Network Paper: Response analysis and response choice in food security crises : a roadmap

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 while needs assessments have improved, there is still often a disconnect between the kind of information typically provided by assessments and the kind of information that response choice requires. The process is best described as ‘response choice’, but is often called ‘response analysis’.

Most of the individuals interviewed in the course of this research emphasised that the creation of another prescriptive tool would not be very helpful. But there was a recognised need for guidance that would help decisionmakers to navigate the complex set of choices and existing tools, manage the constraints and risks and make the best use of the evidence and analysis that exists in order to inform the most rational and needs-based approach to response. This Network Paper addresses this need. It provides guidance to decision-makers by presenting response analysis and the overall process of response choice from several different perspectives. This is not a prescriptive tool. Rather, it is an in-depth discussion of the process of making an appropriate response choice, and an analysis of the most important factors involved in that choice.