Photo: Niger - S.

Sheridan

OUR FOOD SECURITY

APPROACH
Resilient Solutions to Root Causes
Introduction
Despite recent progress in reducing global hunger, What is Food Security?
795 million people remain undernourished, at least
Building on language developed at the World
528 million of which live in countries where Mercy Food Summit (1996), Mercy Corps defines food
Corps is present.1,2 Food insecurity and attendant security as a development outcome achieved
malnutrition cause poor physical and cognitive when all people at all times consume sufficient,
development, increase vulnerability to disease, limit safe, and nutritious food and practice behaviors
productivity over a lifetime, and impede economic that promote both their sustainable economic
development.3 By increasing the resilience of productivity and well-being. There are four
food security to progressively complex influences equally critical dimensions of food security:
(e.g., conflict, climate change, price volatility), we
strengthen the foundation of well-being upon which AA The physical availability of food;
vulnerable populations can build secure, productive AA Economic and physical access to food;
and just communities.
AA The ability of the body to make use of food,
The Sustainable Development Goals challenge supported by sufficient, diverse diets and
countries, by 2030, to end hunger and all forms good food preparation, feeding and hygiene
of malnutrition, promote sustainable agriculture, practices; and
and achieve food security among other ambitious
AA The stability of these dimensions over time.
objectives. The 72 developing countries that have
achieved the first Millennium Development Goal We focus on holistic impact, going beyond
(MDG) of halving hunger within their borders improving access to food. We work to translate
have done so in large part by sustaining economic increased incomes to improved diets, ensure
growth, particularly driven by pro-poor development individual behaviors promote good health, and
of the agriculture sector, while providing reliable promote peaceful, well-governed communities
government-supported services and safety nets.4 This that provide an environment conducive to
approach should be scaled up in places experiencing positive change.
inclusive economic growth alongside strong
government commitments to reducing hunger and
improving nutrition.

However, in the places Mercy Corps works, these conditions are often absent. Where we encounter food
insecurity, communities are not resilient to the myriad constraints, shocks and stresses that undercut their well-
being. To successfully increase food security in these contexts, Mercy Corps has developed a distinctive
approach—incorporating best practices and resilience thinking—that is applicable in a range of contexts and
addresses the root causes of these challenges.

1
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), & World Food Programme (WFP). (2015). The state of
food insecurity in the world 2015. Meeting the 2015 international hunger targets: taking stock of uneven progress. Rome: FAO. Note: A conservative estimate, not taking into ac-
count the numbers of food insecure who live in areas for which no accurate data exists but where food insecurity is rampant.
2
The complex nature of food security means there is no single indicator we use to measure it. Throughout this document, nutrition-related indicators are used as proxies since food
insecurity is a key underlying cause of malnutrition, but it is acknowledged that there are other causes of malnutrition.
3
Maternal and Child Nutrition Study Group. (2013). Maternal and child nutrition: building momentum for impact. The Lancet 2013;382(9890):372–375. Retrieved from http://
www.download.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/piis0140-6736(13)60988-5/fulltext
4
FAO, IFAD, & WFP. (2015). The state of food insecurity in the world 2015. Meeting the 2015 international hunger targets: taking stock of uneven progress. Rome: FAO.

MERCY CORPS Our Food Security Approach: Resilient Solutions to Root Causes A 2
The Toughest Challenges in Food Security
In contexts characterized by inclusive economic growth and active government commitments to citizen well-being,
large-scale improvements in food security can occur. When these conditions are not present, progress toward
food security is made difficult by a number of underlying challenges, often the same factors that undermine
development. While barriers to food security will always be context specific, broadly speaking, the following
categories of challenges are common drivers of food insecurity.

recent phenomenon; according to the United Nations,

only a third of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa
experiencing a food crisis in 1990 were also in the
midst of a protracted conflict. By 2010, this figure had
grown to 80 percent.7 In countries facing complex
crises, the prevalence of undernutrition is 39 percent
versus 15 percent among all developing countries.8

