The Toolkit, of which the Practitioners’ Guide to HEA makes up one component, was developed in order to assist the RHVP in its objective of strengthening the capacity of government and national and international non-governmental organisation (NGO) staff to undertake accurate, reliable and relevant vulnerability assessments and analyses in southern Africa, especially within national Vulnerability Assessment Committees (VACs) and the Southern Africa Development Community Regional VAC (SADC-RVAC). It is hoped that the toolkit will improve the quality of analysis upon which response decisions are made and help to identify, design and implement effective measures to increase the resilience of households in the region. Guidance on the Household Economy Approach (HEA) has to date been provided by the manual The Household Economy Approach – A resource manual for practitioners, produced by SC UK in 2000, and by resources and training materials produced since then by F.E.G. and SC UK. The HEA Toolkit aims to bring together and consolidate this considerable volume of material and to provide an up-to-date guide to the approach, to its use in the field and to its application for particular purposes