Piece of the Puzzle Midwest Store Fixtures The Missing Piece of the Puzzle Midwest Store Fixtures.
Seasonality_The Missing Piece of the Undernutrition Puzzle
Transcript of Seasonality_The Missing Piece of the Undernutrition Puzzle
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SEASONALITYThe missing piece of the undernutrition puzzle?
December 2013
Action Against Hunger www.actionagainsthunger.org.uk
Action Against Hunger | ACF International is an international humanitarian organisation committed to ending child hunger. Recognised
as a leader i the ght agaist malutritio, ACF works to save the lives of malourished childre while providig commuities withsustaiable access to safe water ad log-term solutios to huger. With 30 ears of expertise i emergec situatios of coict, aturaldisaster ad chroic food isecurit, ACF rus life-savig programmes i some 40 coutries beettig earl 5 millio people each ear.
KEY MESSAGESnSeasoalit is itegral to livelihoods for the
majorit of the world’s poor. Repeated exposure to
seasoal stress ma lead to use of erosive copig
mechaisms which i tur udermies households’
abilit to cope i the log term.
nTo couter the adverse effects of seasoalit,
a seasoal perspective must be built ito atioal
govermets’ povert reductio ad resiliece
buildig strategies. At miimum, govermets
eed to scale up seasoal social protectio ad
pre-positio health ad utritio stocks i risk proe
areas well before the oset of the lea seaso.
nA exible log-term perspective is eeded;attempts to use short-term humaitaria fudig
aloe to address seasoalit are futile. Fiacig
mechaisms must facilitate the itegratio of
humaitaria respose ito developmet fuds,
ad must be exible eough to allow practitioers
to adapt their activities to suit a evolvig cotext,
with rapidl chagig eeds.
High levels of undernutrition persist in many
parts of the world; the UN projected a severe
acute malnutrition (SAM) caseload of 1.02 million
children under 5 in the Sahel region for 2013.1
These unacceptable rates demonstrate that current
strategies to address undernutrition are insufcient.
Change in the way business is done is needed.
Action Against Hunger| ACF International (ACF)
believes that by incorporating a seasonal perspective
to all aspects of our work — from tools used for
programme design to choice of indicator monitored
in surveillance systems — combined with national
governments’ commitment to implement policieswhich counter the adverse effects of seasonality —
this change will happen. Governments have a real
opportunity to reduce the number of people affected
by seasonal undernutrition, addressing immediate
needs and simultaneously building resilience to
recurring crises. Strong analysis of the seasonal
variation in the underlying causes of undernutrition
is pivotal to this approach.
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2 SEASONALITY: The missig piece of the uderutritio puzzle?
1 OCHA, 2013 2 Devereux, S., Sabates-Wheeler, R., Loghurst, R., 2012 3 Chambers, R. et al 1976; Loghurst, R. 1978
INTRODUCTIONThis paper origiates i the eed to put seasoalit
rml back o the ageda. Evidece suggests that for
millios of poor households aroud the world, there
is a particular time of ear whe ‘ormal’ copig
strategies are stretched ad the risk of uderutritio
elevated: the lea seaso. The problem is that for
ma poor households repeated exposure to these
seasoal stresses leads to the use of erosive copig
mechaisms which i tur udermies households’
abilit to cope i the log-term. Ideed, as witessed
i the Hor of Africa i 2011 — where over 12 millio
people were affected — ad a ear later i the Sahel— where over 18 millio people were affected — the
cumulative effect of repeated seasoal shortfalls is
devastatig. This is ot acceptable ad is avoidable.
This paper demostrates the importace of brigig
seasoal thikig back ito the various curret
huger ad utritio debates i order to improve the
effectiveess ad impact of global efforts to tackle
undernutrition. The current interest surrounding the
broader resiliece ageda ad the drive for earl
warig to be traslated ito earl actio idicates
gatherig mometum withi the iteratioal
commuit; for ACF this is a opportuit for
seasoalit to be brought back to the fore.
There are two parts of this paper. The rst sectio
provides the cotext: seasoalit is deed ad liks
with uderutritio are examied. This sectio also
examies wh aalsis of seasoalit is so importat
for stakeholders cocered with buildig resiliece to
recurrig crises. The, a clear set of recommedatios
which together make up a seasoal approach to
addressig uderutritio from both programme ad
polic perspectives, is outlied.
