Targeting in Emergencies

Targeting is a process that spans the life of a food aid operation, not just the initial phases of identifying beneficiaries; finding the right balance between inclusion and exclusion errors, opportunity costs and programme costs is a complex task. This paper establishes basic principles to guide decision-making in a range of emergency situations, drawing on the decades of experience in WFP and its partners in targeting food aid during emergency interventions. The principles offered here are intended to improve WFP’s ability to find the right balance, bearing in mind that every emergency requires situation-specific analysis and targeting approaches.