FAILURE OF GOVERNANCE
In places that have made the greatest progress
toward improving food security, government
commitment and investment have often played a
central role. Governance failures not only lie at the
heart of complex crises (see related), they can stall
Photo: Kyrgyzstan - T. Harris or undermine food security improvement efforts, even
when crises do not degenerate into instability and
conflict. This is evident when comparing the role of
COMPLEX CRISES governance in Latin America, which as a region met
About 20 percent of food insecurity today lurks amid the first MDG target, and sub-Saharan Africa, which
the complex crises that have come to define most fell short.9 In Latin America, government spending
humanitarian situations in recent years.5,6 In these directed toward high profile, nationwide anti-hunger
places, conflict becomes a major driver of extreme and malnutrition initiatives increased by six percent
poverty and suffering. Food security suffers when across the region between 1990 and 2012. During
people are unable to access their land or markets this time period, rates of undernutrition plummeted.10
either because conflict makes such movements In contrast, during the same period few governments
impossible to undertake safely or because fleeing in sub-Saharan Africa committed to well-funded
separates them entirely from their livelihoods and initiatives around ending hunger, and progress has
normal sources of food. The interruption of both been more limited. Those countries that did increase
public and private-based services—such as health investment in such initiatives—such as Ethiopia,
care, agricultural input availability, education and Rwanda and South Africa—outperformed their
water—further erodes food security amidst conflict. regional peers in reducing hunger.11
The current scale of hunger amid complex crisis is a

5
F or Mercy Corps, a Complex Crisis is a situation with complex social, political and economic origins, which involves the breakdown of state structures, the disputed legitimacy
of host authorities, the abuse of human rights and possibly armed conflict. The term is generally used to differentiate humanitarian needs arising from conflict and instability from
those that arise from natural disasters.
6
FAO, IFAD, & WFP. (2015). The state of food insecurity in the world 2015. Meeting the 2015 international hunger targets: taking stock of uneven progress (pp. 37). Rome: FAO.
7
Ibid., p. 38.
8
Ibid., p. 37.
9
Ibid., p. 11.
10 
Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Food and Agriculture Organization. (2015). Regional overview of food insecurity: Latin America and Caribbean: The
region has reached the international hunger targets (pp. 16). FAO.
11
Food and Agriculture Organization Regional Office for Africa. (2015). Regional overview of food insecurity: African food insecurity prospects brighter than ever (pp. 8-10). FAO.

MERCY CORPS Our Food Security Approach: Resilient Solutions to Root Causes A 3
BEHAVIORS THAT UNDERMINE OPTIMAL
PRODUCTIVITY AND WELL-BEING
At the local level, individual, household and
community behaviors are key to achieving and
maintaining food security.12 However, people are often
uninformed or unable to act in their best interests, which
can directly undermine nutritional status, livelihood,
productivity, and other factors that contribute to food
security. For example, researchers estimate that regular
hand washing with soap at critical times could prevent
a third of diarrheal episodes that inhibit affected people
from absorbing the nutritional content of the food they
eat.13 And in many places, households demonstrate
their wealth by keeping livestock herds at unsustainable
sizes instead of using them as a productive asset and
downsizing during times of stress. Optimal behaviors can Photo: Niger - S. Sheridan

boost productivity, increasing availability of and access

to food and improving food utilization. New or improved
behaviors are also critical to developing absorptive, A person’s gender, age, or
adaptive and transformative capacities, which help social, ethnic or religious identity
maintain food security in the face of shocks and stresses. can impact their ability to access
and consume a quality diet.
DISEMPOWERMENT
A person’s gender, age, or social, ethnic or religious
identity can impact their ability to access and consume exposure to increased domestic violence in times of food
a quality diet. Globally, women and girls face scarcity magnify the ill effect on their well-being. Social
increased food insecurity due to local or household and ethnic identity can also have a disempowering effect.
norms or government policies that limit their access to For example, disadvantaged groups in Nepal’s caste
education and employment; restrict their food intake system experience pervasive discrimination, resulting in
within households; constrain their decision-making limited access to farmland, communal water sources, and
about their own behaviors, ability to seek health care other resources, leading to higher rates of poverty and
services, and use of household resources; and prevent childhood stunting than national averages.15 Developing
them from accessing productive resources and assets.14 programming aimed at empowering disadvantaged
The increased nutritional requirements and large labor groups is a critical aspect of improving food security,
burdens that many women and girls bear as well as even in crises.

