Anthropometry: The physical measurement of the human body.
Complex emergency: A humanitarian crisis in a country, region or society where there is total or considerable breakdown of authority resulting from internal or external conflict, and that requires an international response that goes beyond the mandate or capacity of any single agency and/or the ongoing United Nations country programme (IASC, 1994).
Coping mechanisms: A short-term response to shocks such as an abnormal decline in access to food. A successful coping mechanism is reversible and should not incur unacceptable costs. Coping mechanisms may include alternative methods to obtain food or make money when normal sources of food are disrupted, for example borrowing cash or food, selling assets, collecting wild foods or migrating to a neighbouring area to obtain work. As times become more difficult, the relative importance of such coping mechanisms may change -some "normal" methods of obtaining food are reduced and others are increased. For example, migration may occur every year, but in a bad year more people may do it for longer periods.
Disaster: The occurrence of a sudden or major misfortune that disrupts the basic fabric and normal functioning of a society or community. An event or series of events that gives rise to casualties and/or damage or loss of property, infrastructure, essential services or means of livelihood on a scale that is beyond the normal capacity of the affected communities to cope with unaided (UNDP/UNDRO, 1991).
Events and processes that can cause disasters do not always do so. In addition, disasters do not always result in emergencies - it depends on whether support systems exist, and if so how effective they are. Disasters and the emergencies resulting from them may be recurrent or protracted, as they often have many causes. Although disasters are triggered by immediate events, there are usually underlying causes that interact with each other. Frequently, these relate to the natural environment, the economic environment or civil conflict. For example, the impact of a drought in a country already devastated by long-term civil conflict will be greater than in a stable neighbouring country. The underlying factors cannot be addressed by relief efforts alone, and other types of assistance are necessary, such as mediation to enable peace negotiations.
Early warning: Provision of early and relevant information on potential or actual disasters and their impacts.
Early warning systems for food security: Systems of data collection established to monitor a population's access to food in order to provide timely warning of impending crises and elicit the appropriate response. They may operate at the global, regional, national or local level. Other types of early warning systems can monitor river levels for flood risk, or pest or disease outbreak.
Emergency: An extraordinary situation in which people are unable to meet their basic survival needs, or there are serious and immediate threats to human life and well-being (UNDP/UNDRO, 1991).
Four types of emergency have been distinguished (Buchanan-Smith and Maxwell, 1994):
Rapid-onset: triggered by natural disasters, such as earthquakes or floods. The crisis is usually temporary.
Slow-onset: triggered by natural disasters, such as drought and pest attacks, they develop as a result of crop failure or livestock losses.
Permanent: where there is a need for more or less permanent welfare owing to great structural poverty, e.g. in parts of Ethiopia and northern Sudan.
Complex political: caused by civil war, e.g. Rwanda, Liberia, southern Sudan, Somalia.
Evaluation: The assessment at one point in time of the impact of a piece of work, the extent to which stated objectives have been achieved, and the processes by which this occurred.
General food distribution: The free distribution of a combination of food commodities, usually based on nutritional needs, to an emergency-affected population (WFP, 2000).
Household: Used interchangeably with the term "family" in this document to mean a group of people who live together and who form a unit for obtaining, preparing, distributing and eating food. The household is responsible for dealing with illness and child care.
Household economy approach: Originally developed by SCF-UK in collaboration with FAO's Global Early Warning Systems (GIEWS) as an attempt to indicate the likely effect of a shock, such as crop failure, on future food supply. Normally, estimates of food supply are made at an aggregate level and/or are based on administrative boundaries. The household economy approach enables a focus on food access rather than on food availability, and highlights how risks or shocks will have different impacts depending on the socio-economic status of households and their ability to expand or extend existing food and income sources to meet food shortfalls. The approach uses rapid appraisal-type techniques (key informants, focus groups, observation) and is particularly beneficial in crisis contexts where it is not possible to carry out extensive field-based surveys and where formal data collection systems no longer exist. In the absence of statistically representative quantitative data, different ranges of estimates can be used for each variable. Scenarios can be developed on the basis of clearly stated assumptions about a variety of factors and how they may interact to bring about an economic shock.
Livelihood: "Comprises the capabilities, assets (stores, resources, claims, and access) and activities required for a means of living; a livelihood is sustainable which can cope with and recover from stress and shocks, maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets, and provide sustainable livelihood opportunities for the next generation." (Chambers and Conway, 1992).
Mitigation: Measures designed to reduce the likelihood that natural or socio-political events and processes result in disaster, or that disaster results in emergency once the situation starts to deteriorate. Mitigation activities are in some ways the mirror-image of rehabilitation activities - the former occur as conditions move towards crisis, and diminish the impact of a current disaster, while the latter occur as conditions improve, and diminish the impact of a preceding disaster.
Monitoring: Systematic and continuous assessment of the progress of a piece of work over time. Its purpose is to help all the people involved make timely decisions that will improve the quality of the work.
Nutritional status: A person's physiological level of nourishment in terms of energy and protein stores, micronutrient status and metabolic functioning. Indicators derived from anthropometric measurements are commonly referred to as "indicators of nutritional status", but in fact only reflect one aspect of it - biochemical measurements and inspection of clinical signs are also necessary to obtain a complete picture of nutritional status.
