Category: Food security assessment

A collaborative approach to a nutritional crisis in an area accessible only by air

Merlin started working in Sierra Leone in 1996 in response to health and nutritional crises caused by the civil war and is currently supporting programmes in both Kenema District in the East of the country and in Freetown.

Issue 11, December 2000 (page 21)

A food-based strategy to improve nutrition in emergencies

Since February 2000 the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has been implementing a project to improve household food security through home gardening and nutrition education in southern Somalia.

Issue 13, August 2001 (page 24)

A market analysis and subsequent interventions following floods in the south-east of Haiti (2004) (Special Supplement 3)

In June 2004 continuous rains were at the origin of large landslides and floods in the South East of Haiti, which cause loss of human lives, and destruction of houses, and infrastructures.

Supplement 3, March 2006 (page 41)

A New Household Economy Method for Assessing Impact of Shocks

This article describes the experiences of using an adapted household economy assessment approach in Uganda, Ethiopia, Swaziland and Mozambique. In Uganda and Ethiopia the approach was used to look at the impact of falling coffee prices on household poverty while in Mozambique and Swaziland the assessment estimated impact of HIV/AIDS on livelihoods and economic status.

Issue 23, November 2004 (page 10)

A role for capital markets in natural disasters

Summary of a published Paper.

Issue 11, December 2000 (page 7)

Access to markets and services (Special Supplement 3)

In emergencies, access to markets may be lost for a number of reasons. Since most people live in a cash economy, restoring and maintaining adequate access to markets is important as part of an emergency response.

Supplement 3, March 2006 (page 36)

Aid and Erosion of Humanitarian Principles in Sierra Leone

Published paper.

Issue 7, July 1999 (page 8)

Alternative food security indicators

Summary of published paper.

Issue 8, November 1999 (page 9)

An information system in exile - Is it working?

An Evaluation of the Food Security Assessment Unit, Nairobi.

Issue 5, October 1998 (page 22)

Angola Agricultural Programmes

An ICRC Evaluation.

Issue 5, October 1998 (page 23)

Applying GIS to Nutrition Surveys

This article highlights the potential benefit, resource needs and constraints of applying Geographical Information Systems (GIS) analysis to a conventional nutritional survey dataset in a developing country or an emergency context.

Issue 26, November 2005 (page 30)

Assessing and defining food needs (Special Supplement 1)

There are three broad approaches in use for assessing the food needs of a population. These approaches are often used simultaneously in an assessment.

Supplement 1, July 2004 (page 7)

Assessing seed systems in relief operations

Summary of published paper.

Issue 19, July 2003 (page 9)

Better understanding vulnerability in Serbia

This field article describes ACF’s experiences1 in Serbia where vulnerability assessment findings were used to inform, and hopefully influence, activities and social policy at a local and national level in Serbia.

Issue 19, July 2003 (page 30)

Border Closures and Nutrition in Gaza

The political situation in the Gaza Strip has resulted in a high level of international media attention.

Issue 20, November 2003 (page 18)

Call for strategic US approach to the global food crisis

Summary of report.

Issue 35, March 2009 (page 8)

Cash and Vouchers in Emergencies

Summary of published paper.

Issue 26, November 2005 (page 15)

Cash transfers protecting dietary diversity during food crisis

Summary of working paper.

Issue 41, August 2011 (page 19)

Challenges for humanitarian response in Kosovo

The tragic events leading to the expulsion of 800,000 Albanian Kosovars between March and June 1999 during the Nato air-campaign are well known.

Issue 8, November 1999 (page 15)

Co-ordinating a Humanitarian Response in Sudan

Paul Murphy, Regional Policy Adviser, Nairobi CONCERN and Peter Salama, Emergency Medical Co-ordinator, Dublin CONCERN provide an overview of the 1998 crisis in south Sudan and the humanitarian response.

Issue 6, February 1999 (page 4)

Comparative Experiences of Community Managed Targeting in Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Malawi

Summary of an evaluation by Save the Children UK and Tulane University reviewing their experiences of utilising the Community Managed Targeting Distribution (CMTD) approach in Southern Africa.

Issue 23, November 2004 (page 22)

Completing the Jigsaw Puzzle: Joint Assessment Missions (JAM)

Food security continues to be a challenging and often elusive possibility for many of the almost 2 million camp-based refugees worldwide.

