Food Security Policy, Evaluation and Impact Assessment

Sheryl L. Hendriks, Sheryl. L. Hendriks

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781351019804
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Sustainable Development
• Index: Economics

This book offers an essential, comprehensive, yet accessible reference of contemporary food security discourse and guides readers through the steps required for food security analysis.

Food insecurity is a major obstacle to development and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is a complex issue that cuts across traditional sectors in government and disciplines in academia. Understanding how multiple elements cause and influence food security is essential for policymakers, practitioners and scholars. This book demonstrates how evaluation can integrate the four elements of food security (availability, access, nutrition and resilience) and offers practical tools for policy and programme impact assessment to support evidence-based planning.

Aimed at researchers, postgraduates and those undertaking professional development in food studies, agricultural economics, rural development, nutrition and public health, the book is key reading for those seeking to understand evidence-based food security analysis.

PART I

The fundamentals of food security policy assessment in the era of the SDGs

1

FOOD SECURITY POLICY ANALYSIS AS A KEY ELEMENT IN ATTAINING SGD2 AND ADDRESSING FOOD POLICY FAILURES OF THE PAST

Sheryl L. Hendriks

1.1 Food insecurity – a global challenge

Food insecurity is one of the greatest challenges of our time. It is a complex concept, describing the deprivation of people from vulnerable groups across the globe. It exists in every country – not only in developing and poor countries, but even in the wealthy nations of the world. Our understanding of its causes is generally well grounded in scores of assessments conducted across the globe since the 1940s when the concept first emerged. However, the complex tangle of direct and indirect causes confounds our efforts to propose solutions (Hendriks 2015). While some progress has been made on some aspects of food insecurity, we have yet to find appropriate comprehensive and sustainable solutions.

Past efforts to intervene through public policy and community level efforts have typically been sectoral approaches. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) era offers some hope to driving integrated and sustainable solutions to problems such as food insecurity. Rather than focusing on developing countries alone, the SGDs are universal, applying to all countries and calling on us to ensure that ‘no one is left behind’ by development and progress. The SDGs come with a set of strong accountability principles for nations to work together to solving the critical issues of our time. Food insecurity is one of these issues.

Food security first emerged as a concept in the 1940s and is now is now widely used in designing, implementing and evaluating humanitarian emergency and development policies and programs. Food security is a central concern of every government – in the developed and developing world. Moreover, due to the nature of our globalized world, the actions of a single country or a region (such as Europe, Africa, South Asia, etc.) affect the food security of people in other countries, regions or the world. Disasters in one area affect food supply and demand in other geographical locations.

Food security is defined as the situation where “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active healthy life” (CFS 2012 as per the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) 1996 definition). The concept includes four interrelated elements, namely availability, access, utilization (nutrition) and stability (resilience). The first three – availability, access and utilization – are hierarchical in nature: food availability is necessary but not sufficient for access, and access is necessary but not sufficient for utilization (Webb et al. 2006). However, all three dimensions depend on stable availability, access to food supplies and the resources to acquire adequate food to meet the nutritional needs of all household members throughout their life cycle (Hendriks 2015).

1.2 The SDGs give us an opportunity to act multisectorally

Overcoming food insecurity and improving nutrition requires comprehensive policies, legislation, programmes, service delivery and monitoring. Most countries have a plethora of policies, strategies and programmes broadly addressing food security. Some have specific food security policies. Others have sectoral food security policies (e.g. Nigeria’s Agriculture Sector Food Security Policy). However, often a national vision for food security is lacking. Very few countries have comprehensive, consolidated, results-oriented action plans.

Yet, all 17 SGDs contain elements of food security-related indicators and principles. This offers an opportunity to integrate efforts to address the causes, mitigate the consequences and write food security impacts into the core accountability systems of national and global governance systems. This offers some promising opportunities to turn the tide of deprivation, break the cycle of undernourishment and tackle overweight issues. To take advantage of this moment, we need the human capacity for food security policy analysis, evaluation and impact assessment.

Currently, there is a lack of policy coherence. Fragmentation in the regulatory system and lack of harmonized policies, legislation and approaches of stakeholders (e.g. trade benefits vs health benefits) hinders implementation. No coordinating structure/body provides appropriate leadership and authority to reduce duplication and ensure efficient use of constrained resources. There is often lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities leading to a lack of accountability. Often there is no comprehensive national monitoring and evaluation framework and set of agreed upon indicators to determine if programmes are making an impact. Many countries do not have a single information system to provide comprehensive data for decision-making.

