brochure_voh.pdf

8/10/2019 brochure_VoH.pdf

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PEOPLE'S VOICES

SERVING THE WORLD


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EIGHT KEY

QUESTIONS FOR

ONE PLANET

In many countries, the capacity and national

budgets for data collection and analysis are

limited, making it difficult to understand the

food insecurity situation in the country and

develop strategies to address it.

Through the Voices of the Hungry (VoH)

project, FAO has finally achieved a crucial

goal: finding a way to measure food

insecurity worldwide, using an experience-

based tool that can easily be applied broadly.

The Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) is

part of a measurement system developed by

VoH - an experience-based metric of severity

of food insecurity that relies on peoples

direct responses to eight questions regardingtheir access to adequate food. The FIES

questions focus on self-reported food-related

behaviors and experiences associated with

increasing difficulties in obtaining food due to

resource constraints. The measure is based on

a well-grounded construct of the experience

of food insecurity composed of three

domains: uncertainty/anxiety, changes in food

quality, and changes in food quantity.

The FIES is very simple to apply at low cost andproduces relevant information for manydifferent actors. It can be easily incorporatedinto individual and household surveys and hasthe potential to promote the link betweendifferent sectors, such as nutrition andagriculture.The information resulting from use of the FIES isnot only straightforward and easy to understandbut also available in a timely manner andrelevant for a variety of audiences, including: advocates

community leaders and activists researchers programmeme managers government officials at all levelsVoH complements other initiatives related tofood security monitoring such as theIntegrated Phase Classification and the GlobalStrategy to improve agricultural andrural statistics.

FAO/Carl de Souza

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Whats the main advantage of

using the FIES?


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The innovation

Lorum Ipsem ...

Building on the content and experience of

similar tools, such as the US Household

Food Security Survey Module, the

Household Food Insecurity Access Scale

and the Latin American and Caribbean

Food Security Scale, the FIES reliably

measures the severity of food insecurity at

the individual or household level. Thanks

to the newly developed analytic

framework that enables cross-culturalcomparability, it will be possible to

compare food insecurity severity across

countries and explore how food insecurity

may affect men and women differently,

with implications for policy and

programmes.

The FIES measurement system is a key

innovation, compared to existing metrics or

indicators which focus on determinants of

food security (e.g. food expenditures or

income), or its consequences like nutritional

status. It represents a different approach to

measurement by directly evaluating the

severity of peoples food insecurity

condition. As different levels of food

insecurity severity can have different causesand lead to different outcomes, the FIES is

the link that was missing to complete the

analytic toolbox necessary for a thorough

understanding of the causes of food

insecurity and its possible solutions.

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For world-wide application of the FIES, VoH willleverage on the Gallup World Poll

(GWP), a branch of Gallup, Inc. that hasconducted nationally representative surveys inmore than 150 countries annually since 2005.Beginning in 2014, the FIES is beingincorporated into the World Poll questionnaire.The data will be gathered from a nationallyrepresentative sample of adults in all of thecountries covered by the World Poll and used toderive estimates of the prevalence of foodinsecurity at different levels of severity, VoH

also aims to help Governments include the FIESin their own food security monitoring systemsusing data from country-led surveys to produceestimates of food insecurity severity at the sub-national level and of specific population groups.With assistance from FAO, countries will acquirethe capacity to produce data and indicatorssuitable for national and global monitoring, andfor developing evidence-based policies.

Door to door in more than 150

countries


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Voicesof the

Hungry

Food and Agriculture Organizationof the United Nations

Achieving FAOs goals to end hunger and poverty

challenging and complex task.

HELP ELIMINATE HUNGER, FOOD INSECURITY AND MALNUTRITION

brochure_voh.pdf

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