Understanding the context - including households (HHs), communities and markets - is a first key step in improving PA outcomes for children (reference). This includes understanding key issues, such as: 

• The impact of intra- and extra-household agency and (power) dynamics and other structural barriers (e.g. socio-cultural norms and geographic location) for children and adults of different ages and with different vulnerabilities (e.g. living with disabilities, marginalised groups); 
• The existence of positive opportunities and entry points that leverage a situation to maximise positive impacts for children. 

Project teams must undertake a variety of economic and livelihood assessments to gain the contextual knowledge they need to determine what types of project modalities will best address the economic constraints that HHs face in a given context. Such economic-specific assessments include:

• Household Economy Analysis (HEA)
• Coping Strategy Index (CSI)
• Market System Analysis
• Value Chain Analysis
• Seasonal calendars
• Weather forecasts
• Cost Barrier Analysis

In addition to these typical economic and livelihoods assessments, project teams should also undertake child-sensitive analysis to determine the most appropriate child-sensitive PA programme interventions. This Building Block presents two action steps (and corresponding tools) for conducting child-sensitive analysis: 

Analysis Action 1: Identify Child Deprivations, Aspirations, and Context 

• Tool 1.1: Child-Sensitive Assessment Matrix and Accompanying Guide

Analysis Action 2: Identify Root Causes of Child Deprivations 

• Tool 2.1: Problem Prioritization 
• Tool 2.2: Problem Tree 

In addition, project teams should seek to identify synergies between their economic and child-sensitive analysis - to best ascertain if/how these two areas influence each other.   For example, HEA analysis can be used to estimate some of the typical costs HH may incur to meet their children’s health and education needs.