Displaying items by tag: Food security

This review is concerned with the financing arrangements for programmes that address acute malnutrition at scale through the community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM). The CMAM approach is geared towards the early detection, treatment and counselling of moderately and severely acutely malnourished children, in the community, by community agents. Until the late 1990s, treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) was through therapeutic feeding centres in hospitals and healthcare centres. Performance was poor, coverage was extremely limited (less than 5% of the SAM population), mortality was often in excess of 30% and recovery rates were low. The CMAM approach was first…

CSDi is announcing the launch of a diploma module of eight online Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), Community Based Adaptation (CBA) & Rural Development field courses. These courses begin by introducing basic climate change concepts, and develop as participants identify local community vulnerabilities, identify climate change risks and hazards, investigate appropriate solutions, develop full projects, launch and manage them. A strong course component is the integration of DRR and CBA within course participant’s traditional development projects.

There was a time not so long ago when response to a food security crisis was based on a limited handful of options, and information and analysis played little role in response planning. Donor resources now support a much broader range of response options than they did a decade ago, requiring more choices on the part of implementing agencies. Significant effort has gone into improving needs assessments and situation analyses to provide evidence about the extent of need, the populations affected and for how long they might need assistance. In theory, assessments are intended to inform programme response choices, but…

In recent decades the drylands of the Horn of Africa have become one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world. Drought in particular affects more people, more frequently than any other disaster. Drought periods were not always so disastrous but, combined with the region’s underlying economic, social and environmental vulnerability, the impacts upon dryland inhabitants are extreme. Despite calls for greater investment in preparedness, early response and long-term resiliencebuilding, the 2011 drought crisis in the region illustrates how this has not yet been translated into reality. It is an intuitive belief that investment in early response and resilience-building in…

A team from Valid International and Humanitarian Outcomes are conducting an evaluation for the European Commission of the extent to which DG ECHO's food assistance contributes to nutrition objectives. We would like to ask the wider humanitarian community: Do you have any good practical examples of food assistance that has effectively contributed to nutrition objectives (i.e. to reduce or avoid excess mortality and morbidity due to undernutrition) at all stages of the project cycle (situation/causal analysis, response design, implementation and monitoring)? What are some of the main challenges encountered in trying to do this? What needs to happen to address…

Koenraad Van Brabant in conversation with Hakim N. Feerasta, Resident Representative, the Aga Khan Development Network, Tajikistan Koenraad Van Brabant The Aga Khan is recognised as the spiritual head (imam) of the Ismaeli community, and the majority of Ismaelis in Tajikistan live in the eastern region of Gorno-Badakshan. Are you working specifically with the Ismaelis? Hakim N. Feerasta Well, there are an estimated 25m Ismaelis all over the world. Tajikistan is one of the countries where Ismaelis live. But the Aga Khan Development Network is a secular organisation; it does not work only for the Ismaeli community. We operate within…

Koenraad Van Brabant, outgoing HPN Coordinator, interviews Christina ter Braak, MSF-Holland, Uzbekistan Koenraad Van Brabant Christina, how does a young woman from Holland end up working in Uzbekistan? Christina ter Braak My first six-month stay in Uzbekistan was in 1996, teaching Dutch and English at Tashkent University. After my Bachelor’s degree, I did a Master’s in development studies. For my thesis – on unemployment in Uzbekistan – I spent another three months there doing research; every single person I spoke to had an opinion on the subject. Subsequently, I applied for a job in the Tashkent office of Human Rights Watch (HRW), and was invited for recruitment tests in New York. But the reply…

This event was held to launch the Humanitarian Exchange 55: the crisis in the Sahel. Chair: Mike Wooldridge – BBC World Affairs Correspondent Speakers in London: Paul Melly – Journalist and Associate Fellow, Africa programme, Chatham House Simon Levine – Research Fellow, Humanitarian Policy Group, ODI Nick Martlew – Senior Conflict and Humanitarian Advisor, Save the Children UK Camilla Knox-Peebles – Head of Emergency Food Security and Livelihoods Oxfam GB Speaker in Dakar: David Gressly – UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel Speaker in Niamey: Jean-Nicolas Marti – Head of the ICRC delegation for Mali and Niger This year's…

Reconstruction: Food Security, Nutrition and Home Gardens Online Learning Course Begins October 30, 2012 What is Food Security? What is good nutrition? What garden activities show evidence of supporting them? Learn: What works, how to introduce food gardens to communities, how to conduct a baseline survey, and how to implement a 12-month family garden project. For many people living in the cycle of poverty, the idea of starting a kitchen garden might seem overwhelming. It could be the time investment, it might be perceived costs. It might be a lack of know-how: what to plant, how to plant, and how…

Ever since the first warnings of drought and poor harvests in the Sahel emerged in late 2011, vulnerable communities in the region have been threatened by a looming food crisis. Now, an estimated 18.7 million people in 9 countries within the Sahel region have been affected and over one million children are at risk of severe malnutrition. The crisis has been compounded by the continuing conflict in Mali which has displaced several thousand people and hindered secure access to others in need of humanitarian assistance, and severe flooding in Niger which has killed over 80 people and displaced over 500,000…