Nutritional well-being: The condition in which people are healthy and well nourished, and have the energy, creativity and security to live their daily lives with dignity and to contribute actively to their families, communities and countries. Nutritional well-being is fundamental to achievement of the full social, mental and physical potential of individuals and populations.
Participatory rural appraisal and participatory learning and action (PRA/PLA): An offshoot and development of rapid rural appraisal (RRA) that is designed to enable cumulative learning by all participants and the collection, presentation and analysis of data and information by the community members themselves. There is some overlap of methodology, but the role of the PRA professional is to facilitate, while in RRA outside professionals analyse the information obtained.
Preparedness: Measures to establish capacities and mechanisms that respond rapidly and effectively to disasters when they occur, so reducing the intensity or scale of any resultant emergency.
Prevention: Measures designed to prevent natural or socio-political events and processes from resulting in disasters. For example:
Rapid rural appraisal (RRA): Evolved in the 1970s as an alternative to formal sample surveys. It is based on informal data-gathering methods, introducing fast methods to generate primary data with minimal bias under severe time constraints. The idea is that rapid assessments make it possible to grasp the main points of the situation quickly, without the need for a full survey. The core features of rapid appraisals are interdisciplinary teamwork, substantial use of indigenous knowledge, "triangulation" (cross-checking) of information from different technical disciplines and formal and informal data sources, use of purposive sampling, flexibility, and use of conscious judgement.
Reconstruction: Measures to repair damaged infrastructure. For example:
Rehabilitation: Measures to help restore functional capacity and (re-)establish sustainable household food security. For example:
Relief: The provision of assistance to save lives in the immediate wake of a disaster. For example:
Selective feeding programmes: The provision of food (in addition to a general distribution) to the nutritionally or socially vulnerable to save lives and/or prevent malnutrition (WFP, 2000).
Supplementary feeding programmes: Provision of nutritious food in addition to the general ration. They aim to rehabilitate the malnourished or prevent a deterioration of the nutritional status of those most at risk by meeting their additional needs, focusing particularly on young children, pregnant women and nursing mothers:
Blanket supplementary feeding: Provision of a supplement to all members of particular groups, without checking their nutritional status, e.g. all pregnant women, all children under five years of age.
Targeted supplementary feeding: Provision of a supplement to members of particular groups who satisfy certain criteria, e.g. pregnant mothers whose MUAC is below an agreed cutoff, children under five years of age whose WFH is between 70 and 80 percent of the reference median. The objective is to improve the nutritional status of moderately malnourished individuals. The supplement can be provided in a cooked form on-site (wet) or to take home (dry).
Targeted food distribution: Distribution of food to certain sections of the population only. In selective feeding programmes, food is distributed on the basis of individuals' characteristics, e.g. age, reproductive status, anthropometric status. Targeted food distribution in intended to address certain groups' needs that differ from those of the majority of the population, and to supplement the general food distribution. Other types of targeted distribution (e.g. food for work and school canteens) are likely to occur in the absence of general food distributions, and may have objectives other than nutritional ones, e.g. economic support or increased school attendance.
Targeting: A method of delivering goods and/or services to a select group of individuals or households, rather than to every individual or household in the population.
Therapeutic feeding programmes: Provision of a carefully balanced and managed dietary regime with intensive medical attention in order to rehabilitate severely malnourished individuals. They can be residential (24-hour) or provide daytime care. Community-based therapeutic feeding programmes are currently being piloted in some situations.
Vulnerability to food insecurity: Refers to the full range of factors that place people at risk of becoming food-insecure. The degree of vulnerability of individuals, households or groups of people is determined by their exposure to the risk factors and their ability to cope with or withstand stressful situations.
In this document the term is used in two ways:
Households that are at risk of not meeting their minimum food needs. These are socio-economically vulnerable and often include female-headed households, the poor, the landless or the homeless. The vulnerable may not necessarily be the poorest of the poor; in the case of complex political emergencies the vulnerable often comprise groups that are marginalized or oppressed on the basis of ethnicity, religion or political affiliation.
Individuals who are at high risk of deteriorating nutritional status because they have special nutritional needs for physiological reasons (e.g. pregnancy, growth) and/or a low capability to satisfy their needs without help from others. These are the physiologically vulnerable. They include infants, growing children and adolescents, pregnant and lactating women, the malnourished, the elderly, orphans, the terminally ill, and the mentally and physically disabled.
Further reading and resource
Buchanan-Smith, M. & Maxwell, S. 1994. Linking relief and development: an introduction and overview. IDS Bulletin, 25(4): 2-16.
Chambers, R. & Conway, G. 1992. Sustainable rural livelihoods: practical concepts for the 21st century. IDS Discussion Paper No. 296. Brighton, UK, Institute of Development Studies (IDS).
IASC. 1996. Tenth meeting, 9 Dec. 1994. FAO Field Programme Circular, 2/96. Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC). Quoted in White, 1997, draft, Part A.
UNDP/UNDRO. 1991. Disaster management manual.
WFP. 2000. Food and nutrition handbook. Rome.
