EVERY YEAR, NATURAL DISASTERS, armed conflicts and other forms of crisis adversely affect the lives of millions of people in the developing world. In many countries, families are forced to abandon their homes, farms and villages; access to adequate food becomes difficult, and hardship contributes to high rates of malnutrition. Temporary food distribution and supplementary feeding for vulnerable groups are common humanitarian interventions to help people to cope under emergency conditions. At the same time, assistance is also often needed to help restore local food production and to reduce the dependency on food aid. Through its Emergency Operations and Rehabilitation Division, FAO plays a vital role in the aftermath of natural disasters and conflicts in saving and enhancing rural livelihoods.
The Food and Nutrition Division of FAO has prepared this book as a complement to the Technical Handbook Series on FAO's Emergency Activities. It offers guidance to programme planners and technicians in the fields of nutrition, food security, agriculture and community and social development in adopting a longer-term perspective to addressing problems of household food insecurity and malnutrition during periods of crisis and recovery. It provides a framework for an implementation strategy that focuses on both saving lives in the short term and strengthening livelihoods to ensure that households are less vulnerable to food and nutrition insecurity in the future.