SEASONALITY DEFINEDSeasoalit refers to a regular patter or variatio
that is correlated with the seasos. Adverse seasoalit
describes the potetiall damagig cosequeces
for huma wellbeig of seasoal uctuatios i the
weather ad the full rage of its associated impacts
o lives ad livelihoods.2 Seasoalit has bee
ackowledged b rural developmet experts sice
the seveties ad b commuities for ceturies.3 As
Robert Chambers oted back the, ad agai more
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SEASONALITY: The missig piece of the uderutritio puzzle? 3
4 Chambers, R., 2009 5 Ibid 6 ACF 2010 7 Hauestei Swa, S., Vaitla, B., Devereux, S., 2008
8 Sabates-Wheeler, R., ad Devereux, S., 2012
recetl: “As a dimension of poverty, seasonality is
as glaringly obvious as it is still grossly neglected.” 4
Seasoalit is predictable ad regular i its occurrece
but its precise timig, severit ad impacts var from
ear to ear. Ma studies have bee doe, all of
which poit to the itegrated ature of seasoalit
ad povert, recogisig that the egative effects
of seasoalit are felt disproportioatel b poor
people.5 That said, povert is ot the ol determiig
factor; where ou live — the livelihood zoe — also
determies the extet to which a household is affectedb seasoalit. For example, a poor household livig i a
pastoral zoe of Ethiopia will be affected i a differet
wa to a poor household i a agro-pastoral area.
It is well kow that climate-related hazards are
expected to magif seasoal stresses o livelihoods,
food, utritio ad water securit.6 Icreased water
stress ad heighteed disease prevalece due to
climate chage have a direct effect o household food
securit ad utritioal status. Also, climate chage
has a direct impact o the multiple uderlig causes
of uderutritio (food securit, health, care practices
ad water ad saitatio). It puts icreasig pressure
o households’ asset base with upredictable harvests
leadig to variable food prices which i tur ma lead
to loger huger gaps. Seasoalit maifests itself i
multiple dimesios of livelihoods — food availabilit,
health, prices, emplomet, access to services — so
accurate diagosis ad respose is a challegig task.
The was i which seasoalit iterplas with the
uderlig causes of uderutritio are complex, butwith the right tools, the ca be aalsed to eable
more efciet ad effective policies ad programmes.
ACF has developed a multi-sectoral seasoal caledar
tool, which edeavours to do just that; further
explaatio is provided i Box 1, page 5.
Seasoalit is itegral to livelihoods for the majorit
of the world’s poor; their lives ad livelihood optios
revolve aroud the seasos. The adopt differet
strategies throughout the ear to provide food ad
ear icome for their families. ACF’s 2008 publicatio,
'Seasos of Huger' sets out a itervetio framework
for fightig seasoal huger which addresses the
immediate eeds of families while also buildig their
log-term resiliece at the programme level. The
framework icludes itervetios for the emergec
phase through recover to developmet. Emergec
assistace targets those sufferig from seasoal huger
ad i eed of immediate help. Social protectio
itervetios aim to prevet households fallig
ito huger b limitig asset depletio through a
combiatio of cash trasfers, seasoal emplomet,price cotrol ad other policies. Agricultural livelihoods
iitiatives focus o improvig productivit through
better access to ke iputs ad work towards a time
whereb rural households have high eough icomes
so the do ot eed to access social protectio
safet ets.7 Water, saitatio ad hgiee (WASH)
itervetios focussig o safe water suppl,
improved saitatio ad hgiee promotio seekig
to reduce risks of ifectios, a immediate cause of
uderutritio, should also be added to the framework.
Traditioal rural risk aalsis ad respose are desiged
to deal with upredictable shocks ad model seasoalit
as a climate triggered shock. Seasoalit is i fact
a predictable stress requirig loger term tailored
itervetios implemeted i parallel with those that
are more short term. Perhaps oe of the reasos this
has happeed is because traditioal developmet
approaches combie elemets of Disaster Risk Reductio
(DRR) ad social protectio, but fail to recogise that
the impact of seasoalit is mediated b sstems ofaccess ad distributio, which makes seasoalit a
political ot just a techical issue. Risk maagemet
ad social protectio programmes ma partiall smooth
icome ad cosumptio over the ear ad go some
wa towards eablig households to cope with livig
i highl seasoal eviromets. However, it is the
iteractio of cclical stresses with chroic deprivatio,
limited opportuities ad weak fall back optios that
leave poor people uable to live ‘a-seasoal’ lives.8
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4 SEASOnALITy: The missig piece of the uderutritio puzzle?
9 See UnICEF 1990 10 Vaitla, B. et al 2009 11 Save the Childre has developed a seasoal perspective i its Cost of Diet Tool.