Issue 40, February 2011 (page 50)

Conclusions to 'Targeting Food Aid in Emergencies' (Special Supplement 1)

The operational contexts for ‘within geographical area targeting’ are limited. This supplement has focused on targeting food aid in emergencies within geographical areas.

Supplement 1, July 2004 (page 29)

Contextual data collection in nutrition surveys in Ethiopia

Summary of analysis.

Issue 37, November 2009 (page 14)

Cornell-Radimer hunger scale measures household food security in Java

Summary of published paper.

Issue 15, April 2002 (page 4)

Destitution in Ethiopia’s Northeastern Highlands

Summary of unpublished report.

Issue 20, November 2003 (page 8)

Differences in food insecurity between adults and children in Zimbabwe

Summary of published research.

Issue 41, August 2011 (page 20)

Disparate responses to need in Southern Africa

Since 1993, Gaëlle Fedida has worked in humanitarian aid in a wide variety of countries, including Croatia, Burundi, Cameroon, Congo Brazzaville and Afghanistan. Now based in Paris, she is in charge of the Food Aid Programme for MSF France operations.

Issue 18, March 2003 (page 10)

Effect of Displacement on Growth of Children in Nigeria

Summary of published paper.

Issue 22, July 2004 (page 7)

Effect of food prices on household food security and malnutrition

Summary of report.

Issue 36, July 2009 (page 7)

Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis (EMMA) tool

This article describes a work in progress by Oxfam GB in developing a new tool to enable emergency practitioners to map and analyse markets in emergencies.

Issue 35, March 2009 (page 3)

Enset - The ‘False Banana’ as Food Security

This article describes Self Help Development International’s experiences of using the staple crop, Enset, in their programming in Ethiopia, and the potential it holds for improving food security in drought affected areas.

Issue 22, July 2004 (page 3)

Ethiopia: another 1984 famine?

This article is based on a review of recent literature as well as a number of interviews with humanitarian agency staff that have had long-term experience and knowledge of Ethiopia.

Issue 18, March 2003 (page 18)

Ethiopia: Challenge and Change (Special Supplement 3)

Concern WW is trying to create mutually reinforcing linkages between livelihood security26 and emergency programming at a number of levels.

Supplement 3, March 2006 (page 60)

Ethiopia’s Chronic Vulnerability Index

Summary of published research.

Issue 36, July 2009 (page 11)

Evaluation of Dafur Early Warning and Food Information System

Summary of evaluation.

Issue 28, July 2006 (page 20)

Evaluation of MSF Holland mission in Afghanistan

Summary of Evaluation.

Issue 20, November 2003 (page 20)

Famine Avoided Despite Drought and ‘Zud’ in Mongolia

Summary of published paper.

Issue 20, November 2003 (page 9)

Food insecurity amongst AIDS caregivers in Ethiopia

Summary of review.

Issue 38, April 2010 (page 16)

Food security indicators after humanitarian interventions in Zimbabwe

Summary of research.

Issue 41, August 2011 (page 26)

Forecasting slow onset disasters to improve response

Summary of research.

Issue 37, November 2009 (page 7)

GIS Links Food Security and Demining Programmes

Summary of published paper.

Issue 21, March 2004 (page 7)

GIS surveillance of nomads in Mali

In this article, Accion Contra El Hambre shares their experiences of applying a GIS tool to characterise pastoral vulnerability in Mali.

Issue 27, March 2006 (page 25)

Global food price crisis: lessons and ideas for relief planners and managers

Summary of published research.

Issue 35, March 2009 (page 9)

Global Nutrition Index

Summary of research.

Issue 36, July 2009 (page 6)

Grounding Food Security Monitoring in an Understanding of the Local Economy: Understanding differences – and making a difference

Information systems which regularly monitor food security are used to predict which populations will suffer acute food stress in a given event, climatic or man-made.

Issue 8, November 1999 (page 10)

Household Economy Approach in Burundi

This article outlines key elements of the Save the Children UK Household Economy Approach and Food Economy Analytical Framework, and describes WFP’s successful adaptation of the methodology in Burundi. The field experiences described are based on a WFP report drafted in September 1999.

Issue 18, March 2003 (page 20)

Household Food Economy Analysis

Over the past five years SCF have been working on a research programme to develop a famine early warning tool called 'Risk Mapping'.

Issue 1, May 1997 (page 11)

Household Food Economy Assessment in Kakuma Refugee Camp

Over the past five years SCF UK have been working on a research programme to develop a famine early warning tool called Risk Mapping.

