The economic capacity to meet essential needs (ECMEN) is a measure of the economic vulnerability of a population. It is defined as the percentage of households whose economic capacity is sufficient to meet their essential needs, as measured through the minimum expenditure basket (MEB). Households are considered to have the economic capacity to meet their essential needs if their consumption expenditures exceed the minimum expenditure basket (MEB). An MEB is defined as what a household requires in order to meet their essential needs, on a regular or seasonal basis, and its cost.
Two versions of the ECMEN indicator exist:
ECMEN excluding assistance (used for assessments)
ECMEN including assistance (used for monitoring)
For computing both versions it is required to collect consumption expenditure data through the standard expenditure module. This is composed of three sub-modules:
Food submodule (seven-day recall)
Non-food submodule (30-day recall)
Non-food submodule (six-month recall)
For the version of ECMEN excluding assistance (used for assessments) it is also necessary to collect information on received cash assistance through the specific complementary module on assistance (assistance ENA).
Available Resources
Please find below the resources that will help you in computing and interpreting the ECMEN indicator:
Technical Guidance Note
Read the detailed ECMEN guidance which explains in detail the use of indicator and the steps involved in its computation.
Questionnaire Modules
The generic survey module can be found here.
XLS Forms
Access the used to collect the standard ECMEN data here. These are designed in WFP Survey Designer to help simplify the authoring of forms in Excel. This can be converted to ODK form for consistent data collection across mobile and web platforms.
The XLS Forms used to collect the version of ECMEN data excluding assistance (used for assessments) extracted from the Survey Designer can be found here.
Scripts and Sample Data
The syntax to calculate the the different versions of the indicator are found below:
SPSS for ECMEN excluding assistance (used for assessments)
STATA for ECMEN excluding assistance (used for assessments)
SPSS for ECMEN including assistance (used for monitoring)
STATA for ECMEN including assistance (used for monitoring)
Training Presentations
Arabic (coming soon)
French (coming soon)
A specially prepared presentation that can be used during trainings of enumerators and VAM staff here.
Additional Resources
You can find a short FAQ document compiling questions received from the field
For more context, refer to the ENA Guidance, which describes how the LCS-EN is used in essential needs analysis
The Data Quality Guidance provides practical steps to maintain data quality across all phases of evidence generation cycle
For more context, refer to the CARI guidance document and the CRF indicator sheet, which provides detailed information about how the indicator integrates with food security analysis frameworks.
For more information, please contact the Assessments and Targeting Unit in HQ VAM at global.assessmentandtargeting@wfp.org.