SEASONALITY AND UNDERLYINGCAUSES OF UNDERNUTRITIONAll of the uderlig causes of uderutritio
(iadequate care practices, poor public health ad
food isecurit) are subject to seasoal variatio.9
Care practices chage as work requiremets chage,
which ma be directl related to the agricultural ccle
but also to off-farm icome earig opportuities. It
is ot uusual for wome to leave their ifats with
relatives while the are at work; this ca mea that
breastfeedig stops earl or that weaig foods whichma ot be age appropriate are itroduced earlier tha
recommeded. Seasoal variatios i temperature ad
raifall ca sigicatl impact public health risks
ad disease icidece. For example, the icidece
of disease ofte peaks durig the rai seaso. At
this time, households’ access to good qualit water
ca become difcult as ca access to health cetres
i the evet of disease outbreak. I terms of food
securit, availabilit of food decreases prior to harvest
periods for agricultural producers ad prior to rais
for pastoralists. At the same time, food prices rise
due to limited availabilit further impedig access for
the majorit of households reliat o the market to
cover at least some of their food eeds. This period
is commol kow as the ‘lea’ seaso, or huger
period, whe ma households are teeterig o the
edge of food isecurit, ad usuall coicides with
the rai seaso, whe disease strikes hardest. The
ed result is seasoal peaks i acute malutritio, as
show i Figure 1, below.
For poor households, opportuities to geerate food
ad icome var throughout the ear. Havig a detailed
uderstadig of the diverse livelihood activities ad
copig strategies which people emplo at differettimes throughout the ear is critical.11 It is also
imperative to aalse seasoal risks related to water,
disease ad saitar eviromet. B uderstadig
households’ seasoal variatios i livelihood optios,
ad the seasoal variatios i the other uderlig
causes of uderutritio such as iadequate saitatio
or poor health, we are more likel to come up with
appropriate policies ad itervetios which are directl
relevat ad specic to people’s eeds. We kow that
poor households rel heavil o the market to cover
their food eeds icreasigl after harvests have ru
out. But affordabilit of food is ot solel determied b
food prices; it is also related to icome ad purchasig
power which ca chage dramaticall betwee seasos.
HUNGER PERIOD
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0 S A M a
n d M a l a r i a C a s e s ( %
o f y e a r ' s t o t a l )
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
R a i n f a l l ( m m )
Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) Malaria Rainfall
HARVEST
FIGURE 1: SEASONALITY IN UNDERNUTRITION, MALARIA AND RAINFALL IN NIGER, 2007 10
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SEASONALITY: The missig piece of the uderutritio puzzle? 5
12 Berto, H., Hilto, J. ad Talor, A., 2009 13 Devereux, S., Sabates-Wheeler, R., Loghurst, R., (eds.) 2012
Idetifig periods of low or high purchasig power is
importat to determie whe household vulerabilit
is greatest.12 Levels of social capital are also critical
for poor households; the abilit to draw o commuit
etworks i times of stress is ke.
Uderstadig gaps i food affordabilit as well as
prevailig public health risks, ad how the chage
across the ear, will help idetif periods whe
households are particularl vulerable ad whe
utritio outcomes are most affected. A sstematicapproach is required to measure ad uderstad these
factors throughout the ear. More evidece is eeded
o the effect of seasoalit o utritio outcomes.
We kow that uderlig causes of uderutritio
are seasoall variable, but stakeholders do ot
have sufciet evidece across differet cotexts —
drought, ood etc.— o exactl how that variabilit
relates to utritio outcomes. Thikig ‘seasoall’ i
the plaig process will help to accelerate progress
towards reducig seasoal peaks i uderutritio.
Detailed seasoal aalsis of the uderlig causes
of uderutritio will eable atioal govermets,
doors ad other stakeholders to better uderstad
the seasoal ature of uderutritio ad implemet
appropriate policies ad practices to build commuities’
resiliece to utritio crises. natioal govermets
are ot i a positio to implemet ear roud social
protectio activities, or is it desirable for them to do
so. Govermets ma lack the scal, admiistrative
ad/or ifrastructural capacit to ace ad deliver
effective social protectio ear roud. Seasoal social
protectio is the ext best optio, it is a startig
poit. B adoptig a seasoal perspective, doors
will be able to support govermets to aticipate
seasoal uctuatios i uderutritio ad implemet
itervetios accordigl.
At the programme level, seasoal aalsis will
eable nGOs to idetif which tpes of programmes
should be implemeted at differet times of ear.