12
F ood Security and Nutrition Network Social and Behavioral Change Task Force. (2013). Designing for Behavior Change For Agriculture, Natural Resource Management, Health
and Nutrition. Washington, DC: Technical and Operational Performance Support (TOPS) Program. Note: While development actors often assume that the main reasons individu-
als do not engage in optimal behaviors to support their well-being are lack of knowledge or lack of resources, there are in fact 12 recognized, universal determinants of behavior
that influence behaviors cross-culturally. While these include skills and resources, these also include self-efficacy, social norms, policy, culture, and perceptions around positive
and negative consequences, risk, severity, efficacy and divine will. Effective behavior change means ensuring that none of these determinants are creating a barrier to individu-
als taking on an improved behavior.
13
Ejemot, R.I., Ehiri J.E., Meremikwu M.M., & Critchley J.A. (2008). Hand washing for preventing diarrhea. International Journal of Epidemiology,23(1).
14
The United Nations estimates that addressing the gender gap in access to production resources could raise agricultural output in developing countries 2.5-4 percent and reduce
the prevalence of undernourishment by 12-17 percent. FAO, WFP, and IFAD. (2012.) The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012. Economic growth is necessary but not suf-
ficient to accelerate reduction of hunger and malnutrition. Rome: FAO.
15
Bennett, L., Ram Dahal, D., & Govindasamy, P. (2008). Caste, ethnic and regional identity in Nepal: Further Analysis of the 2006 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey.
Calverton, MD: Macro International Inc.

MERCY CORPS Our Food Security Approach: Resilient Solutions to Root Causes A 4
CLIMATE CHANGE the last twenty years, investment in agricultural growth
Climate change affects food security in two main ways. has waned, even as natural resource degradation—
First, the increased frequency and intensity of extreme especially in soil and water—and climate variability
weather events, like droughts and floods, destroy the has increased, hindering agricultural production using
crops, livestock, natural resources, and infrastructure current methods and inputs. The relatively low supply in
that people rely on for their livelihoods, forcing wide relation to population growth is widely expected to push
scale reliance on coping mechanisms (e.g., going food prices up by as much as 20 percent over the next
into debt, removing children from school, increasing ten years and increase the volatility of food prices, a
labor burdens) that jeopardize long-term food security. prospect that will further challenge food security gains.18
Second, increasing climate variability, such as
changing rainfall patterns and average temperatures,
URBANIZATION
undermines agricultural production and enables In 2008, the world’s urban population surpassed the
debilitating diseases to spread into new areas. The rural population for the first time, a milestone in shifting
UN’s World Food Program estimates that, by 2050, demographics that has major implications for how we
climate change will increase the risk of food insecurity address food insecurity now and in the future. Largely
by 10-20 percent.16 Developing countries, lower- unable to produce their own food, urban residents rely
income communities, and lower-latitude areas will be heavily on food purchases, making them especially
disproportionately at risk.17 vulnerable to food price increases and volatility. Those
living in urban slums and informal settlements—about a
LOCAL FOOD AVAILABILITY third of the global population according to the FAO—
The common assertion that there is enough food face even greater challenges to their food security.19
produced currently to feed everyone on the planet Informal settlements often lack cooking facilities,
often leads to the conclusion that ending food forcing residents to abandon nutritious foods from their
insecurity is largely an issue of improving access to rural diets to consume ready-to-eat meals or heavily
that food. While this statement is technically true, the processed foods made with low quality ingredients.
dynamics of the global food system are far removed The growth of informal settlements also impacts the
from the world’s most food insecure populations. health of residents. Confined living space combined
Boosting the local availability of sufficient, healthy with a lack of quality water resources and sanitation
foods therefore remains a critical aim of food security facilities translates into high rates of diarrheal and other
work. This will become even more important in the diseases undermining the food utilization of urban
coming years as population growth outstrips the current residents.
production capacity of the global agricultural sector. In