In addition, implementation capacity at all levels is often weak (especially with regard to community-based interventions and inter-sectoral coordination). There are leakages, bottlenecks and a lack of quality assurance in delivery. Coverage with regard to agricultural programmes, nutrition and social services is uneven and the neediest are often not able to access essential services and support. Human capacity is often lacking in many areas, especially with regard to community-based interventions. Referral systems across departments are lacking, resulting in mismanagement, leakages and duplication of services. This leads to inclusion and exclusion errors in targeting and in cases of severe undernutrition, contributes to increased mortality among infants.

Without comprehensive policies and strong institutions to coordinate and manage food security at the national and sub-national levels, governments and states are unlikely to make significant and rapid progress towards the SDGs (Hendriks and Covic 2016). As we know well, food security is a complex concept, requiring a comprehensive policy framework and leadership coordination that creates coherence in policy and actions across multiple sectors and levels (Hendriks and Covic 2016). While much can be done to improve food security through local initiatives and projects, it is most unlikely that a national-scale programme will succeed without strong leadership and visible signals of commitment from the highest levels in government (Malabo Montpellier Panel, 2017). Food security and nutrition need to be positioned as priorities at the highest level of governance within an integral element of funded comprehensive growth and development strategies (Hendriks and Covic 2016).

Recent increased interest in public policy influence and mutual accountability has given rise to the term ‘evidence-based policymaking’. An increased availability of public data bases, renewed investments in policy research and a growing focus on results-based development (such as in the SGDs) enable the evaluation of whether public investments are achieving their intended outcomes (EBPC, 2016).

In sum, ensuring food security at the national level typically requires the following elements:

1. Strong leadership at all levels of governance and society
2. Policy reform and alignment to ensure that food security is part of a prioritized policy agenda and framework that seeks to attain the state’s various obligations and commitments while at the same time achieving national development objectives
3. Creating and strengthening institutional and policy environments that enable multi-sectoral support of food security as well as nutrition and health goals.
4. Establishment of strong institutional structures to coordinate efforts and ensure that existing resources in agriculture, social protection, education, water and sanitation are leveraged to deliver high impact interventions at scale. This is usually more effective when located at the highest level of government.
5. Institutional arrangements for mutual accountability that bring together the various actors within government, the private sector and civil society.
6. Evidence to support the policymaking cycle, the identification of alternative policy options and the selection of the most appropriate choices among these alternatives.
7. Independent platforms for dialogue and engagement on emerging issues in the global, continental and national food security and nutrition domain.

1.3 Do we have the capacity to face the challenge?

There is no traditional field of study for food security. Due to the complexity of the concept, food security policy, evaluation and analysis requires the collective thinking of professionals from a range of traditional disciplines: agriculture, agricultural economics, economics, geography, rural development, nutrition, public health and public administration. One of the major constraints to comprehensive agriculture, food security and nutrition policy making is that the different sectors speak past each other, struggling to connect and grappling with conceptualization of complexity. Where officials are not up to date with current developments in the field, this creates increased frustration. Getting professionals from such a range of disciplines to work together is challenging. Food security policy, evaluation and analysis requires a transdisciplinary approach.

Transdisciplinarity is an emerging science that offers innovative methodologies for high-impact science through understanding and taking action on complex societal problems that can no longer be approached and solved by mono-disciplinary approaches only (Regeer and Bunders 2008; Lang et al. 2012). It adopts the integration of theoretical and methodological perspectives of multiple disciplines to generate novel conceptual and empirical analysis that transcends discipline perspectives and moves between, across and beyond traditional disciplines (Holistic Education Network of Tasmania 2011). Transdisciplinarity produces new knowledge with, rather than for society.

Food security training, therefore, demands a radically different approach to teaching, learning and researching than traditionally happens in institutions of higher learning and research. It demands a sound grounding in traditional science and teamwork that includes pure, natural and social sciences working to solve critical and complex issues.

There is an urgent needed to scale up the capacity necessary to meet the increasing demand for food security policy, evaluation and analysis. This book seeks to provide a much-needed go-to resource to address a significant gap in rigorous policy analysis, equip future professionals and bring the current cadre of development practitioners up to speed with the tools to undertake rigorous policy analysis in the era of evidence-based and impact-driven planning demanded by the SDGs and the new era of mutual accountability. It is deliberately pitched at the graduate level to ensure that a sound undergraduate specialization is broadened to allow for transdisciplinary understandings of complexity.

