Qualitative Approaches for Food Security Assessment
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1.1 Welcome & Workshop Introduction
Session-at-a-glance
Content
Approximate
Time
“minutes”
Instructional Activity
Welcome and Introduction
5
Plenary Presentation
Icebreaking
15
Participants’ self-introduction
through a game
Ground Rules and Expectations
10
Discussion & Brainstorming on
Cards
Workshop Agenda Overview
5
Plenary Presentation
Pre-Test
20
Individual Testing
Quick Review of WFP’s FNS
Assessment Framework and
Introduction to Sustainable
Livelihood Framework
45
Presentation
Introduction to Qualitative Data
20
Group Work
Total Time
120 minutes /
2 hours
Session Objectives
After this session, participants will be able to:

Identify the objectives of the learning program;

Express their expectations from the training;

Know each other;

Understand how food security and poverty analysis can be underpinned by the
sustainable livelihoods framework;

Understand the characteristics of qualitative and quantitative data.
Session Supplies

Power-point 1.1: Welcome & Workshop Introduction

Workshop agenda for each participant
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
Pre-test sheet for each participant.

Handout 1.1: Overview of Sustainable Livelihoods Guidance Sheets for each
participant

Index cards and markers in the number of participants

Any material needed for the icebreaking exercise.
Key Messages
When introducing the learning program objectives (Slide 6):
The overall objectives of the learning program are: 1) to upgrade the skills of WFP and
partners’ assessors to conduct qualitative assessment and analysis of food and nutrition
security, and 2) integrate qualitative data collection and analysis with quantitative data
collection and analysis within the usual WFP food security analysis.
Like quantitative assessments, qualitative assessment can be onerous and time consuming.
Mastering qualitative assessment requires a breadth and in-depth understanding of food
security concepts, qualitative assessment approaches and extensive field experience. This
learning program will build your capacities in these three areas. It is, however, only a
starting point.. You will need to participate in real-life assessments to sharpen the
knowledge and skills acquired during this training.
When presenting the SLF (Slides 12-22)
For any qualitative food security and nutrition assessment, you need to underpin your data
collection and analysis by a conceptual framework.
The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF) approach is one of the frameworks
commonly used for enabling the understanding of the complex issues of poverty and food
insecurity, and –more importantly- of how they affect livelihood outcomes.
The basic premise is that a household’s livelihood outcomes are largely determined by the
interplay of the household’s assets, its vulnerability context, the policies and institutions
affecting its livelihood and its coping strategies.
Guidance Materials
Documents in folder titled Additional References.
Facilitator Guidance and session preparation
This session includes a 20-25 minute lecture on the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework
(SLF), on which the UNICEF Food and Nutrition Security Conceptual Framework (used by
WFP) is based. If you are not familiar with the SLA, make sure to review the reference
documents within the folder tilted “Additional References”.
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Room Setup
Group work setup, with tables in the number of groups (placed around the training hall)
and in the middle a U-shaped table for plenary discussions and presentations.
Session Activities
The session is divided into four sub-sessions as follows:
1) Welcome and Introduction of the Learning Program
2) The pre-test
3) Quick review of food security pillars and a high-level introduction of the SLF
4) Definition of key terms and introduction of qualitative data
The following paragraphs suggest how to implement the session activities.
Welcome & Introduction
35 minutes
Present the workshop title, sponsor and duration (Slides 1-5).
Let participants introduce themselves in a creative way using any ice breaking activity.
Agree on ground rules. Suggest funny penalties for not following rules. You could present a
first rule (for example, no use of cell phones during the training). Other rules could be
keeping to time, no speaking out of turn and regrouping on time. Write the ground rules on
a flip chart paper and hang it on the wall during the entire workshop.
Ask participants to write their expectations from the workshop on an index card. Collect
and read all cards aloud. Organize them in coherent way on the wall. Tape the cards on the
wall next to the participants’ expectations. They will be reviewed during the last session of
the workshop.
Introduce the objectives and agenda of the training (Slides 6-7).
Pre-Test
20 minutes
Introduce the pre-test (slides 8-10).
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Participants have 15 minutes to do the pre-test. Grade them later and keep results for
reporting. The pre-test results will be used to measure the effectiveness of the training by
comparing them to the post-training test results.
Quick Review of Food Security Pillars and the Sustainable Livelihood Approach (SLA)
45 minutes
Ask for volunteers to define “food security”. Do not comment on definitions given. After
three or four participants have given their definitions, present the definition (Slide 11).
Highlight that food security is a flexible concept as reflected in the many attempts to define
it in the research and policy literature.
Remember:
Food Availability: All forms of domestic production, commercial imports and food aid. Food
availability might be aggregated at the regional, national, district or community level. Food availability is
determined by: local production; food from trade; stocks: food held by traders and in government
reserves; food supplied by the government and/or aid agencies.
Food access concerns a household’s ability to acquire adequate amounts of food, through one or a
combination of own home production and stocks, purchases, barter, gifts, borrowing and food aid. The
following are some examples: own production – crops, livestock, etc.; hunting, fishing and gathering of
wild foods; purchase at markets, shops, etc.; barter – exchange of items for food; gifts from
friends/relatives, community, government, aid agencies, etc. Food may be available but not accessible to
certain households if they cannot acquire a sufficient quantity or diversity of food through these
mechanisms.
Food utilization refers to households’ use of the food to which they have access, and ability to absorb
and metabolize the nutrients – the conversion efficiency of the body. Food utilization includes: the ways
in which food is stored, processed and prepared, including the water and cooking fuel used, and hygiene
conditions; feeding practices, particularly for individuals with special nutrition needs, such as babies,
young children, the elderly, sick people and pregnant or lactating women; the sharing of food within the
household, and the extent to which this corresponds to individuals’ nutrition needs - growth, pregnancy,
lactation, etc.; the health status of each member of the household.
Food may be available and accessible but certain household members may not benefit fully if they do not
receive an adequate share of the food in terms of quantity and diversity, or if their bodies are unable to
absorb food because of poor food preparation or sickness.
Ask participants to explain the theoretical basis on which WFP’s analysis of food and
nutrition security is built. Ask about a specific framework. After a few minutes of
discussion, highlight that WFP’s analysis is informed by what is known as the Food and
Nutrition Security Conceptual Framework. Note that this framework enables the
understanding of the causes of food insecurity and vulnerability.
Present the framework (slide 12). Note that the framework informs not only the selection
of indicators for analysis and use in geographical targeting, but also the design of field
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assessment instruments and the organization of standardized reporting formats. The
framework considers food availability, food access and food utilization as core
determinants of food security, and links these to households’ asset endowments, livelihood
strategies, and political, social, institutional and economic environment. Do not explain the
framework and the relations within it yet.
Ask participants why it is important to have a framework for assessment purposes. Discuss
the answers: that a framework provides the theoretical backbone for developing initial
hypotheses on the causes and effects of food insecurity and vulnerability, and provides a
way of visualizing the relationships among the factors that affect food and nutrition
security.
Explain the framework, highlighting the following:

The food security status of any household or individual is typically determined by
the interaction of a broad range of agro-environmental, socio-economic and
biological factors. There is no single, direct measure of food security. However, the
complexity of the food security problem can be simplified by focusing on three
distinct but interrelated dimensions: aggregate food availability, household food
access and individual food utilization.

Vulnerability is a forward-looking concept for assessing community and household
exposure and sensitivity to future shocks. Ultimately, vulnerability depends on the
ability to cope with exposure to the risks associated with shocks such as drought,
flood, crop blight or infestation, economic fluctuation and conflict. The ability to
manage these risks is determined largely by the characteristics of a household or
community, particularly its asset base and its livelihood and food security strategies.

The exposure to risk is determined by the frequency and severity of natural and
human-induced hazards and by their socio-economic and geographical scope. The
determinants of coping capacity include the levels of a household’s natural, physical,
economic, human, social and political assets, the levels of its production, income and
consumption, and its ability to diversify its income sources and consumption to
mitigate the effects of the risks it may face at any moment.

Coping behavior often involves activities such as the sale of land or other productive
assets, the cutting of trees for sale as fuelwood or, in extreme cases, the prostitution
of girls. These practices can undermine not only the long-term productive potential
of vulnerable households, but also important social institutions and relationships.
The extent of the reliance on destructive practices is an indicator of vulnerability
levels during a crisis.

