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

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Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Vegetable Oil

Beans

Sugar

Wheat flour high quality

Wheat flour 1st Grade

Tajikistan market prices (TJS/Kg) as of February 2010

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)