Issue 1, May 1997 (page 9)

Household threat of escalating food prices and recovery policies

Summary of working paper.

Issue 41, August 2011 (page 18)

How many Hok does a poor man have?

A civil war has been raging in Sudan for over 17 years since 1983 with fighting between the Government of Sudan in the North and various rebel factions in the South.

Issue 11, December 2000 (page 8)

How to assess and respond to Iraqi refugee needs in Syria

This article shares the challenges of conducting a survey of the health, nutrition and livelihood conditions of Iraqi Refugees living amongst the local population in the North East of Syria.

Issue 39, September 2010 (page 26)

Humanitarian Response Index (HRI)

Summary of report.

Issue 35, March 2009 (page 18)

Impact of Food Delays on Refugees

Between 1995 and 1997, Ikafe and Imvepi settlements in Arua District, North Uganda, accommodated around 55,000 refugees from Southern Sudan. The long term objective of both refugee programmes was to move towards self-reliance within a period of 5 years.

Issue 2, August 1997 (page 10)

Impact of HIV/AIDS on household food security and quality of life in Malawi

Summary of evaluation.

Issue 25, May 2005 (page 6)

Improving the quality of WFP Emergency Operations

It is being recognised more and more that we need to improve the ways in which we measure and document emergency programme efficiency.

Issue 1, May 1997 (page 11)

Inappropriate Interventions in the Great Lakes

Summary of published research.

Issue 23, November 2004 (page 9)

Integrated Nutrition and Food Security Surveillance in Malawi

This article describes a surveillance system developed and implemented by AAH and partners in Malawi, that monitors nutrition and food security (through a food stress index) in a sample of children under 5 years at sentinel sites. The development of user friendly software programmes for data analysis is facilitating the integration of the system into government structures.

Issue 33, June 2008 (page 22)

Inter-Agency Workshop on Food Security Assessments in Emergencies: Amsterdam, 2-3 December 1997

On the 2nd and 3rd of December 1997 MSF Holland organised a workshop on food security assessments in emergencies.

Issue 4, June 1998 (page 16)

Is food aid effective?

Summary of published research.

Issue 29, December 2006 (page 8)

Junior Farmer Field Life Schools in Namibia

Kiwan Cato was introduced to the JFFLS initiative while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer Leader in Northern Namibia, 2005.

Issue 29, December 2006 (page 19)

Land Reform in Tajikistan

Issue 14 of Field Exchange carried an article by Frances Mason on Action Against Hunger's assessments of the causes of nutritional vulnerability amongst the population in Tajikistan, following cessation of the civil war and signing of the peace accord in 1997. One of several factors identified in this analysis was failure of the land reform programme. The article below describes a further study by Action Against Hunger on the land reform process which unpicks, in more detail, the array of political, institutional and cultural factors impeding progress. (Ed).

Issue 24, March 2005 (page 3)

Lessons learned in West Darfur: challenges in assessment methodologies

Over the last twenty years, humanitarian organisations have accumulated a wealth of technical expertise in nutrition to guide emergency interventions.

Issue 16, August 2002 (page 24)

Linking early warning system information to response

The semi–arid to arid district of Isiolo covers an area of 25,605 square kilometres and is one of 10 districts of Eastern Province in Kenya.

Issue 9, March 2000 (page 19)

Links between needs assessment and decisions in food crisis responses

Summary of published review.

Issue 33, June 2008 (page 10)

Livelihoods analysis and identifying appropriate interventions (Special Supplement 3)

The livelihoods framework provides a tool for analysing people’s livelihoods and the impact of specific threats or shocks on livelihood vulnerability.

Supplement 3, March 2006 (page 12)

Livelihoods under siege in Dafur

Summary of unpublished study.

Issue 27, March 2006 (page 8)

Maintaining GOAL’s capacity to support surveillance in Ethiopia

Ethiopia has suffered from numerous natural and man-made emergencies and continues to be vulnerable to rapid and slow onset emergencies. Since the major famine in 1984/85, considerable efforts have been made to install a credible and effective early warning system (EWS) as part of emergency preparedness to enable a timely disaster response.

Issue 40, February 2011 (page 62)

Malawi food shortage: how did it happen and could it have been prevented?

Malawi, like much of the rest of Southern Africa, is experiencing the threat of imminent famine.