Labour itesive activities, for example, should be
implemeted whe participats do ot have competig
labour demads which might prevet them from
participatig (such as durig the platig or harvestig
periods). This was foud to be a importat lesso for
the Ethiopia Productive Safet net Programme (PSnP).
Here, the huger seaso peaks durig pre-harvest
moths whe demad for labour o the farm is highest.
Deliverig social protectio through public works at
this time of ear is problematic because farmers have
to choose betwee workig o their ow farms ad
participatig i public works programmes.13 Seasonal
BOX 1: ACF’S MULTI SECTORAL SEASONAL CALENDAR TOOL
ACF uses the seasoal caledar tool to coduct rapid multi-sectoral aalses i order to better uderstad
utritio isecurit ad the uctuatios (i particular, the peaks) of severe acute malutritio i a give areaof operatio. B usig the caledar, ACF will develop its seasoal thikig for strategic programmig. Users
will gai a seasoal perspective o all factors cotributig to the risk of uderutritio. The tool allows users
to build a clearer picture of the mai characteristics of each seaso: the seasoal variatio of uderutritio;
idetied risks — climate-related ad other (e.g. malaria); caretaker ad livelihood activities; staple food
price uctuatios access to water etc. The caledar will also idetif cultural evets which ma icrease
household level cash eeds. The tool has bee rolled out across the ACF etwork ad feedback is good: it is
eas to use at both commuit ad macro level, eablig comprehesive iformatio collectio i a short time.
Furthermore, it is eas to triagulate through iformatio collectio at differet levels from the commuit
to the atioal level. Applicatio of the tool facilitate coordiatio betwee sectors (health, WASH, FSL) ad
it is essetial for plaig seasoall sesitive itervetios, eablig stakeholders to idetif the times of
ear i which particular risks are heighteed ad so pla accordigl.
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6 SEASOnALITy: The missig piece of the uderutritio puzzle?
emplomet programmes ad other social protectio
itervetios such as cash trasfers, warrantage and
destockig/restockig activities should be implemeted
at the appropriate time to esure that households do
ot have to emplo erosive copig mechaisms (such
as reducig food itake or sellig assets) which ma
compromise their capacit to cope with the ext crisis
i order to meet their immediate food eeds.
Careful seasoal aalsis will also determie which
idicators should be moitored throughout the ear.
It is ot eough simpl to moitor staple food prices
i the market; the impact of food price icreases
differs depedig o icome group ad o proportio
of household icome spet o food.14 For example,
the effect of a food price icrease o a household
that speds 10% of its icome o food is far less severe
BOX 2: COMMUNITY SURVEILLANCE IN GUATEMALA
ACF Guatemala has bee implemetig a itegrated programme combiig cash-for-work (CFW) programmes
with utritioal surveillace at the commuit level sice 2010. The CFW elemet of the programme ivolved
ideticatio, cleaig ad disifectio of cotamiated wells as well as restoratio of emergec health
ifrastructure. Therefore, as well as stregtheig essetial ifrastructure, the CFW programmes have
icreased cash availabilit at the household level ad helped vulerable households through seasoal lea
periods. Also setiel surveillace sites have bee set up i various locatios ad commuit represetatives
ad govermet persoel have bee traied. This has led to icreased accoutabilit of govermet workers.
A coheret sstem is ow i place i which commuit represetatives gather relevat idicators (utritio
admissio rates, prices, ad climate related data) at regular itervals. The idicators collected are cotext
specic ad are selected b the commuities themselves based o local people’s extesive kowledge of
their ow commuities. Furthermore, thresholds for itervetio are also decided upo b commuities.
Iformatio ows from commuit to muicipal, regioal ad atioal levels. Traied committees at regioal
ad atioal levels are the tasked with devisig a actio pla i the evet of warig sigs such as uusuall
high prices or predictio of poor rais.
14 ACF 2013b
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SEASONALITY: The missig piece of the uderutritio puzzle? 7
tha its effect o a poor household spedig 50%
or more of its icome o food.15 Food securit of
the rural poor is determied less b households ow
levels of food stock but istead b their success i
securig casual wages.16 Seasonal labour migration
to a urba area is oe icreasigl commo strateg
to maximise earig potetial. It is commo for male
household members to migrate for several moths
of the ear i search of casual labour. Also iformal
off-farm emplomet ad pett trade opportuities
(ot coected to agriculture) ow have icreasig
sigicace for ma households. Ma households ed
up with patters of icome geeratio which are quite
distict from the local agricultural caledar, so it isimportat to also look beod agriculture ad aalse
seasoal chages i other livelihood activities such as
off-farm icome geeratig opportuities.
