Reducing Food and Nutrition Security Risks in Sierra Leone
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The production and productivity of most staple crops in Sierra Leone is affected by several factors, including floods, pest and disease infestation, rainfall fluctuations and post-harvest losses, resulting in lower food availability. Against this background, it was necessary to establish a well structured food security and nutrition National Early Warning System (NEWS) to ensure the timely prediction of food availability and access by the population, and facilitate a concerted response when access to food fell below the recommended levels, with high risk of acute and chronic malnutrition. It was also necessary to increase capacity in the country to monitor the trends of food and nutrition security at both national and district level.
What did the project do
A national task force was provided with the relevant skills and tools to implement NEWS at district level, and the system became operational in 13 rural districts. A set of data collection tools was developed, and reports were generated for use by technical staff and decision makers, enabling them to respond to food and nutrition insecurity on a timely basis, and in an appropriately targeted manner. Local knowledge and perceptions on food insecurity and malnutrition in Sierra Leone were integrated into NEWS, to improve the design and implementation of food and nutrition security interventions.Impact
The project contributed to reducing food and nutrition security risks by establishing and operationalizing an effective food security and nutrition NEWS, and strengthening human and institutional capacity.Activities
- In total, 143 members in 13 rural districts were trained on data collection, interpretation, reporting and dissemination.
- Food and nutrition security task force established at national level to mentor the district teams, comprising various experts on food and nutrition security.
- Ten modules on food produced (cropping calendar, crop forecast, nutrition, food security, livestock, market, crop protection, agroclimatology, fisheries and forestry), which were adopted to monitor trigger indicators.
- WhatsApp platforms established, and community radio stations utilized for information sharing and dissemination.
- Five system administrators trained and put in charge of managing platforms, using digital means to upload and download data sets collected from field, for analysis and interpretation.
- A total of 39 district statisticians trained in data analysis.
- Periodic reports produced for wide dissemination through print and electronic media, at all levels.
- District-level coordinating bodies established using multisectorial approach.
- District networks supported to monitor the trends of food and nutrition security in the 13 rural districts.
Project symbol: GCP/SIL/045/IRE
Project title: Support to the Operationalization of a National Early Warning System on Food and Nutrition Security
Contact: FAO Office in Sierra Leone / Koffi Amegbeto (Lead Technical Officer)
Download PDF: http://www.fao.org/3/I9249EN/i9249en.pdf