An understanding of how households cope is an important aspect of analysis, but an
understanding of how well they cope, or of their resilience, is even more important.
How well the local economy can absorb the additional labour or products – such as
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livestock or fuelwood – that come on the market as the result of coping behaviour,
and the stability of wages and prices of these products are critical factors to
understand vulnerability.

Food security analysis is a static view of food access and household constraints to
food access, from either a short- or a long-term perspective. In contrast,
vulnerability analysis views food access from a more dynamic, forward-looking
perspective, because it includes the element of risk that households face in their
day-to-day decision-making, and their capacity to respond effectively over time.

There is a significant overlap between households that are currently food-insecure
and those who are at risk due to severe fluctuations in food access. Although all
households may be considered vulnerable, from an operational perspective the
primary focus of vulnerability analysis should always be on the households that are
nearly or already food-insecure.

Early identification of problems clearly reduces the likelihood of malnutrition and
excess mortality. Prompt action at the lower levels of the Conceptual Framework is
therefore highly desirable.
Check if participants have any questions. Keep answers brief and to the point. Refer
participants to WFP’s Emergency Food Security Assessment Handbook for further
information:
http://www.wfp.org/content/emergency-food-security-assessment-handbook
As a transition into the introduction of the SLF, ask if anyone knows on which basis the
Food and Nutrition Security Conceptual Framework was developed. Take a few answers
and then explain that it was adapted from The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework.
Development practitioners developed it in the 1990s to simplify the analysis and improve
the understanding of poverty and hardship and the ability of people to cope with shocks.
The ultimate purpose was to increase the effectiveness of development and relief
programming.
The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF) is another conceptual framework to
examine the living conditions of populations in a holistic manner and design more effective
emergency and recovery programs. It is congruent with WFP’s Strategic Plan (2008-2011)
and strong commitment to supporting livelihoods and processes of recovery. Aspects of
livelihoods recovery are reflected in at least three of WFP’s five strategic objectives:
 SO1: “save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies”
 SO3” “restore and build lives and livelihoods in post-conflict, post-disaster or
transition situation”
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 SO5: “strengthen the capacities of countries to reduce hunger, including through
hand-over strategies and local purchases”
Explain the SLF and show the linkages with the Food and Nutrition Security Conceptual
Framework (slides 13 -23), noting the following:

The SLF examines livelihood groups through a household focus. Generally, a
representative group of households with similar attributes is studied and then a
generalization is made about the conditions of that group and the assistance they
need. This generalization is not made, however, until we are able to understand the
living conditions of the households and the factors that affect them.

Slides 15 and 16 / Asset Mix: Stress that people with high social status have often a
better food security situation than others with similar other assets. Their higher
social status allows them better access to assistance or food purchases on credit.
The invisible social status often plays a significant role to access community
resources. Examining how the assets mix affects the food security pillars is thus
extremely important not only from an assessment perspective, but also from a
programming perspective to design interventions that effectively contribute to
recovery by building the needed livelihood assets (for example, when households’
food access is constrained by limited employment opportunities, we could design a
program to build the financial capital of these households, for example through FFW
or FFT).

Slide 17: Point clearly to the reduced livelihood pentagon of the woman in the
example (in red). Note: If someone asks how the pentagon was drawn, point out
that while there are several ways of doing this, it is usually based on comparative
analysis of data gathered, and then generalized to a segment of the population with
the same profile. Nevertheless, note that pentagons can be useful as a focus point for
debate about suitable entry points, how these will serve the needs of different social
groups and likely trade-offs between different assets. However, using the pentagon
in this way is necessarily representative. At a generic level there is no suggestion
that we can – or should – quantify all assets, let alone develop some kind of common
currency that allows direct comparison between assets.

Slide 18 / Vulnerability context: Stress that the assets mix is determined not only by
examining a household’s current assets, but also by examining its vulnerability
context and how recent or potential future events may have affected or may affect
these assets. For example, a household may have lost its house as a result of an
earthquake, but the commercial construction efforts following the earthquake may
have tripled the value of the household’s agricultural lands. Shocks are for example
wars, drought, famine, natural disasters, illness or death of the breadwinner.

