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Question 1

What is food security?

Answer 1

A situation where all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life

Question 2

What is food insecurity?

Answer 2

A lack of secure access to sufficient amounts of safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life. It may be caused by unavailability of food, insufficient purchasing power, or inadequate use at the household level

Question 3

What are the types of food insecurity?

Answer 3

1. Chronic - Long-term or persistent
2. Seasonal - Linked to specific periods or seasons
3. Transitory - Temporary or short-term

Question 4

What is undernourishment (chronic hunger)

Answer 4

A state, lasting for at least one year, of inability to acquire enough food, defined as a level of food intake insufficient to meet dietary energy requirements

Question 5

Name some key drivers of food insecurity

Answer 5

Conflict, disasters, economic shocks, climate change, social exclusion, pests, and poverty

Question 6

What did Malthus predict about population growth and famine?

Answer 6

Population grows geometrically (1, 2, 4, 8…), while food production increases arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4…), leading to inevitably famine due to overpopulation

Question 7

What is famine according to Sen (1981)?

Answer 7

“A particularly virulent form of starvation causing widespread death”

Question 8

What is famine according to Walker (1989)?

Answer 8

“A socio-economic process causing the accelerated destitution of vulnerable groups, leading to their inability to sustain life through access to food”

Question 9

What is famine according to Sen (1981)?

Answer 9

“Starvation is not due to a lack of food but rather due to unequal access to food, where some people do not have enough to eat”

Question 10

What are some of the key questions to explore in this course?

Answer 10

1. When does hunger become famine?
2. What is famine, and when do we call it a crisis?
3. How do political and social dynamics influence food crises?

Question 11

What are the main objectives of this course?

Answer 11

To explore the causes, nature, and effects of food crises, how they evolve over time, and what can be done to prevent or alleviate them

Question 12

What is under nutrition?

Answer 12

The outcome of undernourishment, and/or poor absorption and/or poor biological use of nutrients consumed as a result of repeated infectious disease.

It includes:
- being underweight for one’s age
- too short for one’s age (stunted)
- dangerously thin for one’s height (wasted)
- deficient in vitamins and minerals (micronutrient malnutrition)

Question 13

What is malnutrition?

Answer 13

It’s an abnormal physiological condition caused by inadequate, unbalanced or excessive consumption of macronutrients and/or micronutrients.

It includes undernutrition and overnutrition as well as micronutrients deficiencies

Question 14

Recent ‘famines’:

Answer 14

1. Ethiopia, 1999-2000 (71.000-122.700 deaths)
2. Malawi, 2001-2002 (47.000-85.000 deaths)
3. Niger, 2004-2005 (13.297-47.755 deaths) - Devereux (2009)
4. Horn of Africa, 2011 (50.000-260.000 deaths) (WFP)

Question 15

What is the IPC (Integrated Food Security Classification)?

Answer 15

It’s a tool for improving food security analysis and decision-making, comprised of organisations and
intergovernmental institutions, including:
- FAO
- WFP
- OXFAM
- Save the Children
- FEWSnet
- CARE
- European Commission

Question 16

5 phases of Food Security based on the IPC

Answer 16

1: Generally Food Secure
2: Moderately/ Borderline Food Insecure
3: Acute Food and Livelihood Crisis
4: Humanitation Emergency
5: Famine/ Humanitario Catastrophe

Question 17

1: Generally Food Secure (IPC)

Answer 17

Strategic assistance to pockets of food insecure groups
Investment in food and economic production systems
Eneable development of livelihood systems based on principles of sustainability, justice, and equity
Prevent emergence of structural hindrances to food security
Advocacy

Question 18

2: Moderately/ Borderline Food Insecure

Answer 18

Design & implement strategies to increase stability, resistance and resilience of livelihood systems, thus reducing risk
Provision of “safety nets” to high risk groups
Interventions for optimal and sustainable use of livelihood assets
Create contingency plan
Redress structural hindrances to food security
Close monitoring of relevant outcome and process indicators
Advocacy

Question 19

3: Acute Food and Livelihood Crisis

Answer 19

Support livelihoods and protect vulnerable groups
Strategic and complimentary sectoral support (e.g., water, shelter, sanitation, health, etc.)
Strategic interventions at community to national levels to create, stabilize, rehabilitate, or protect priority livelihood assets
Create or implement contingenccy plan
Close monitoring of relevant outcome and proccess indicators
Use “crisis as opportunity” to redress underlying structural causes
Advocacy

Question 20

4: Humanitation Emergency

Answer 20

Urgent protection of vulnerable groups
Urgently food access through complimentary interventions
Selected provision of complimentary sectoral support (e.g., water, shelter, sanitation, health, etc.)
Protection against complete livelihood asset loss and/or advocacy for access
Close monitoring of relevant outcome and process indicators
Use “crisis as opportunity” to redress underlying structural causes
Advocacy

Question 21

5: Famine/ Humanitario Catastrophe

Answer 21

Critically urgent protection of human lives and vulnerable groups
Comprehensive assistance with basic needs (e.g., food, water, shelter, sanitation, health, etc.)
Immediate policy/ legal revisions where necessary
Negotiations with varied political-economic interests
Use “crisis as opportunity” to redress underlying structural causes
Advocacy

Question 22

Which websites give an “early warning” when problems occur somewhere in the world?

Answer 22

e.g.: www.fews.net and www.ifpri.org

Question 23

What is the “Food Insecurity Experience Scale”?

Answer 23

To measure hunger, you have to look at physiological as well as socio-economic dimensions. Therefore, they created a scale.

Question 24

What is famine according to Hilhorst (2013)?

Answer 24

“There are in the end no objective criteria by which to measure a crisis. This means that an inquiry into conflict, disaster always has to start with the question WHO defined the crisis and HOW its response came about.”

Question 25

What is a crisis according to Rochelieu (1994)?

Answer 25

“Crises are social constructions. What is the story we tell about crises? People ‘construct’ out of a great many factors a story of crises.”

Question 26

What is a crisis according to Turner (1976)?

Answer 26

“An event, concentrated in time and space, which threatens a society or relatively self-sufficient subdivision of society with major unwanted consequences as a result of the collapse of precautions which had hitherto been culturally accepted or adequate.”

Question 27

Externalization of Crises (Turner, 1976):

Answer 27

“A crisis is an external event that threatens a society, leading to the collapse of its culturally accepted precautions.”

This definition focuses on crises as events that are ‘imposed on societies’ from the outside, often requiring outside intervention because local mechanisms are insufficient to cope with them.

Question 28

Example of ‘Externalization of Crises’: the Mursi people:

Answer 28

This example refers to how non-intervention in crises can imipact societies. It reflects the complexities of deciding when and how to intervene in crises.

Question 29

Politics of Declaring a Crisis (Richards, 1981):

Answer 29

Who declares a famine and for what purpose?

Declaring a famine or crisis has significant political and humanitarion implications, including:
- Attracting aid and donor interests (e.g., Kosovo)
- Legitimacy concerns, such as whether the declaration is genuine or serves other agendas (e.g., Ethiopia 1999-2000)
- Sometimes declaring a crisis late or intervening improperly (as in the Ethiopia case) can exacerbate the situation, leading to additional consequences, such as disease outbreaks in refugee camps