Chapter 6


It is in the nature of emergencies that they are mostly unpredictable. Nevertheless, certain
provision can be made in order to mitigate the possible disastrous effects once they occur.
Such provisions include vulnerability assessment, early warning systems, food security
reserves at strategic locations, an institutional framework for effective response on all levels
(involving government institutions, foreign and multilateral aid organizations, NGOs), etc.
(see also Box. 6.2). Due to limited local capacities to cope with emergencies, external
assistance in kind of food, other material, and financial support is often indispensable for
launching relief programmes.

Relief assistance can be considered as effective, if it is targeted by commodity type, quantity,
and time according to need. However, due to the problems involved in sudden and large scale
relief operations, targeting is usually only achieved to a certain extent. It is imperative to
phase out general food relief as soon as the emergency is over, in order to avoid dependency
and severe distortions of local food production and marketing systems.

2.4 Project food aid

Project food aid is similar to relief aid in that it is provided on a grant basis, in support of
specific development objectives and beneficiary groups. Classical approaches to project food
aid are FFW projects and special feeding programmes (addressed in Chapter 5, section 3).
The distinction between project and other forms of food aid is not always clear. Project food
aid may serve relief purposes (e.g. FFW or feeding projects for vulnerable groups),
programme or relief aid may be used for food security projects (e.g. to build up food security
reserves), or the counterpart funds generated through monetised programme food aid may be
allocated for specific projects. Part of project food aid deliveries may also be monetised in
order to generate funds to pay the costs of internal distribution of the project organisation, or
for complementary financial inputs required in project implementation. The difference
between programme and project food aid is, in the latter case, largely reduced to the fact that
food aid is not provided directly to the government but to the project implementing agency.
This may be a national or an international, a governmental or a non-governmental
organisation.

2.5 The role of food aid interventions in alleviating food insecurity

The primary function of food aid consists in alleviating food insecurity resulting from
temporary or structural food deficits. Which food aid approach, and whether any form of food
aid, represents an appropriate intervention depends, to a large degree, on the nature of
existing food deficits and their causes. The food deficits may apply to a country as a whole,
to a specific drought prone or disaster affected area, or to a particular vulnerable population
group, and they can be the result of demand or supply based factors (e.g. shortfalls in income,
or in food production and supplies).

In order to analyse the role of food aid interventions in alleviating food insecurity, a
clarification has to be achieved as to the type of prevailing food deficits. The main distinction
to be made is between a market supply/import deficit and an effective demand deficit (for
details see typology of food deficits presented in Annex 1, section 2).


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