Without cash, households are less likel to be able to
overcome the adverse cosequeces of seasoalit,
so ghtig seasoal icome uctuatio is critical. Oe
wa of doig this is to promote off-seaso strategies
to boost household food ad icome geeratio durig
periods of scarcit. ACF has set up health gardes i
which wome grow vegetables i Burkia Faso, niger
ad Mauritaia. Whilst the primar aim of these health
gardes is to boost dietar diversit (particularl of
childre uder 5), i the best case, participats are
also able to generate some additional income in the
off-seaso. Other examples of off-seaso activities
implemeted b ACF i West Africa iclude irrigated
agricultural productio i river areas, ood recessio
agriculture ad livestock destockig ad restockig
programmes.
Well-fuctioig markets ca also reduce the effects
of seasoalit b facilitatig iter-area trade.
not ol that, govermets ca stabilise markets
couter seasoall to esure that price uctuatiosare miimised. Despite the fact that govermet
itervetio i markets is o loger i favour, there
is reewed iterest i reivigoratig grai reserves
both as a humaitaria itervetio ad as a meas to
stabilise prices. I West Africa, ECOWAS has developed
a proposal for the establishmet of a Regioal Food
Securit Reserve i order to have a third lie of defece
i the evet of a food crisis to complemet the local
ad atioal food securit stocks which ma also be
deploed or bolstered as appropriate.18 It is importat
that both the madate ad volume of these reserves
15 Dorward, A. 2011 16 Berto, H., Hilto, J. ad Talor, A 200917 ACF respose to Sahel Crisis II 2012: From Emergec to Recover Phase. DFID fudig proposal 18 ECOWAS 2012
BOX 3: WARRANTAGE IN NIGER
ACF FSL programmes i niger provide a good example of programmes which couter the egative effects
of seasoal chages i food availabilit ad food price uctuatios. ACF has developed ad icorporated a
warratage sstem (also kow as grai bakig) i FSL programmes sice 2006. Warratage buffers small
farmers agaist the effects of market price uctuatios. Warratage aims to couter the vicious ccle where
farmers are obliged to sell their crops at harvest time, at low prices, i order to purchase additioal food
ad other essetials or to pa back loas take durig the lea seaso. Farmers do ot have to sell at low
prices, followig harvests, ad durig lea seasos. Rather, farmers receive credit through micro ace
istitutios (MFI), usig part of their harvest as collateral. Usig the harvest as a guaratee, small farmers
ca access credit which the ca the ivest i other activities, while their harvest is stored util pricesrise. Also, targeted cash trasfers prior to, ad durig harvest time, esure ver poor households are able
to cover their basic ad urget eeds, thus protectig their harvests, ad avoidig havig to sell at low
rates.17 Furthermore, stregtheed liks withi the commuit has led to stroger bargaiig power amogst
commuities ad busiesses, allowig them to egotiate agriculture iputs at lower prices i preparatio of
the ext rai seaso ad future harvests. Specic cash trasfer activities protect harvests, ad esure the
securit of harvests, thereb icreasig producers’ prots.
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8 SEASOnALITy: The missig piece of the uderutritio puzzle?
19 ACF 2013b
are adequatel set up accordig to the goals. For the
time beig, either the volumes or the madate are
proportioed to cotrol market volatilit; their mai
purpose is to mitigate impact over short time periods.19
Surveillace sstems eed to uderstad ad better
capture icomes of poorest households, particularl
changes in local casual labour and migration rates.
Iformatio eeds to help polic makers idetif
whe households are becomig more vulerable
so itervetios ca be implemeted i order to
prevet the situatio deterioratig further. Choosig
appropriate idicators relatig to food prices,
productio ad chages i livelihood activities as well
as public health risks is crucial, especiall as the ca
be misiterpreted. For example usig severe acute
malutritio (SAM) admissio rates i isolatio is ot
ideal, admissios ofte peak after mass screeigs
which has little to do with seasoalit. Furthermore
if uderourished childre are detected, it is usuall
too late for nGOs to itervee ad prevet a crisis
developig. Whe a more effective moitorig ad
surveillace sstem exists, a better assessmet of the
real impact of seasoalit o poor households ca bemade ad itervetios targeted accordigl.
If stakeholders embrace a seasoal perspective, if the
thik seasoall, ad desig programmes accordigl,
the risk of seasoal periods of scarcit (whe public
health risks are high) trasformig ito crises should
be reduced. Effective public health ad food securit
moitorig ad surveillace sstems which moitor
appropriate idicators are crucial for galvaisig actio
whe tippig poits are reached.
