THE NEW
FOOD SECURITY
ASSESSMENT TOOLS
Central Asia Regional Risk
Assessment Conference
Almaty 14-15 April 2011
Links between Food Security and
Disaster Response
• FS applies to both development and emergency
environments
• In emergencies, food insecurity results from a wide
range of hazards (floods, droughts, earthquakes, etc.)
• For disaster response, FS is just one of several sectoral
concerns (e.g., shelter, health, etc) requiring coordinated
interventions from aid agencies
• FS monitoring tools must be linked to both early warning
systems for hazards and more direct causes of food
insecurity like crop failure, high prices, etc.
• FS monitoring tools are a key to both long-term
prevention and mitigation activities and to sustainable
development programmes
FOOD SECURITY MONITORING
SYSTEM
• ‘Snapshot’ of household food security at key times of the
year
• Ongoing analysis of indicators identifies seasonal trends
in food insecurity
• Designed to complement existing monitoring systems
with focus on household livelihoods in food-insecure
areas
• Prototypes developed in the 1980s, started in WFP in
2005, currently used in some 30 countries
• Launched in Tajikistan in 2008 (685 households
surveyed three times a year)
• www.wfp.org/foood security and www.untj.org/library
Market Price Watch
• WFP’s weekly tracking of prices of food staples
(wheat flour, oil, onions, etc.)
• Key indicator of household vulnerability,
especially in high-import countries like Tajikistan
and Kyrgyzstan
• Maintained in Tajikistan since 2003, in
Kyrgyzstan since 2010, widely shared with UN
partners and donors
• In both humanitarian and development settings,
used to target beneficiaries in interventions
Tajikistan market prices (TJS/Kg) as of February 2010
12
10
Vegetable Oil
8
Beans
6
Sugar
4
Wheat flour high quality
2
Wheat flour
1st Grade
Q1
Q2
Q3
2007
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
2008
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
2009
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
2010
Q4
Q1
2011
Integrated Food Security Phase
Classification
• Common classification/ protocols for comparable
and evidence-based analysis
• ‘Snapshot’ of current conditions and projection of
the most likely future scenario (for early warning)
• Achieves consensus among key stakeholders
• Focus on decision support for government, UN,
NGO, and donor officials
• Used in 30 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America.
• Endorsed by the World Conference on Food
Security, managed by 7 UN, NGO, and technical
agencies
• http://www.ipcinfo.org/
FOOD SECURITY INFORMATION
SYSTEM
• Latest food security assessment tool in Central Asia
• EU-funded project data collected by Ministry of
Agriculture, local governments, Hydromet, national
statistics agencies
• Focus on capacity-building of targeted government
institutions and food security programmes
• Helping formulate a long-term national food security
policy
• Opportunity to design the tool to evolving national,
regional and global food security issues
• Coming onstream in 2011 in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan
Early Warning (I)
• Famine Early Warning System (FEWSNET)
• Supported by USAID
• Timely information from partners at the sub-national,
national, and regional levels (representatives on the
ground collecting primary data)
• Focus on agricultural production, market and livelihood
studies and corresponding risks
• Geographical focus on Africa, Asia, Latin America
• Rigorous, comprehensive situation analysis of severity of
food insecurity, communicated in clear and simple way
for decision-makers
• Supports the goals of IPC
EARLY WARNING (II)
• Global Information and Early Warning System
(GIEWSNET)
• Managed by FAO
• Long institutional ‘memory’ (created in 1975)
• Broader geographic reach (country briefs)
• Focus on agricultural production and livestock
• Repository of classic food security publications
(e.g. Food Outlook, Crop Production and Food
Prospects)
• Detailed price monitoring data
EARLY WARNING (III)
• Disaster Risk Management teams, ideally incorporating
government, aid agencies and donors
• Main purpose: forecast crises, coordinate humanitarian
interventions and coordinate mitigation measures
• Tajikistan: Rapid Emergency Assessment and
Coordination Team (REACT)
• Kyrgyzstan: REACT/Disaster Risk Coordination Unit for
major and complex emergencies (post Osh crisis)
• Uzbekistan: Contingency Task Force (UN only)
• Kazakhstan: Disaster Risk Coordination Unit (UN only)