Ny fremgangsmåde i hjælpearbejdet efter katastrofer skal sørge for den livsvigtige fødevaresikkerhed for de ramte
JOHANNESBURG, 30 May 2011 (IRIN): Since April the humanitarian aid community has been gearing up to deploy a new mechanism aimed at combining expertise on food aid and agricultural assistance to boost food security and make food insecure communities hit by a disaster more resilient (modstandsdygtige).
A 2010 evaluation of the “cluster approach” conducted by the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPI) and Groupe Urgence, Réhabilitation, Développement (URD) recommended the setting up of a new global food security mechanism or “cluster” (klynge), to support disaster-affected food insecure communities.
Its coordinator, Graham Farmer, said the new cluster is led jointly by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP).
One of the tools deployed by aid workers in emergency responses to such things as floods, droughts or earthquakes is the “cluster approach”, first implemented in 2005.
A “cluster” consists of groupings of UN agencies, NGOs and other international organizations around a sector or service provided during a humanitarian crisis.
The cluster approach currently encompasses 11 clusters or sectors such as logistics, water and sanitation, early recovery and nutrition. Agriculture as a separate cluster will cease to exist under the new scheme.
GPPI’s Julia Steets explained the rationale behind the December 2010 decision to set up the new cluster:
– Everybody in the field agrees that one of the greatest challenges during a humanitarian crisis is implementing a proper `early recovery’ approach – introducing recovery and development aspects into relief work as early as possible and strengthening transition.
This is especially true of food assistance, where short-term food interventions, if not managed properly, can undermine long-term ones, she added, creating dependency and slowing recovery.
The global food security cluster will ensure there are “no missed opportunities” – for example by distributing seeds at the same time as food aid if disaster strikes just before the planting season.
– It could be the implementation of a cash-for-work programme as an emergency response which involves repairing agriculture infrastructure such as dams or roads damaged during a crisis to get the community prepared for the next planting cycle, said Farmer.
The agricultural cluster is normally one of the most under-funded, thus adversely affecting prospects for recovery, said Steets.
Bundling agriculture with food aid, “usually by far the best funded”, would help increase support and funding for long-term solutions, she added.
Almost 80 percent of the population in developing countries, which are most susceptible to (udsatte for) natural disasters, depend on agriculture for food and income.
Tapping into local knowledge
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