Djibouti Urban Monitoring System

A senior consultant from FEG Consulting helped FEWS NET set up an urban livelihoods monitoring system in Djibouti City in 2003 following an HEA assessment. It was designed to monitor changes in this important Red Sea port and international military base. Here, an important determinant of income in poor households is the availability of casual labour, which is largely dependent on activity in the port and within the construction sector. Government policy can also have a significant impact on livelihoods – not just through its influence on incomes (through changes in salaries and pensions) and on expenditure (through pricing policy), but through its policy on migration. In 2003, the expulsion of foreign migrants reduced both the competition for low-paid work and the demand for basic goods and services. All these factors were incorporated into the HEA-based monitoring system. One of the key results of the work was that it helped convince the government to eliminate the tax on kerosene, which was limiting the amount of cash income households had to spend on education and health.