Safety net programmes, as part of the broader social protection agenda, aim to address risks, vulnerability and social exclusion. Safety nets help vulnerable households be protected against livelihoods risks, maintain an adequate level of food consumption and improve food security. They also help prevent them from adopting damaging coping strategies and depleting their assets. In the context of agriculture, they might also alleviate liquidity constraints for smallholders, boost demands for farm products, foster income-generating strategies, and create multiplier effects throughout the local economy.[1]
The concept of seasonal food security falls between chronic and transitory food insecurity. It is similar to chronic food insecurity as it is usually predictable and follows a sequence of known events. However, as seasonal food insecurity is of limited duration it can also be seen as recurrent, transitory food insecurity. It occurs when there is a cyclical pattern of inadequate availability and access to food. This is associated with seasonal fluctuations in the climate, cropping patterns, work opportunities (labour demand) and disease.[2]
The SLP is a planning tool for governments in coordinating stakeholders to identify short- and long-term interventions suited to a variety of contexts. It brings humanitarian and development interventions together by combining seasonal, livelihood, gender, crisis and programme aspects to identify the most appropriate range of interventions, and then aligning these into complementary short- and long-term plans for action. SLP complements existing government planning processes, providing a framework to align ongoing efforts at national and sub-national levels. It strengthens the design, planning and implementation of longer-term resilience building programmes, developed in partnership and aligned to national and local priorities.[3]This process populates the programme strategies identified through an integrated context analysis (ICA) into an integrated multi-year operational plan, identifying new partnerships, and complementing existing (or assisting to develop new) local level government plans in ways that enable greater coordination by local authorities. The SLP is the second step of the three-pronged approach (3PA) and done at sub-national levels (see 3PA reference), followed by Community-based Participatory Planning (CBPP) exercises.[4]
Variations that occur at specific regular intervals shorter than a year, such as monthly, or quarterly with cyclical patterns. In terms of food security, seasonality impacts production, thus interventions need to be planned accordingly to ensure timely interventions (to minimize food gap and to ensure that inputs are delivered at the precise time of the year).[5]
A Secondary Data Analysis (SDA) aims to give an initial idea of what conditions prevail in a given area of interest at a given point in time, based on the review of existing material. It can be carried out at any point in time and in all real-life contexts, ranging from normal (baseline) conditions to emergency conditions. SDAs help identify information gaps and design better targeted assessments to address them.[6]The SDA uses a variety of available data and indicators - including population and household censuses, statistical databases, poverty & nutrition surveys, spatial data sets - to map the spatial patterns of food insecurity and identify its underlying causes.[7]
‘Sector’ refers to a discrete technical area of humanitarian action. The implementation of the Cluster approach seeks to formalise the accountabilities and responsibilities of a lead agency for a technical sector. At the country level, the Representative of the Cluster lead agency is accountable to the Humanitarian Coordinator. This accountability is the primary difference between a sector and a cluster. In countries where the Government has the responsibility for coordination, we often refer to sector leads rather than cluster leads.[8]Sectoral coordination mechanisms report to designated Government bodies within Government-led emergency or crisis. The lifespan of emergency sector coordination is defined by Government policies or declarations. Sudan, oPt, Lebanon are examples of Food Security Sector (as per 2017).[9]
Severe acute malnutrition[10]is defined by a very low weight for height, by visible severe wasting, or by the presence of nutritional oedema.[11]Severe acute malnutrition is a major cause of death in children under 5, and its prevention and treatment are critical to child survival and development.[12]
A sudden event with an important and often negative impact on the vulnerability of a system and its parts. Shocks represent significant negative (or positive) impacts on people’s means of living and on the functioning of a state.[13]
Slow-onset disasters are also referred to as ‘creeping’ or ‘lingering’ disasters, they develop slowly and do not cause death immediately. In principle, this provides the opportunity to take timely measures in the field of preparedness, prevention and mitigation. A problem is that it may remain for a long time ambiguous whether the situation will really turn into a disaster, affecting a timely and proactive response.[14]
An inter-agency initiative launched in 2002 by a network of organizations and humanitarian practitioners. SMART advocates a multi-partner, systematized approach to provide critical, reliable information for decision-making, and to establish shared systems and resources for host government partners and humanitarian organizations.[15]
The SAG is the advisory group at country level that governs the FSC, though a multi- stakeholder representation, ensures that the FSC is addressing the coordination, management and technical capacity development objective of the FSC. The gFSC also has a SAG.[16]
Long term trends or pressures that undermine the stability, weak the potential of a given system and deepen the vulnerability of its actors.[17]
Stunting is defined as a reduced growth rate, often as a result of chronic malnutrition. Stunted children are too short for their age.[18]
Rapid onset disasters, occur within a short or not existing anticipatory window and little or no warning, causing losses of lives and damage to crops and food stocks, disrupting food supply and marketing systems, and/or disrupting economic activities and livelihoods.[19]
Supplementary feeding is defined as the provision of extra food to children or families beyond the normal ration of their home diets. It can take place in the home, feeding centres, healthcare centres and schools.
[1]http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ISFP/Social_safety_nets.pdf
[2]http://www1.wfp.org/social-protection-and-safety-nets
[3]https://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/communications/wfp261746.pdf
[4]Part 2 - seasonal livelihood programming - download pdf (1.18 Mb)
[5]http://www.fao.org/giews/earthobservation/asis/index_1.jsp?lang=en
[6]https://www.wfp.org/food-security/assessments/secondary-data-analyses
[7]http://one.wfp.org/operations/vam/vam_in_action/cva_2_sda_0204.html
[10]Nutrition Glossary, UNICEF available at https://www.unicef.org/lac/Nutrition_Glossary_(3).pdf
[11] http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/malnutrition/en/
[12]https://www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_sam.html
[13]https://www.oecd.org/dac/Resilience%20Systems%20Analysis%20FINAL.pdf
[14]Frerks, G., D.J.M. Hilhorst, and A. Moreyra. 1999. "Natural disasters: Definitions and concepts." In: Natural disasters; a framework for analysis and action; Report for MSF. Wageningen: Disaster Studies. 7-15. (9 pp).
[15]http://smartmethodology.org/about-smart/
[16]http://fscluster.org/page/gfsc-strategic-advisory-group-sag
[17]OECD 2014 https://www.oecd.org/dac/Resilience%20Systems%20Analysis%20FINAL.pdfand Zseleczky and Yosef, 2014 http://www.fsincop.net/fileadmin/user_upload/fsin/docs/resources/2020resilienceconfpaper05.pdf
[18]Source: UNICEF, Malnutrition dictionary available at http://newgo.wfp.org/documents/malnutrition-dictionary
[19]Source: For a more detailed description please refer to http://www.who.int/elena/titles/child_growth/en/ and Community-based supplementary feeding for promoting the growth of children under five years of age in low and middle income countries available at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD005039.pub3/abstract