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Sufficient

by Tanya Boudreau — last modified 02/27/2008 10:43

Ensured access to sufficient food for all people at all times

The idea of sufficiency implies a threshold below which access would be inadequate. Obvious as this idea appears, the challenge of measurement in the real world is substantial. This challenge notwithstanding, it is essential to have a standard objective threshold against which access to food can be quantified and compared; it is, otherwise, not possible to adhere to the basic principles of international humanitarian law related to neutral and impartial prioritization of assistance based on relative need. While nutritional standards (Global Acute and Severe Acute Malnutrition rates) provide one possible threshold, these are, by definition, not early warning thresholds. Signs of malnutrition emerge well after people’s access to food has been compromised. The other practical standard is the international minimum food energy standard of 2100 kilocalories per person per day. sufficient

Although this standard does not encompass the wider diversity and nutrient requirements related to good nutrition, it does provide a useful absolute minimum threshold for determining (at least) the need to launch an emergency intervention aimed at preventing widespread acute hunger. FEG Consulting incorporates this basic energy requirement into the survival and livelihood protection thresholds.  
Integrating Livelihoods

gathering firewood

What are livelihoods?

Livelihoods are the means by which households obtain and maintain access to essential resources to ensure their immediate and long-term survival. An analysis of livelihoods security, therefore, involves the investigation of how people ensure this access in different contexts and settings. Central to this enquiry amongst poor households is an understanding of food security, because - as a general rule - the poorer the household, the larger the proportion of its total income is spent on obtaining food.   

What is food security?

Many definitions of food security can be found throughout the humanitarian world. At a minimum, however, they all share the core concepts contained in the following definiton: Ensured access to sufficient food for all people at all times.

FEG Consulting makes this definition operational in the context of livelihood analysis through its use of the Household Economy Approach.

 
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