Photo: Ethiopia - J. Kabana Photo: Guatemala - C. Robbins

16
 rishna Krishnamurthy, P., Lewis, K., & Choularton, R.J. (2012). Climate impacts on food security and nutrition: A review of existing knowledge (pp. 3-5). Met Office and WFP
K
Office for Climate Change, Environment, and Disaster Risk Reduction.
17
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2014). Fifth assessment report summary for policy makers. Climate change 2014: impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability (pp.12).
IPCC.
18
Barrett, C. (2014). Presentation to Weill Cornell Global Health Grand Rounds: The global food security challenge of the coming decades. New York, NY.
19
FAO. Food for the Cities. ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/ak824e/ak824e00.pdf, accessed December 9, 2015.

MERCY CORPS Our Food Security Approach: Resilient Solutions to Root Causes A 5
Our Approach
Mercy Corps sees food security as an outcome of programs that integrate all of the sectors in which we work. As
illustrated in Figure 1, we pursue food security as a crosscutting goal, dependent on healthy ecological systems,
good governance, social empowerment, sound health, pro-poor market systems, and peace and stability. Food
security emerges where these areas converge: when conditions allow people to consider their long-term interests
in addition to their immediate needs when making choices about behaviors affecting their productivity and well-
being. For example, pro-poor market systems can supply nutritious foods at affordable prices, but an additional
focus on gender and empowerment can ensure women are able to buy them. Similarly, effective governance
of ecological systems can ensure the natural resource base promotes sustainable and reliable agricultural
production. Significant progress toward food security is only possible when systems and local capacities interact
in an optimal way to overcome myriad disrupting influences.20

GOOD GOVERNANCE

EMPOWERMENT HUMAN WELL-BEING

PRO-POOR MARKETS ECOLOGICAL HEALTH

FOOD SECURITY
Figure 1. Food security emerges where these five areas converge.

The following characteristics distinguish Mercy Corps’ approach to food security.

FOOD SECURITY IS A DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME, NOT A SECTOR

Food security is a desired outcome of our work to build resilient systems in support of healthy and growing
communities. It hinges on the resilience of systems (i.e., social, economic and ecological) across scales (i.e.,
national, local, community, household and individual) to shocks and stresses that undermine well-being. Food
insecurity—both chronic and acute—is the result of systemic constraints on behavior compounded by shocks
and stresses. When existing absorptive capacities fail, the coping strategies that vulnerable populations employ
usually further undermine their food security. Our resilience approach deepens our understanding of three key
elements of food security—access to, availability of, and proper utilization of food—and helps us consider how to
improve food security and make it stable over time.

20
 oleman-Jensen, A., Gregory, C. & Singh, A. (2014). Household Food Security in the United States in 2013. Economic Research Service, United States Department of
C
Agriculture.

