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Much of the data used in humanitarian assessments is in the form of indicators. An indicator is a variable that can be measured and that sheds light on another variable of interest. Humanitarian indicators measure people’s conditions of life. They include both straightforward measures (such as the number of disease cases reported to a Ministry of Health in a given month) and also include sophisticated measures like the UN Development Programme’s (UNDP) Human Development Index, which combines data on life expectancy, economic status and educational attainment into a single, synthesized measure.
Humanitarian indicators may take the form of measures of PROCESS—such as the number of children treated for malnutrition—or measures of OUTCOME, such as the percentage of children that are malnourished. The main goal of the sanctions assessment methodology is to determine whether there are changes in humanitarian indicators that may be due to sanctions.
This chapter focuses on the role of indicators in causal models. It presents criteria for choosing appropriate humanitarian indicators; points toward sources for this information; and highlights the importance of using both quantitative and qualitative information. This chapter also examines the relevance and reliability of information gathered for humanitarian assessments, and suggests ways to improve the reporting of such information.
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