Transcript Food Security Assessment and the Link with

Food Security assessment
and the link with nutrition
Module 9
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Learning Objectives
• Be familiar with the concept of food
security
• Understand basic principles of a food
security assessment
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Undernutrition
Immediate
causes
Underlying
causes
Basic causes
Inadequate food
Disease
intake
Household
food
insecurity
Poor social
and care
practices
Poor
Public
Health
Formal and informal infrastructure/
political ideology/resources
Source: UNICEF conceptual framework
I am food secure because...
….Complete this sentence….
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Definition of food security
A person, household or community, nation
or region is food secure when all members
at all times have physical and economic
access to buy, produce, obtain or consume
sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet
their dietary needs and food preferences
for a healthy and active life.
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What does this mean in practice?
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Three pillars of food security
• Availability of food
food production, food imports, etc
• Access to food
household food production and reserves,
family income, solidarity mechanisms,
barter, etc
• Utilization of food
health situation (diarrhoea, malaria,
AIDS), food storage and cooking
practices, fuel, age related needs, etc
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Three pillars of food security
• Availability of food
food production, food imports, etc
• Access to food
household food production and reserves,
family income, solidarity mechanisms,
barter, etc
• Utilization of food
health situation (diarrhoea, malaria, AIDS),
food storage and cooking practices, fuel, age
related needs, etc
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Link the following situations with
availability/access/utilisation of food
• A severe drought can reduce a harvest or kill livestock.
• Pipeline break in food assistance
• High market prices of important food products
• Shortage of seeds or fertilisers
• Lack of nutritional knowledge causes people to have an inadequate
diet or cause extensive vitamin loss during preparation.
• A broken bridge can hamper access to food or trade markets.
• Some strong cultural beliefs prevent people from eating certain healthy
food products
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Link the following situations with
availability/access/utilisation of food
• High medical fees can reduce household budget for food.
• Unsafe drinking water can cause chronic diarrhoea and result in
decreased absorption of nutrients.
• Conflict can ruin a social welfare system or reduce charity
• A locust infestation can diminish food stocks or ruin harvests
• High number of people unemployed
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Important elements in Food
Security assessments
• Livelihood
• Vulnerability
• Coping strategies
A livelihood is a…
“way of making a living”
• In the food security context it means
people, their capabilities, their assets,
their income and the activities they require
in order to make a living.
• Food security can be an outcome of a livelihood oriented
programme
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Vulnerability
A household’s vulnerability is determined by its ability to
cope with:
• risks and shocks, such as drought, flooding,
• adverse government policies, conflict, and the HIV/AIDS
crisis.
The magnitude, duration and timing of the shock are
important factors.
In order to minimize the impact of such shocks and maintain
adequate food access, households and communities employ
coping strategies.
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Coping strategies
Coping strategies are activities people use as a means of
getting through difficult times, brought on by events
affecting their livelihood and way of living.
When you assess Food Security you look at the different
coping strategies of communities and households.
Who is using what kind of coping strategy, and how well is it
working?
Are coping strategies always ‘abnormal’ or damaging?
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Why would information on
Food Security be important when
you work in nutrition?
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Importance of Food Security
Assessment
Results might be able to
- Explain the current nutrition situation
- Predict worsening or improvement of
nutrition situation
- Direct you to the most effective
intervention to address malnutrition
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Undernutrition
Immediate
causes
Underlying
causes
Basic causes
Inadequate food
Disease
intake
Household
food
insecurity
Poor social
and care
practices
Poor
Public
Health
Formal and informal infrastructure/
political ideology/resources
Source: UNICEF conceptual framework
Example:
What has the rise
in unemployment
in an area to do
with nutrition
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Food security assessments
•
•
•
Might be conducted:
as part of early warning and surveillance
systems, for emergency preparedness or
monitoring;
to identify the main constraints that prevent
households from meeting their food and other
needs; and
as part of studies to understand the causes of
malnutrition. (These situations are not mutually exclusive and may
therefore overlap)
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Food security assessments
Most emergency food security assessments
have one or more of these objectives:
• Estimation of the severity of food insecurity
• Projection of future food insecurity
• Identification of groups that are more
affected by or vulnerable to food insecurity
• Identification of appropriate interventions to
improve households’ access to food
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Depending on objectives, some of following
questions need to be answered
■ How do people make their living?
■ How do people meet their food needs?
■ What resources do they have?
■ Who accesses these resources over time?
■ How does a normal situation compare to a crisis?
■ Can people manage without assistance from
the Government/NGOs/United Nations/Red
Cross/Crescent?
■ If not, how can the humanitarian community support
coping strategies?
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• There is no standard method for assessing food security
in emergencies and different agencies have developed
approaches that suit their individual needs.
• The various approaches to food security assessment
have some similarities and some differences.
• While there is no single ‘best’ way to conduct food
security assessments in emergencies, certain elements
from the approaches used by different agencies can be
used.
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In all cases,
any attempt should be made to
combine nutrition assessment with
food security information,
as the first one is likely to be explained, at
least partially, by the second.
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Key messages
• Food security means access by all people, at all times, to sufficient, safe and
nutritious food for a healthy and active life.
• Food insecurity is just one of the underlying causes of undernutrition.
• Access to food is often disrupted during emergencies. It is therefore vital to
understand how households access food to plan appropriate interventions to
protect food security and ultimately nutritional status.
• Food security assessments might be conducted: (i) as part of early warning
and surveillance systems, for emergency preparedness or monitoring; (ii) to
identify the main constraints that prevent households from meeting their food
and other needs ; and (iii) as part of studies to understand the causes of
malnutrition.
• Food security cannot be measured through a single indicator so multiple
measures have to be used and analysed together.
• There is no standard method for assessing food security in emergencies.
But certain elements from the approaches used by different agencies can be
taken to form a ‘hybrid’ suitable for a particular working context, as long as
technical and analytical rigour is maintained.
• Including nutrition information in a food security assessment (and vice versa)
improves the quality of the results and helps to ensure an appropriate
response.