BOX 4: SEASONAL CASH FOR WORK
ACF’s itegrated WASH ad FSL programme for
cholera prevetio i Guinea-Conakry provides
a good example of seasoal thikig. I 2010,
ACF implemeted a Cash-for-Work programme i
Coakr i order to stregthe WASH ifrastructure
i areas at risk of cholera. Focus was put o
saitatio ad solid waste collectio. Activities
were orgaised i two to three moth ccles,
ad were timed to coicide with periods of
greatest risk.
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SEASONALITY: The missig piece of the uderutritio puzzle? 9
20 Baile, R. 2013 21 ACF 2013. Deitio based o DFID 2011b.
Lessos leared from the Hor of Africa i 2011
demostrate that eve though good surveillace
sstems were i place, the respose was isufciet
ad came too late. Earl warig did ot traslate
ito earl actio. This was partl due to the choice
of idicators icluded i the surveillace sstem, butwas also related to the awed decisio makig process
oce doors had received the warigs. Famie earl
warig sstems have a good track record of predictig
food crises but a poor track record of triggerig earl
actio. Log lead times provide the opportuit
for decisive earl actio but also the opportuit
for iactio. For doors ad atioal govermets
dela is ofte a politicall ratioal strateg. natioal
govermet ma suppress earl warigs if it has the
potetial to challege their record o huger reductio
or for domestic political reasos.20 I additio, actig
o the basis of risk of a crisis ufoldig rather tha
certait ca be politicall difcult. ACF believes
that b icorporatig a strog seasoal aalsis ito
the earl warig framework, there will be a greater
chace of earl warig traslatig ito earl actio.
SEASONALITY AND RESILIENCEFor ACF, resiliece is “the abilit of coutries,
commuities ad households to maage chage, b
maitaiig or trasformig livig stadards i the
face of shocks or stresses... without compromisig
their log-term prospects.”21 A importat additioal
compoet of this deitio is the abilit to maage
chage i the face of such a shock without havig to
compromise digit or health. Evidece shows that
poor households i the Sahel ad the Hor of Africa
face recurret stresses o a seasoal basis — food
BOX 5: ACF LISTENING POST, BURKINA FASO
I Burkia Faso, followig the implemetatio of a surveillace sstem, ACF realised that acute malutritio
peaks twice durig the ear: i December-Jauar ad the i Ma-Jue, as show i the graph below.
ACF ow implemets utritioal seasoal safet ets (distributio of eriched our) for childre betwee 6
ad 24 moths durig the hugr seaso betwee March ad Jul i order to guaratee a rich ad balaced
diet at a time whe accessig food is difcult. To complemet this, CFW or CFT is implemeted either before
platig, to support the growig seaso, or after the harvest to icrease food availabilit.
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
E s t i m a t e d p r e v a l e n c e o f a c u t e m a l n u t r i t i o n ( % )
J a n - F e b 1 1
M a r - A p r 1 1
M a y 1 1
J u n e 1 1
J u l y 1 1
A u g 1 1
S e p - O c t 1 1
N o v 1 1
D e c 1 1
J a n - F e b 1 2
M a r - A p r 1 2
M a y 1 2
J u n e 1 2
J u l y 1 2
A u g 1 2
S e p - O c t 1 2
Listening Post 3 Moy. mobile sur pér. (TAPOA)
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10 SEASOnALITy: The missig piece of the uderutritio puzzle?
22 ACF 2011 23 See ACF 2013a 24 Cabot-Veto, C. 2013
shortages occur at the same time each ear, ad
limited access to safe water ad icreased health risks
occur withi the same moths of the ear, ear after
ear. It follows the that ghtig the adverse effects
of seasoalit is oe of the cetral compoets of
resiliece buildig. I order to do this, stakeholdersmust have a detailed uderstadig of seasoalit ad
its implicatios for utritio. This must be accompaied
b implemetatio of appropriate policies to mitigate
the adverse effects of seasoalit o poor households.
Ol the will real progress i buildig resiliece i
the log-term be possible.
