The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), jointly organized a virtual workshop on “Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) and its Potential Use for Monitoring Prevalence of Food Insecurity in India” on February 01-02, 2021 under the chairmanship of Dr. Shailja Sharma, Director General, Statistics, MoSPI.

The objective of this workshop was to discuss various methodological issues related to FIES, in the context of its possible inclusion in official surveys for the purpose of SDG monitoring, especially SDG Indicator 2.1.2. (Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale). The workshop aimed at facilitating the design of pilot surveys that will be undertaken in selected States and districts to ascertain the applicability of this tool in the Indian context.s

Mr. Tomio Shichiri, FAO Representative in India, in his opening remarks, highlighted FAO’s mandate to support member countries in achieving the 2030 agenda with respect to its custodian indicators. He also laid out the objectives of the workshop and its expected outcomes.

Dr. Shailja Sharma (Director General, Statistics, MoSPI), in her remarks, highlighted the collaborative efforts of FAO and MoSPI on FIES since May 2019. She mentioned the initial discussions held with Dr. Carlo Cafiero, Senior Statistician and Economist, FAO in November 2019. This was followed by a deliberation on initiating the FIES survey and getting results from the eight survey questions. A decision was then taken to undertake a pilot study in one to two states to assess level of food insecurity in India.

Prof. Vikas Rawal, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)  said that, there was a need to focus on concerns from different divisions of MoSPI, especially on issues related to survey design, sampling, canvassing questions on field, validation and presentation of results. He highlighted the importance of concrete discussions so that surveys can commence and eventually these surveys can be integrated into national Sample Survey Office (NSSO) surveys.

This was followed by a presentation on Implementing the FIES by Dr. Carlo Cafiero, Senior Statistician and Economist, FAO.  Following this, the remainder of the two days were divided into the following four sessions:

• Session 1 emphasized the fundamentals of FIES. This was followed by sharing of experiences on FIES data collection by Gallup Inc. and Population Council.
• Session 2 focused on an 8-step process for successfully implementing FIES. 
• Session 3, began with a presentation from MoSPI on Challenges in Conducing FIES Surveys; A perspectives from various Divisions of MoSPI. This included presentations by:

             - The Survey Design and Research Division (SDRD) that focused on sample design and FIES questions.
             - The Field Operations Division (FoD) that discussed challenges in data collection
             - The Data Quality Assurance Division (DQAD) that discussed challenges in data validation and processing.
             - The Social Statistics Division (SSD) which presented aspects of Reporting for SDGs.

• Session 4 focused on, designing a pilot survey on FIES.

The workshop ended with a vote of thanks by the Dr. Shailja Sharma, and Mr. Tomio Shichiri.