Reduction in Household Debt

The indicator measures changes in household debt related to receiving the cash or voucher assistance. It is an important proxy indicator of a household's economic situation.

Collect the following data by conducting individual interviews with a representative sample of your target group members:

RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTIONS (Q) AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS (A)

Q1: Prior to receiving [specify: cash / vouchers] from [specify the name of your organization], did your family have any debts?

A1 Select one of the following: yes / no / did not respond

(ask the following question only if the previous answer is YES)

Q2: Since you have received [specify: cash / vouchers] from [specify the name of your organization], did the amount of debt your family has decrease or increase or remain the same? 

A2 Select one of the following:

1) decreased

2) increased

3) remained the same

4) does not know / did not respond

(ask the following question only if the previous answer is DECREASED)

Q3: What were all the things that helped you reduce the amount of debt you had? Probe: Did anything else help you?

A3 Select one of the following:

1) the provided assistance was mentioned

2) the provided assistance was NOT mentioned

To calculate the indicator's value, divide the number of respondents whose debts became smaller, thanks to the assistance, by the total number of respondents who had debts prior to receiving cash assistance (exclude those who did not know or did not respond). Multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

Disaggregate the data by gender and other relevant criteria.

1) Do not include answers to Q1 about very large debts that the provided assistance could not realistically influence, such as mortgages, larger business loans, etc.

2) Since only some respondents are likely to report having debts before receiving the assistance, the numbers of people you can ask about changes in their debts will be lower than the total number of your survey respondents. If the number is significantly lower, the data for this indicator might have a larger margin of error (i.e. be less accurate) due to being based on too small a sample of respondents. Therefore, consider the possibility of using a larger sample of respondents for your survey (e.g. using a 4.5% margin of error as opposed to 5%).