Over the last ear or so, the resiliece ageda has
gaied mometum, with doors such as DFID, the
EU ad USAID settig up ew iitiatives.23 National
govermets are also puttig more emphasis o the
eed to build resiliece i order to prevet future
crises. Doors ad govermets are icreasigl
recogisig that earl humaitaria respose is far
more cost effective tha late respose. I fact, a recet
stud foud that ecoomic cocers over false earl
respose are uwarrated. Evidece from case studiesi Kea, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Bagladesh ad niger
foud that the costs of respodig earl — eve if crises
do ot actuall materialise — are cosistetl lower
tha the costs of late respose.24 There is no doubt
the, that takig a proactive approach — takig earl
actio — makes acial sese: it is betwee four ad
seve times less expesive to sped moe before
situatios reach crisis poit, rather tha o reactive
humaitaria operatios. Irrespective of this, recurrig
crisis are tpicall perceived as “humaitaria” issues
i eed of a immediate, short-term respose whe
BOX 6: GIS IN THE SAHEL
The Sahel demostrates the importace of havig a coheret
surveillace sstem i place. A sigicat proportio of the
populatio i the regio are pastoralists, reliat o extesive
livestock productio sstems. Their livelihoods are based o
iter-seasoal movemets closel liked to the availabilit of two
atural resources: water ad pasture. The regio is characterised
b low populatio desit ad pastoralists ofte move vast
distaces i search of pasture. These factors combied with high
raifall variabilit, mea that covetioal moitorig sstemsare redudat. Therefore sice 2009, ACF, i partership with the
atioal food crisis sstems i Mali ad niger, has developed tools
based o GIS. The tools moitor both surface water ad biomass,
thereb eablig ACF to assess pastoral populatio vulerabilit
at a regioal scale ad make a importat cotributio to earl
warig i the regio.
Pastoral movemets ad areas of cocetrated grazig ma
var depedig o resources available. However, the “usual”
movemets of pastoralists ca be determied ad compared to
their actual movemets each ear. Added to the iformatio o
surface water ad biomass, this traslates ito a vulerabilit
model which is curretl uder developmet. It will eable ACF
to uderstad the possible adaptive strategies of breeders ad aticipate potetial future crisis spots thereb
supportig vulerabilit aalses ad optimisig geographical targetig i the regio.22
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SEASONALITY: The missig piece of the uderutritio puzzle? 11
there is little evidece to support this. I fact, the
opposite is true. The costatl chagig situatio
requires that practitioers must have the exibilit
to implemet overlappig humaitaria respose or
rehabilitatio programmes or loger term resiliece
buildig activities at the same time, if the eed arises.
The are curretl uable to do so due to the rigid
fudig mechaisms i place.
ACF welcomes the curret high level political
commitmet to resiliece buildig, particularl
give that doors, govermets ad nGOs alike
have traditioall placed too little focus o buildig
resiliece withi commuities before crises occur,choosig istead to focus o tacklig huger ad
disease durig or after the crisis. It is ow essetial
that the existig rhetoric becomes realit.
CONCLUSIONSACF recogises that both the Sahel ad the Hor of
Africa regios experiece a seasoal huger gap which
is uderpied b acute structural vulerabilit. ACF
is callig for a iovative approach — a seasoal
sstem — which eables govermets to sstematicall
tackle seasoal peaks of utritio vulerabilit
through social protectio programmes such as
seasoal emplomet ad cash trasfer schemes ad
implemet humaitaria respose whe ‘ormal’
seasoal peaks i uderutritio reach crisis poit.
Structural vulerabilit must be tackled from the root
ad requires log-term commitmet from govermet
ad doors alike.
The persistet ad recurret food ad utritio
isecurit situatio i the Sahel ad the Hor of
Africa questios the effectiveess of strategies ad
resposes implemeted to date. The limited abilit of
populatios to respod to recurrig crises has become
a hallmark of both these regios, where householdsare o loger capable of rebuildig their livelihoods
followig frequet crises, ofte oe after aother,
ad cumulativel impactig egativel o their copig
mechaisms. Chages i approach are clearl eeded.
B thikig seasoall, ad plaig accordigl,
ad b combiig humaitaria ad developmet
efforts, govermets, nGOs ad doors ca put i place
predictable itervetios to stregthe the resiliece
of populatios i order to prevet the seasoal peaks i
uderutritio reachig critical levels. If stakeholders
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12 SEASONALITY: The missig piece of the uderutritio puzzle?
are serious about reducig the umber of people
affected uderutritio, if the reall wat to improve
ad save lives, to trasform rhetoric ito realit, a
seasoal approach is imperative.
RECOMMENDATIONSNATIONAL GOVERNMENT should:
• Build a seasonal perspective into poverty
reduction strategies and resilience building
programmes; programmes must be tailored to
the local seasonal context. A cotext specicaalsis of vulerabilit, its multiple dimesios
ad its seasoalit is crucial. Itervetios must
be sequeced accordigl. Itervetios which
address immediate eeds should be ru i parallel
with loger term programmes aimig to build
commuities’ resiliece to recurrig crisis.