MERCY CORPS Our Food Security Approach: Resilient Solutions to Root Causes A 6
ADDRESSING THE ROOT CAUSES Our Core Principles
OF FOOD INSECURITY THROUGH AA Resilience Thinking: Our focus on resilience
MULTI-SECTORAL PROGRAMMING builds individual, household and community
Because food insecurity is a complex problem resulting capacity to adapt to and learn from shocks
from multiple failures within the social, economic and stresses related to food insecurity
and ecological systems upon which people rely,
Mercy Corps works closely with communities to AA Multi-sectoral and Systems Thinking:
understand its root causes. Our approach considers We use systems-thinking to tackle food
age-old contributors to food insecurity—longstanding insecurity at its root, developing complex,
generational stresses on vulnerable populations multi-sector programming that can work
such as lack of infrastructure, low agricultural yields, to address multiple causes of vulnerability
or poor health status—alongside complicating and simultaneously
compounding shocks and stresses, such as increased
AA Emphasis on Individual Well-being:
climate variability, poor governance, or social
While working toward system and behavior
marginalization. By identifying the set of factors
change, the ultimate outcome is increased
interacting to undermine food security in a given
well-being for the people we serve
context, Mercy Corps can work with communities to
replace negative reinforcement loops, which create AA Long-term: Because building capacity and
poverty traps and on-going vulnerability, with positive changing systems takes time, we invest in
feedback loops that promote prosperity and well-being. long-term food security strategies that likely
incorporate many programs
This systems thinking approach allows Mercy Corps,
in partnership with communities, to develop multi- AA Transferable: We strive to ensure our
sectoral programs that aim to build the capacity of approach is applicable in different contexts,
people to act productively within social, economic and from development situations to humanitarian
ecological systems to ensure their own food security. emergencies
Ultimately, our food security work reflects approaches
from all the sectors in which we work—from conflict
mitigation, economic and market development, and
governance to agriculture, public health, nutrition, water, sanitation, and hygiene—as well as the mainstreaming
lenses essential to any good programming, such as resilience, gender, youth, social inclusion, and ecological
sustainability (the final section explores these themes in more depth). The comprehensiveness of this approach
ensures we do no harm as we address the true causes of food insecurity.

FRAMING FOOD SECURITY AS A LONG-TERM STRATEGY

Food security is the outcome of a long-term strategy—one involving many innovative multi-sector projects, often
over many years—aimed at building capacity and ownership among individuals and communities and facilitating
change in the systems upon which they rely. Sustained change requires meaningful local engagement and action,
a process which necessitates Mercy Corps’ long-term involvement as a facilitator. Maintaining progress toward
our long-term goal of improving food security through small programs requires Mercy Corps teams to design
context-specific strategies that have clear and measurable intermediate results that can guide individual program
design and targets. A portfolio of shorter programs, over time and across sectors, will contribute to progress
toward the ultimate goal of food security.21 As we implement programs with shorter time frames, we may need to
sacrifice large short-term impacts during the implementation period so that we can better lay the groundwork for

21
For more, see Nicholson, D. (2015). Resilience Discussion Paper No. 1: Resilience Strategies, not Resilience Projects. Mercy Corps.

MERCY CORPS Our Food Security Approach: Resilient Solutions to Root Causes A 7
larger and sustained impacts only achievable over time. For example, lasting improvements in livestock quality
in a vulnerable, pastoralist community may be best achieved through market-oriented interventions—such as
increasing the presence and quality of animal health care and breeding services—even if faster results could be
achieved by directly distributing improved animals.

ADDRESSING BOTH ACUTE AND CHRONIC HUNGER TO ACHIEVE FOOD SECURITY

Mercy Corps’ work in complex crises and transitional environments targets the intersection of chronic and acute
hunger: where long-standing vulnerability is exacerbated by immediate shocks. From the Global Food Crisis in
2008, to recurrent drought in the Horn and Sahel, to conflict-related hunger in the Middle East, Mercy Corps
has been honing mechanisms to meet both immediate needs and help communities transform when faced with
crisis. Though we continue to integrate conflict, governance and resilience goals into our programming to address
the root causes of humanitarian situations, food assistance programs (including using cash or voucher transfers)
and efforts to strengthen and increase connectivity to local safety net mechanisms remain essential to helping
individuals, households and communities recover from short-term shocks.22 As situations stabilize, Mercy Corps
phases out safety nets progressively and refocuses efforts on long-term capacity building and systems change.

Our Theory of Change

Mercy Corps works with communities, local organizations and authorities to identify the root causes of food
insecurity and uses this knowledge to develop comprehensive and inclusive multi-sector programming aimed
achieving resilient food security. As illustrated in Figure 2, our theory of change presents the conditions under
which resilient food security is attainable for communities and individuals:

IF social, ecological and economic systems are more resilient and equitable, AND communities and individuals
undertake behaviors that support their productivity and health, AND communities are better governed and more
peaceful, THEN communities will be able to improve stable food availability, access and utilization, AND the
individuals within them will be more food secure.