Issue 16, August 2002 (page 21)

Market Analysis and Emergency Needs Assessment

Summary of background technical paper.

Issue 21, March 2004 (page 9)

Market analysis and humanitarian action in Niger

Summary of published research.

Issue 32, January 2008 (page 8)

Measuring Hunger in the Russian Federation

Summary of published paper.

Issue 6, February 1999 (page 8)

Mental health in emergencies

Summary of published papers.

Issue 18, March 2003 (page 8)

Needs Assessment and Decision Making in Emergencies

Summary of published report.

Issue 21, March 2004 (page 8)

New Classification Tool Integrating Food Security and Humanitarian Action

A new tool has been developed at the Food Security Analysis Unit ( FSAU) to harmonise and improve the rigour of classifying and providing early warning of various stages of food security and humanitarian situations.

Issue 28, July 2006 (page 15)

Nutrition intervention in crisis some worrying practices

During recent field work (notably in Burundi), I came across certain worrying practices in the emergency nutrition sector.

Issue 16, August 2002 (page 28)

Nutritional Risk Factors in Older Refugees

Summary of published paper.

Issue 21, March 2004 (page 8)

Postscript on measuring mortality rates in cross-sectional surveys: a commentary

Congratulations to Mark Myatt, Anna Taylor, and W. Courtland Robinson for bringing into the light of rational scientific discourse the subject of estimating mortality rates using crosssectional surveys.

Issue 17, November 2002 (page 16)

Rapid response and long-term solutions: Christian Aid and food security in Ethiopia

Food insecurity is a deep-rooted problem for Ethiopia. With almost half the country’s population of 78.6 million living in deep and long-term poverty, many people are vulnerable to drought and moderate and severe acute malnutrition.

Issue 40, February 2011 (page 49)

Redistribution of Commercial Farms in Zimbabwe

In Field Exchange 1 we reported on the nutritional problems of workers on Zimbabwe's large commercial farms. After 17 years of independence many Zimbabwean workers still find themselves landless and working on these large white owned farms.

Issue 3, January 1998 (page 16)

Remittances and their economic impact in post-war Somaliland

New publications.

Issue 12, April 2001 (page 6)

Responding to early warnings

Summary of published research.

Issue 29, December 2006 (page 8)

Retrospective determination of whether famine existed in Niger

Summary of published research.

Issue 35, March 2009 (page 10)

Review of nutrition and mortality indicators for Integrated Phase Classification

Summary of technical review.

Issue 38, April 2010 (page 14)

Revised MSF Nutrition Guidelines

The MSF nutrition guidelines for use in emergencies have recently been revised. The new guideline will be available in January 2001.

Issue 10, July 2000 (page 21)

SC UK Experiences of Food Security Information Systems

Summary of review.

Issue 26, November 2005 (page 10)

Scurvy outbreak and erosion of livelihoods masked by low wasting levels in drought affected Northern Afghanistan

Kohistan is one of the most remote districts of Faryab Province in Afghanistan. It is in the south of the province bordering Badghis and Ghor provinces and is an eight-hour car journey from the provincial capital of Maimana to the district capital Bandar.

Issue 13, August 2001 (page 14)

Strengthening analysis of the nutrition situation through linking food security and nutrition information: Pitfalls and potentials

It has become the practice in several countries1 to routinely combine nutrition surveys with a food security component in order to contextualise anthropometric results, leading to more informed and appropriate intervention design.

Issue 13, August 2001 (page 8)

Taking the politics out of resource allocation: the Kenya experience

For many decades, the main basis for emergency food aid geographic targeting decisions taken by the Government of Kenya (GoK) has been district requests.

Issue 14, November 2001 (page 8)

Targeting Vulnerable Households Within the Context of HIV/AIDS in Malawi

Summary of evaluation.

Issue 25, May 2005 (page 44)

Task Force Review

Summary of a Report by SPLM/SRRA–OLS.

Issue 6, February 1999 (page 28)

Technical consultation on Emergency Needs Assessment

Summary of proceedings of meeting.

Issue 19, July 2003 (page 27)

Technical meeting on Emergency Needs Assessment

A technical meeting on Key Issues in Emergency Needs Assessment (ENA) held in Rome in October 2003, was the third in a series of consultations aimed at improving the quality and ensuring a minimum standard for ENA, both within the World Food Programme (WFP) and amongst the wider humanitarian community.

Issue 21, March 2004 (page 21)