1.4 Aim and purpose of the book

This book seeks to build a sound theoretical basis for evidence-based food security planning, monitoring and evaluation to strengthen university-level and professional development training on the fundamental understanding of food security policy analysis; essential elements to ensure sound policies and the appropriate measures to evaluate the impact of actions aimed at attaining SDG2 in particular. It attempts to address a significant gap in comprehensive policy analysis and seeks to build the capacity of a cadre of professionals equipped with the tools to undertake rigorous policy analysis in the era of evidence-based planning and impact-driven action through the SDGs in the new era of mutual accountability.

The content is relevant to a range of professionals including:

• Food security policy analysis professions
• Graduate student training and research in the disciplines of agriculture, agricultural economics, economics, geography, rural development, nutrition, public health and public administration
• Public sector professionals across the domains of agriculture, health, nutrition, social welfare and trade
• Multinational agency staff
• Humanitarian aid agency and NGOs staff
• Development planners and public administration units
• Monitoring and evaluation professionals.

1.5 Outline of the book

The book is presented in four parts. The chapters in Part 1 cover the core elements of food security policy, including elements related to improving the availability and access to food, malnutrition (under nutrition, micronutrients as well as overweight and obesity) and food system resilience. Each section will present the pressing contemporary issues, reasons for policy failure and imperatives for policy reform. Recent developments in the understanding of these policy issues will be provided including food systems, nutrition transitions, conflict, migration and resilience. Part 2 includes chapters related to the stages in food security policy analysis. Each of these chapters provides the theoretical underpinnings; offering practical guidance for qualitative and quantitative analysis, suggestions for tools, techniques and approaches to develop the know-how related to identify appropriate indicators for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of implementing food security programmes. Part 3 provides an indicator toolkit to improve monitoring and evaluation as well as mutual accountability. Part four presents an overview of institutional elements, including information system design and institutional arrangements for coordination and governance.

References

CFS (Committee on World Food Security) (2012) ‘Coming to terms with terminology’, Report of the 39th session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), 15–20 October, CFS at Rome.

Covic, N. and Hendriks, S.L. (2016). ‘Introduction: The road to healthier diets and optimal nutrition’, in: N. Covic and S. Hendriks (eds) Achieving a nutrition revolution for Africa: The road to healthier diets and optimal nutrition. ReSAKSS Annual Trends and Outlook Report 2016, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington DC, pp. 1–5.

Evidence-based Policymaking Collaboration (EBPC) (2016) ‘Principles of evidence-based policymaking’, http://www.evidencecollaborative.org/principles-evidence-based-policymaking

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of boxes
• Preface and acknowledgements
• List of contributors
• List of acronyms and abbreviations
• Foreword
• PART I: The fundamentals of food security policy assessment in the era of the SDGs
• 1. Food security policy analysis as a key element in attaining SGD2 and addressing food policy failures of the past
• 2. How the understanding of food security and nutrition shapes policy analysis
• 3. Understanding the depth and severity of food security as a continuum of experiences
• 4. Contemporary policy issues related to food availability
• 5. Contemporary policy issues related to poverty and inequality and the imperatives to improve access to food
• 6. Contemporary policy issues and the imperatives to reduce malnutrition
• 7. Mitigating negative nutrition transitions: Cultivating diversity in food systems
• 8. Contemporary policy issues in food assistance
• PART II: Practical guidance on in the components of evidence-based food security policy analysis
• 9. Assessing the coherence of broader development policies for food security
• 10. The policymaking process: Introducing the Kaleidoscope Model for food security policy analysis
• 11. Developing and applying a theory of change assessment
• 12. The essential elements of assessment, monitoring and evaluation to determine the impact of policies and programmes
• 13. Identification of risks and vulnerable populations
• 14. Institutional arrangements for governance, coordination and mutual accountability
• 15. Gender and food security
• 16. Inclusion and engagement with Indigenous Peoples
• PART III: Measurement and information systems
• 17. Measuring food insecurity
• 18. The Integrated Phase Classification approach as an example of comprehensive system approaches
• PART IV: Practical insights for implementation, monitoring and evaluation
• 19. Shaping food security agendas: Notes from the field on challenges, solutions and promising ideas
• 20. What next for evidence-based food security policy analysis?
• Index