Rethinking Food Security in Humanitarian Response

This paper serves as a background document to help frame discussion at the Food Security
Forum in Rome, April 2008. It focuses on policy and institutional reform issues centered on the links between chronic and transitory crises. The first part of the paper provides an overview of trends and future challenges. The second considers effectiveness of the “humanitarian system” in addressing food insecurity and whether the current institutional set-up is fit for service. The third part examines links between “chronic” and “transitory” food insecurity, and whether current
approaches to prevention and response appropriately bridge these two forms of vulnerability. A
concluding section highlights key issues, raising questions on gaps in the humanitarian system’s analytical capacity, its programmatic practices, and on food security policy more broadly.