New IFRC guide on food security assessments

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has just published a guide on how to conduct food security assessments¹. The guide is intended for national society staff and volunteers in Africa who want to undertake food security assessments but have no background knowledge in this area. The guide is meant to be simple and highly practical and leads the reader through all the steps of doing an assessment, including the type of questions to ask and how to ask them. It even advises on how to prepare for the assessment and how to write the terms of reference. Although the examples and photos are taken from African programmes, the guide has been written so that it can be utilised in other continents.

The guide provides techniques and examples of how to perform a food security assessment. The annex also contains useful information, e.g. how to do a MUAC measurement and a mapping exercise and how to make a seasonal calendar and do proportional piling, pair-wise ranking and year ranking.

The guide can be used both in rural and urban settings and is available in both English and French.

To download a pdf file, How to conduct a food security assessment. A step-by-step guide for National Societies in Africa - International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies, go to http://www.proventionconsortium.org/files/76600-FSAssessment-en-LR.pdf (English version, 5.8MB) and http://www.proventionconsortium.org/files/76602-FS-Assessment-fr-LR.pdf (French version, 3.5MB)

For further information, please contact, Mija Ververs, IFRC, email: Mija.Ververs@ifrc.org

¹IFRC (2005). How to conduct a food security assessment. A step by step guide for National Societies in Africa. International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies