PRINCIPALES MODELOS TEÓRICOS 1 LA TRAGEDIA DE LOS COMUNES

There are a range of actions possible to address food and livelihood crisis. Appropriate responses are highly context-specific and will depend on the stage, severity and scale of the crisis; the type of crisis (whether rapid or slow-onset, protracted); and the quality of the infrastructure/degree of access to the affected area. Food availability and market conditions will determine the feasibility of cash- based and market-based interventions. The political, economic and security environment will determine the level of access to vulnerable and marginalized groups.

Decision trees showing decision-making criteria for selecting interventions are a useful tool. Generally, food assistance responses such as general food distributions are only appropriate in the initial acute stage of sudden-onset emergencies with the objective of saving lives when people are cut off from normal sources of food. Supplementary feeding programs can be paired with general food distributions to address high rates of moderate malnutrition in the area. Where food availabil- ity and market conditions are good, cash transfers are increasingly used in place of food aid to allow households to meet their immediate emergency needs according to their own priorities.

Response

type Examples Description

Responses to underelying contextual issues affecting vulnerability

Interventions supporting child and maternal health & nutrition

• Supplementary feeding program • Fresh food vouchers • Kitchen gardens • Food conservation • Nutrition education • Child-friendly spaces • WASH programs

Interventions focusing on the improvement of care and feeding practices will usually target women. They will aim to change behaviour around infant and young child feeding with child-friendly spaces and programs promoting psycho-social health, exclusive breastfeeding and hygiene education. They can also aim to support healthy food preparation practices with the provision of cooking equipment and fuel-efficient stoves, diet diversification with fresh food vouchers and kitchen gardens; and skills trainings on food processing and preservation such as pickling and drying techniques. These interventions can be tied into traditional supplementary feeding programs. Responses to underelying contextual issues affecting vulnerability

Surveillance

Interventions • Sentinel sites

Surveillance systems continuously follow and analyze a specific contextual situation, enabling timely and adequate responses to emerging critical situations. Findings and recommendations are shared with responsible stakeholders and actors to enable decision makers to adapt ongoing programs, define adequate strategies and necessary responses, and contribute to national early warning systems.

Applied Research

Interventions • Field studies

Applied research and innovative programs that help to identify and implement long-lasting solutions and appropriate responses to the identified needs of affected populations are a key commitment for ACF. They include field studies, documentation of ongoing projects, and research partnerships.

Advocacy Interventions

• Press releases • Publications • ACF HungerWatch

ACF advocates and lobbies for the needs and rights of crisis-affected populations, alerting of needs in the field, and ensuring awareness and information among various population groups, as well as between populations and stakeholders such as governments, administrators,

humanitarian actors, etc.

118 ACF Food Security and Livelihoods Assessment

Food distributions can be rapidly phased out depending on market functioning, to be replaced with livelihood support interventions such as asset replacement and public works. Asset replacement through voucher programs, fairs or in-kind distribution is appropriate where loss of productive assets has occurred and is hindering the return to productive activities. Public work programs in the form of cash-for-work are appropriate where food insecurity is the result of loss of employment or fall in wages. Livelihood interventions such as support to income-generating activities require stable environments to implement and are most appropriate in recovery and development phases. In settings of chronic instability and crisis, livelihood interventions need to be carefully considered and explicitly tailored to the context while following the policy and intervention principles of ACF.

Figure 12: Decision tree for acute food crisis LEGEND

NO

IN-KIND AID Are food, purchased inputs and

other basic items available

in sufficient quantity?

IN-KIND AID e.g. general food distribution, supplementary feeding,

food for work

IN-KIND AID COMMODITY VOUCHER (items provided by agencies or traders)

MARKET SUPPORT

CASH GRANT or VOUCHER CASH FOR WORK DESTOCKING PROGRAMME

IGA (in stable context)

NUTRITION PROGRAMMES e.g. SFC, TFC, canteens DIET DIVERSIFICATION e.g. fresh food

vouchers, kitchen gardens CASH GRANT CASH or COMMODITY VOUCHER

SEED or LIVESTOCK FAIR RESTOCKING PROGRAMME POST HARVEST TECHNOLOGIES e.g. stores, pests and disease control

MARKET SUPPORT e.g. support to traders, infrastructure

CBIs

IN-KIND AID CASH GRANT CASH or COMMODITY VOUCHER

NUTRITION PROGRAMMES WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE

HEALTH PROGRAMMES Will traders be willing

and able to adjust to the increased demand?

Are prices on an unusual

inflationary trend? Are prices

forecasted to increase?

Do security conditions allow easy physical access to markets and

sources of livelihoods?

Do people have access to food from

own production, safety nets or

community-based social networks?

Are land, seed stores, livestock, shelter, feed and other

productive assets intact?

Are populations at risk of malnutrition or already malnourished (due to health,

WASH or care practice factors)? Is the economy monetised?

Are markets functioning sufficiently?

Are markets competitive (nb of traders large enough to have fair prices)?

Are food stores sufficient at the household level?

Are diets adequate in energy and diversity?

COMMODITY VOUCHER and/or IN-KIND AID