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Consultations
Information Sheet Sphere Handbook Revision Process on Food Aid, Nutrition and Food Security The
Sphere Project is an international interagency collaboration striving
to improve the quality of humanitarian assistance in areas of water
supply, sanitation, nutrition, food, shelter, health, and site planning
to victims, and enhance the accountability and effectiveness of
humanitarian response agencies to its stakeholders. The Disaster
Mitigation Institute's (DMI) Ahmedabad, association with Sphere
began in 1998. Along with consciously using Sphere in its disaster
mitigation activities, DMI has been active with several pilot agencies
in informing the revision of the Sphere handbook. To that end, having
organised a consultation with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) on
revision of the Shelter and Site Planning Chapter of the Handbook
on the September 18, 2002, in Ahmedabad, DMI organised a follow
up consultation on Food Aid, Nutrition and Food Security in New
Delhi, on December16-17, 2002, with the support of the World Food
Programme, Tufts University, and the Emergency Food Security Network.
37 participants who were trained or practicing in Sphere and had
field experience in relation to the subject of food security in
emergency situations, deliberated on the current and proposed standards
for food security and nutrition in the revised handbook. They represented
18 (inter) national and local organisations including World Vision;
Save the Children (UK); the Spanish and Canadian Red Cross; Care
India; Caritas; United States Agency for International Development
(USAID); Church's Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA); Evanglical
Fellowship of India Commission on Relief (EFICOR); Discipleship
Centre; United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); National Centre
for Disaster Management (NCDM); EFSN; DMI; Poorvanchal Gram Vikas
Sanstha (PGVS); Dasoli Gram Swaraj Mandal (DGSM); Sarvodaya Kendra;
and Mahila Mandal Barmer Agor. Dr. Helen Young (Tufts University), Focal Point for Food Security in the Sphere Handbook Revision process facilitated the two-day consultation, which started with an explanation and exchange on the background of the general and food specific revision process, with updates on its progress in other parts of the world. These acted as a verbal
reinforcement of the papers that were electronically circulated
to the participants before the consultation. A review of participant
expectations in relation to the content and process of the consultation,
as well as the next steps preceded an exchange on the Indian experiences
in food security. This was initiated by focused papers and presentations
on the humanitarian reality of food security and emergency operations
in India by Dr. Bhanu, PGVS; Dr. Vinod K. Sharma, NCDM; and Dr.
David, EFSN. Concrete examples and lessons to feed into the revision
were highlighted by Mr. Mihir R. Bhatt, DMI through his presentation
on lessons for food security from the Gujarat Earthquake and Mr.
Prushty and his teams (Care India) experiences from the Orissa Super
cyclone and recurrent droughts in the region. These generated participant discussions that contributed to the Working Group Exercises around issues of definition of food security and integration of Food security, Nutrition and Food Aid as well as, themes for the Food Security Chapter that included Assessment and Analysis; Food Production; Markets; Income and Employment; Preservation of Assets; Linking Government Services with Civil Society Initiative and Access to Food and Non Food Strategies. These groups were convened several times during the consultation to review and suggest alterations to the structure of the chapter as well as the standards, indicators, guidance notes, checklists and cross cutting issues in consonance to the Indian reality. An exercise on the review and revision of the nutrition indicators was also undertaken, raising a host of issues surrounding choice between breast-feeding and alternate supplements food. It proposed attention to viewing health care at three levels: primary, secondary and tertiary, with some suggesting the need for a 'hamlet approach,' to address the needs of social groups in a village. The findings of the
two days revealed that general feedback of the Working Groups expressed
unanimity on integrating the three sections of food aid, nutrition
and food security under one chapter in the Sphere handbook. There
was also an agreement on the World Food Summit Definition of Food
Security, "Food Security exists when all the people, at all times,
have the physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, nutritious
food for a healthy and active life," within a broader livelihoods
perspective. It was also agreed that the scope of Sphere application
extended beyond disaster response to disaster preparedness and mitigation
in the context of food as much in rapid onset disasters as in slow
onset disasters like droughts. Some specific recommendations summarised by Dr. Young on the revision included the idea of piloting implementation of food security and nutrition standards, improving market standards and links for food security, assessment of the government (food and non-food) schemes for ensuring food aid and security, in the interest of environmental laws remove 'hunting' from the minimum standards on food production, add to the guidance notes the link between disaster response and capacity building of local (government and peoples) institutions that could act as a buffer for food security, highlight the list of issues to consider in provision of 'cash vs. food,' add the preference for local food to food security standards and develop a preliminary list for food assessment based on the points propose by the participants. Through out the two
days follow up ideas and steps were discussed, recommendations extended
and decisions taken that were summarized by Mr. Mihir R Bhatt, DMI.
It was decided that DMI will write up and circulate the draft minutes
by December 23, 2002, and final minutes will be widely circulated.
It was agreed that DMI and Dr. Helen Young will jointly write up
the report of the Delhi Consultation by January 1, 2002, to capture
the contribution of Delhi participants to the revision process.
It was felt that the process of consultation on food security and
nutrition standards was important and must be linked with the inter-agency
work on the follow up of the World Food Summit, including assessments,
information management and voluntary guidelines. It was decided
that WFP and EFSN will initiate some activities in this regard and
others interested will join in. Further it was stressed that this revision consultation should go to the community level. It was decided to design and develop a time bound and suitable community consultation process on food security standards considering links with social safety nets. EFSN with an interested agency will develop this plan by December 30, 2002. Agreement that food is closely linked with water and that Indian agencies had done useful and diverse work in water security in disaster contexts, led the proposal to discuss relief standards in relation to the ongoing drought in India. DMI and Oxfam with UNICEF could take a lead in developing this idea further into an activity by December 30, 2002. Also, acknowledging
the role of donors in reviewing and revising criteria related to
funding for food security work, especially on: (a) interests around
application of Sphere Standards; and (b) the comparative advantages
of country, agency and project piloting process, a donor meeting
was proposed. Rapid documentation of the Supply Chain management
was additionally proposed to detail how the chain links food aid
with food security. CARE on World Vision could take a lead on this
issue.Further, it was proposed
to work on harmonising Sphere Standards with the operational government
standards at district level. Experience of CARE in Chattisgarh was
pioneering in this regard. It was decided to initiate an activity
around this issue by January 30, 2002, by interested agencies such
as NCDM. The consultation concluded with the words of Mr. Medrano, WDP Representative and Country Director, United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) "It is important for the civil society to be involved in developing standards, against just following what someone has suggested." Stressing that the revision was 'work in progress,' he encouraged organisations to continue their support and take up a realistic not a confrontational approach to the process, offering WFP's support their endeavors.
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