child illnesses, chronical illnesses as well
health facilities mainly used by different households. Market Functionality Index looking into different dimensions of markets including among others;
availability of households’ food and non-food items, variety of households’ items, security and many more,” highlights the press release. It further notes; “The existence of the dashboard to be launched comes as an answer to a long-standing
concern of lack of Information Management System (IMS) owned by LVAC which was established in 2002. Since then, this highly valuable pieces of information
necessary to assist decision-makers being developmental planners, policy makers and donors as well as Humanitarian agencies in both the government and
non-state actors’ groups have been be accessed from individual members of LVAC who stored that information in their personal computers. This endeavour aims to
meticulously collate such information, and place it only a keyboard clicks away for all groups of potential users across the proverbial global village”.
In a nutshell, the presser says the LVAC Dashboard is intended to serve as the database of all Vulnerability data and information in the country. It will also have a website
accessible to all public for their information requirements. The establishment of the dashboard has been attained through both financial and technical support
from World Health Organization (WFP) Country Office in Lesotho. When in full swing, the Dashboard will display all the vulnerability information on the
multiple facets of vulnerability assessment reports. The pieces of information that will be uploaded will support informed decisions for the government and its development partners, and as well guide programming for interventions intended to address food insecurity in country.
For More News And Analysis About Lesotho Follow Africa-Press