Slide 19 / policies, institutions and processes: Explain that livelihoods frameworks
include the institutions, organizations, policies and legislation that shape
livelihoods. Their importance cannot be over-emphasized. They operate at all levels,
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from the household to the international arena, and in all spheres, from the most
private to the most public. They effectively determine: access (to various types of
capital, to livelihood strategies and to decision-making bodies and sources of
influence); the terms of exchange between different types of capital; and returns
(economic and otherwise) to any given livelihood strategy. In addition, they have a
direct impact on whether people have a feeling of inclusion and well-being.
The structures in the framework are the private and public organizations that
establish and implement policy and legislation, deliver services, and perform all
other functions that affect livelihoods. Structures operate at various levels. This is
most obvious in the case of governmental organizations. These operate in cascading
levels with varying degrees of autonomy and scope of authority, depending upon the
extent and nature of decentralization. Private commercial organizations also
operate at different levels, from the multi-national to the very local; it is not only the
local level that is relevant to livelihoods. Analysis should therefore be sensitive to
the roles and responsibilities of the different levels of structures and identify those
that are of greatest importance to livelihoods.
Structures are important. Without legislative bodies there is no legislation. Without
courts to enforce it, legislation is meaningless. Without traders, markets would be
limited to direct trades between buyers and sellers. The absence of structures can
be a major constraint to development. This is a particular problem in remote rural
areas. Many important organizations – both private and public sector – do not reach
these areas. As a result, services go undelivered, markets do not function and
people’s overall vulnerability and poverty increase. Moreover, when people do not
have access to state structures, they often have little knowledge of their rights and a
very limited understanding of how government functions. It is therefore hard for
them to exert pressure for change on the processes (policies, legislation, etc.) that
affect their livelihoods.

Slide 20 / policies, institutions and processes: The influence of policies, institutions
and structures extends throughout the framework. This slide highlights that they
have a direct impact on the vulnerability context. Processes (policies) affect trends
both directly (e.g. fiscal policy/economic trends) and indirectly (e.g. health
policy/population trends). They can also help cushion the impact of external shocks
(e.g. policy on drought relief and the density of relief providing agencies). Other
types of processes are also important. For example, well-functioning markets can
help reduce the effects of seasonality by facilitating inter-area trade.

Slide 21 / livelihood strategies: in simple terms, livelihood strategies are actions
that people take to deal with their conditions (for example, eating less frequently,
sending children to work, buying cheaper varieties, ensuring that men eat more
than women within a household as they are the breadwinners, etc.).

Slide 22: livelihood outcomes are determined by the confluence of the asset mix,
vulnerability context, policies and institutions and the household’s livelihood
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strategies. Hence, livelihood outcomes could be positive (e.g. health and happiness)
or negative (e.g. malnutrition and misery). Stress that food insecurity, food security
and what lies in-between is a livelihood outcome. Well-being is another livelihood
outcome. People’s sense of well-being is affected by numerous factors, possibly
including: their self-esteem, sense of control and inclusion, physical security of
household members, their health status, access to services, political
enfranchisement, maintenance of their cultural heritage, etc.
Slide 23: when presenting the framework, pull the information provided in the
previous slides together, highlighting that like all frameworks, it is a simplification;
the full diversity and richness of livelihoods, and complexity thereof, can be fully
understood only by qualitative and participatory analysis at a local level.
Introduction to Qualitative Data
20 minutes
Explain (slide 24) that the understanding we develop from applying the SLF forms the
foundation for food assistance programming.
Present Exercise No 1 (slide 25).
Ask each participant to briefly write down on an index card an information category (not
specific data) that they would provide to a food security assessment team visiting their
country. You can give an example of a category of information (unemployment rate, % of
population food insecure, top causes of food insecurity, etc.). Once the five minutes are up,
collect the cards. For each card, discuss with participants whether the data category on the
card classifies as quantitative or qualitative and why. It is likely that the wording of some
of the data categories provided will make categorization difficult. In such cases, explore
what is exactly meant and categorize as appropriate. Organize the cards on the wall as you
discuss them as “qualitative” / “quantitative” for everyone to see.
Once the classification is done, explain what qualitative data is (slide 26). Ask participants
why qualitative data is important in food security assessment and discuss answers. Show
examples (slide 27 and 28) of how qualitative data can better explain or complete the
picture emerging from quantitative data. Draw participants’ attention to the fact that
qualitative assessments are becoming more important within WFP as stand-alone and
integrated assessments due to the richness of information they provide.
Check if anyone has any questions and invite all for a 30 minute break.
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