NATIONAL GOVERNMENT and AGENCIES should:
• Pre-position resources in risk prone areas.
Health and nutrition resources must be in
place well before the oset of the lea seaso i
order to reduce the risk of households reachig
crisis poit.
• Scale up seasonal social protection programmes.
Interventions such as Cash for Work, warrantage,
destocking /restocking and health gardens should
be promoted. Cash trasfers must be idex liked
i order to reduce the risk of household purchasig
power becomig debilitated b uctuatig market
prices at a time whe cash resources are limited.
Microcredit ad icetivised commuit based
child growth promotio activities should also be
promoted.
• Ensure timing of interventions is linked toseasonal demands on households. Labour
itesive activities, for example, should be
implemeted whe participats do ot have
competig demads o their labour which meas
the will ot be able to participate.
• Support income diversification for poor
households, including support to rural–urban
linkages. Off-farm icome earig work is oe
of the best buffers agaist seasoal stress.
Govermets eed to ivest i traiig schemes
to build peoples’ skill sets which will, i tur,
boost their icome geeratig potetial, thereb
building resilience to recurring crises.
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SEASONALITY: The missig piece of the uderutritio puzzle? 13
• Ensure that appropriate indicators are
developed to enable seasonal analysis to
inform existing early warning systems.
I particular, market price idicators must
be able to detect seasoal household level
fluctuatios i purchasig power. Doors,
atioal govermets ad regioal bodies
must esure that earl warig is traslated
ito earl actio.
• Conduct further research into the effect of
seasonality on nutrition outcomes across
different contexts.
DONORS should:
• Recognise that a exible long-term perspective
is needed; attempts to use short-term
humaitaria fudig aloe to address seasoalit
are futile. Fiacig mechaisms must facilitate
the itegratio of humaitaria respose ito
developmet fuds, ad must be exible eough to
allow practitioers to adapt their activities to suit
a evolvig cotext, with rapidl chagig eeds.
• Be prepared to act on the basis of risk.
Evidece based decisio makig must be
grouded i soud cotextual aalsis i
support of approaches that accout fordifferet tpes of risk.
• Ensure that early warning is translated into
early action. Earl warig sstems must trigger
earl actio prior to levels of uderutritio
reachig their peak. This will happe if the
sstem icorporates seasoal aalsis of utritio
indicators.
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14 SEASOnALITy: The missig piece of the uderutritio puzzle?
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ad utritio securit: ACF approach to climate
chage, huger ad uderutritio i at risk
commuities’ Paris: ACF Iteratioal
ACF 2013a ‘Enhancing Resilience to Shocks andStresses’ Paris: ACF International
ACF 2013b ‘History Repeating Itself? Global food
price volatility and the impacts on malnutrition’
London: Action Against Hunger UK
Bailey, R. 2013 Managing Famine Risk Linking
early warning to early action’ A Chatham
House Report. Available olie from: www.
chathamhouse.org/earlwarigs
Berton, H, Hilton, J. and Taylor, A., 2009.
Food Affordability: Dealing with Seasonal
Variation of Purchasing Power Seasoalit
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Boudreau T., and Lawrence, M, 2012 Re-tooling
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Seasoalit, Rural Livelihoods ad Developmet
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(eds.) 2012 Seasonality Rural Livelihoods and
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Freeland, N., 2009 Seasonality and social
protection: A bridge too far? Seasoalit
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S. 2008 Seasons of Hunger: Fighting cycles of
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8–10 Jul, 2009. Brighto: Save the Childre UK
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From seasonal lives towards a-seasonal living:
Building seasonality into risk management
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Written by Morwea Sulliva, ACF-UK
All Photographs © Samuel Hauestei Swa ACF-UK
Design Amada Grapes
FURTHER READINGACF Iteratioal aalsed the impact of rural-urba likages o household food
securit ad child utritio i Guiea, Zimbabwe, ad Guatemala. We foud that
rural-urba likages ofte follow strogl seasoal patters; opportuities adcostraits of rural ad urba households var over the course of the ear. Desigig
with seasoalit i mid ca amplif the impact of developmet itervetios.
This paper sets out lessos leared from the emergec ad recover phases of
ACF Iteratioal’s FSL respose to the West Africa Sahel Food Crisis i 2012.
Itervetios that couter seasoalit are highlighted as good practice.
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back cover - let me know info for this..
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