Food Security and Nutrition Assessments

FSNAU's Rapid Food Security and Nutrition Assessments is designed for situations where physical access to the population is limited or when the speed of the assessment is a major consideration (such as during an emergency).  Within the FSNAU context, this approach focuses on nutritional and food security assessments which are completed within a period of 3-4 days and exclude the typical nutrition surveys normally conducted within a time frame of 10-14 days in Somalia.

Key Questions

i. Key driving questions:

• What is the extent and magnitude of a recent event on the population
• What interventions are required to save lives and livelihoods

ii. Specific questions:

• What are the levels of acute malnutrition?
• What are the mortality rates?
• What is the food security situation, compared with livelihood baseline data?
• What is the water and sanitation situation?
• What is the health environment?
• How is the social care environment for women and children?
• How do the food security, water and sanitation, health environment and the social care environment influence the nutrition situation and mortality rates?
• What coping strategies are being used, and what is their severity and trend?
• What are the anticipated food security outcomes of the shock?
• How many people are in need of emergency assistance, where are they, and what are their distinguishing social characteristics?
• What types of interventions are most likely to be effective and appropriate given the specific livelihood and political-economic contexts?

FSNAU Outputs from Rapid Food Security and Nutrition Assessments

Technical reports with the analysis of the food security and nutrition situation in context, possible scenarios for the near future based on the magnitude of the shock and appropriate recommendations.