Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Practice

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Food Insecurity and Vulnerability - Practice
Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA)
Project Regional Centre for Quality of Health
Care (RCQHC) Workshop

• HIV/AIDS and Food Aid Assessment for Regional
  Programmes and Regional Integration
• Presentation by World Food Programme Regional
  Bureau (ODK) Vulnerability Analysis and
  Mapping (VAM)
• Kampala, November 2005

Presented by Evaline Dianga
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WFP Corporate Context for analysis

• Analysis seeks to answer on the food Insecure
• Who are the food insecure?
• Where are they?
• Why are they food insecure?
• How many are they?
• Role of Food Aid?

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Food Security Information and Analysis System

• Baseline studies and vulnerability analyses
• An effective early warning system
• A system of food security and needs assessments
• A system of monitoring and evaluation of food
  security programs that includes impact monitoring

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Baseline Studies

• Provide the context for the food security
  situation, including root causes of continuing
  food insecurity.
• Include essential information about livelihoods,
  alternative income sources, socio-economic groups
  and environmental factors for vulnerable
  populations.
• In a possible emergency, this context allows us
  to determine whether a situation is
  chronic/current and significant.

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Baseline Vulnerability ExamplesKenyaRwanda
Ethiopia
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Stages of Baseline Analysis- VAM Standard
Analytical Framework (SAF)

• Literature Review
• Secondary Data Analysis
• Participatory Vulnerability Profiles (community
  level primary data collection/analysis)
• Integrative Analysis and Write-up

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KENYA Pilot Study on Chronic Vulnerability to
Food Insecurity
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Secondary Data Analysis (SDA) Variables
Secondary Data environment Moderately rich
10. Percent Livelihood from Fishing 11. High
Potential Land Equivalents 12. Market Access 13.
NDVI average 14. NDVI coefficient of
variation 15. Below 40th ile. NDVI
persistence 16. Civil Insecurity Index 17. HIV
positive 18. Absolute Poverty
1. Life Expectancy 2. Adult Literacy 3.
Education Level Index 4. lt2sd Stunting 5.
lt2sd Wasting 6. Income from non-agric. 7.
Livelihood Diversification Index 8. Access to
Safe Water 9. Gender Development Index
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Education Index
Analysis of Socio-Economic Indicators
Relative Incidence of HIV/AIDS
Gender Development Index
Relative Proximity to Market
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SIAYA DISTRICT Results
Case Study of An Analysis in High HIV/AIDS
Prevalence Area in TCI
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Livelihood Strategies
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Characteristics of Social Groups
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(No Transcript)
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Social Dynamics Gender Issues Cultural
Issues Community Cooperation
Links to Structural Issues HIV/AIDS Weakened
Industries
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• RWANDA
• Chronic Vulnerability Assessment
• 2003

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Rwanda CVA
Secondary Data Environment Relatively Poor

• Sampling in various food economy zones
• Shared livelihoods, risks
• Much reliance on Primary Data Collection
• 730 HHs - included HIV proxy indicators and
  perceived levels of HIV/AIDS sensitisation

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Rwanda CVA Results

• Recommendations to continue WFP programmes,
  including HIV/AIDS and MCH programmes in the most
  food insecure areas
• (to be confirmed by ongoing PRRO evaluation)

2004
Chronic VA (FEZ-level) 2004
2001

• Institutional aspects of assessment
• Very collaborative -2004 vs. 2001
• Full government, partner buy-in
  -gt important for acceptability and future
  programming partnerships

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ETHIOPIA Chronic Vulnerability Index

• May 2004

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Background to the VA
Secondary Data environment Very rich

• Targeting, resource allocation
• Development identify most chronically food
  insecure areas
• Emergencies define areas most in need based on
  past food insecurity criteria
• Benchmark to illustrate trends in last 5 years
• Data-rich environment, strong analytical
  capacity, strong collaboration
• Secondary data analysis only to create index

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HIV/AIDS?
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Indicators

• HIV/AIDS
• Data not adequately disaggregated at woreda level
• Common problem in other countries too.

• Requires use of proxy indicators and/or primary
  data collection.
• Generally easier to obtain at lower
  administrative levels (e.g. community level)

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Components of a Food Security Information and
Analysis System

• Baseline studies and vulnerability analyses
• An effective early warning system
• A system of food security and needs assessments
• A system of monitoring and evaluation of food
  security programs that includes impact monitoring

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Early Warning

• Provide regular and comparable information over
  time on key indicators for the geographic area
• Compare indicator trends with information from
  baseline studies to understand the significance
  of the trends in different areas and on disparate
  populations.
• Provide timely information of potential disasters
  for specific locations and certain populations.

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Analysis for Early Warning
May 2004 Rainfall
May 2004 Rainfall Difference from Average
For seasonal monitoring of crop season and
pasture/livestock production
Vegetation difference from normal
May 2004
May 2002
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Analysis for Early Warning (cont)

• Market Analysis

Kenya- Comparative Maize Prices for Selected
Markets 2000-04

• Coping mechanisms, e.g.
• Unseasonal/unusual migration
• School drop-out rates
• Increased sale of charcoal, brick burning etc.

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Regional EW Alert System

• WFP EW Alerts received on a monthly basis from
  country offices
• Give trends in larger geographic areas (district
  or sub-district level), not community level

• ? May be possible to capture effects of HIV/AIDS
  on food security in these broad geographic areas
  
• e.g. in reduced ability to cope
• However, ascribing causality to HIV/AIDS from
  this tool tricky (many inter-related factors)

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Food Security and Needs Assessment

• Assess the current food security situation of
  vulnerable populations in an area identified
  through Early Warning.
• Compare this information with data on/assessments
  of their baseline or chronic food insecurity.
• If required, estimate the number of people in
  need, rations, duration and quantities of food
  needed to alleviate the situation.

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Food Security and Needs Assessment (cont).

• Due to recurrent shocks (natural and man-made),
  much focus on emergency needs assessments
• Assessments use of proxy indicators will
  generally result in targeting of HIV/AIDS
  affected communities if these are food insecure

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Program Monitoring and Evaluation

• Impact of WFP food aid on the food security
  levels of beneficiaries key to monitor
• Links between nutrition and HIV/AIDS - need for
  further research and better dissemination of
  information

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Coping Strategies Index (CSI)

• Based on question What can people do when they
  dont have enough food or enough money to buy
  food?

• Used for Measuring Food Security Status in
  Emergencies and the Impact of Food Aid
• A joint research activity of WFP/VAM and CARE
  International
• Used in Zimbabwe, Ghana, Iraq and in 6 ODK
  countries regularly (4 ) or piloted (2)

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Coping Strategies Index (CSI) (contd)

• Research shows 4 categories of short-term coping
• Dietary change (e.g. eating less preferred but
  less expensive food, etc.)
• Increasing short-term food access (borrowing,
  gifts, wild foods, etc.)
• Decreasing numbers of people to feed (short-term
  migration, etc.)
• Rationing strategies (maternal buffering,
  limiting portion size, skipping meals, skipping
  eating for whole days, etc.)

 

• Potential use for monitoring of food security in
  high HIV/AIDS prevalence areas

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Regional Challenges

• Some countries in conflict/post-conflict
  situation
• disrupts institutional memory and quality of
  secondary data
• Emergency-related info. requests have crowded out
  baseline studies
• Collaborative frameworks among food security
  partners weak in many countries
• Exploring modalities to strengthen national
  government capacity and partnerships in 2005
• Institutional Wide disparities in status of
  food security analyses systems within countries
• Capacity building and support of processes by ODK
  Regional Bureau

Response not always reactive to information
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The End