Social, ecological and

economic systems are more
resilient and equitable.

Communities and individuals Communities will be

The individuals
more able to ensure
IF undertake behaviors that support THEN stable food availability,
AND within them will
their productivity and health be more food secure.
access and utilization.

Communities are better

governed and more peaceful

Figure 2. Mercy Corps' Theory of Change for Food Security.

22
 olfe, R. (2015). Addressing the root causes of complex crises: increasing resilience, strengthening governance, creating peaceful change – a companion paper to
W
Responding to complex crises. Mercy Corps.

MERCY CORPS Our Food Security Approach: Resilient Solutions to Root Causes A 8
TABLE 1: THE TOC AND THE DIMENSIONS OF FOOD SECURITY
Communities and
Social, ecological and individuals undertake Communities are
economic systems are more behaviors that support their better governed and
resilient and equitable productivity and health more peaceful
Stable Resilience-thinking allows us Optimal agricultural practices Inclusive good governance,
Availability to target the systemic barriers used by everyone increase peace, and stability create
compromising agricultural crop and livestock productivity, an environment where
productivity, food production, either for home consumption agricultural and market
and local market importation or to supply local markets. The systems are more likely to
and distribution. behavior of traders, processors thrive.
and other actors influences
market efficiency and local
market supply.

Stable Functional agricultural systems An individual’s behaviors, Good governance

Access and markets provide income whether freely chosen or and peace provide an
opportunities that can enable influenced by informal norms enabling environment for
households to purchase or formal rules, affects how individuals to pursue income
diverse foods. Equity in the much income they earn, generating activities. A
social system ensures that ultimately determining how secure environment also
each person in a household much is available for food promotes the ability of
and community—no matter purchases. Behaviors also diverse groups to travel
their gender, age or other determine whether people use safely to local markets, make
consideration—has access to their income to purchase a food purchases, and access
the food they need. diverse, high-quality diet. essential services, such as
health care and education,
that support long-term food
security.

Stable Income opportunities also Practices around water Effective local governance
Utilization support people’s ability to treatment and storage, food systems support access
access sufficient amounts of preparation, and hygiene to and maintenance of
diverse foods, as well as the either support or hinder food community assets—such
resources needed to maintain utilization. High labor burden as water points—and
food quality during storage among women and girls disseminate important health
and nutrient quality during restricts their ability to take and nutrition information.
preparation. on extra behaviors, such as Many communities rely on
seeking antenatal care, that formal governance structures
support their well-being. to provide services such
as quality health care and
education, while peace and
stability increase individuals’
ability to use those services
when they need them.

MERCY CORPS Our Food Security Approach: Resilient Solutions to Root Causes A 9
We adapt this theory of change based on the demands individual security; and maintaining critical services such
of each unique context and target population. This means as health care, water provision and sanitation.23 We
that in complex crises, our food security work first and apply the same strategies in places that have the potential
foremost meets life-sustaining needs through the provision for or have recently experienced complex crisis, while
of food assistance. In these interventions, we work to empowering vulnerable populations and establishing
ensure food rations support absorptive capacity, helping inclusive governance structures and processes to catalyze
sustain well-being, particularly for young children, women transformational change.
of reproductive age, and the chronically ill.
In the stable and post-crisis countries where we work,
We also work closely with communities in complex our food security work couples these components with
crises to understand the root causes of food insecurity. relationship building among private sector, civil society
In these places, food insecurity is often a result of and government actors. In each stage, we work at the
governance failures and conflict, requiring interventions systems level, promote optimal behaviors, and support
rooted in conflict management and governance-based governance and conflict-sensitive approaches in an
programming aimed at sustaining agricultural productivity effort to ensure communities can secure food availability,
and market functionality; improving community and access and utilization to the diverse foods they need.

Food Security Across Sectors and Approaches

The root causes of food insecurity are as likely to lie in conflict and poor governance as in poor agricultural
performance, poverty or malnutrition. By treating food security as an outcome instead of a sector, Mercy Corps is
able to draw on approaches that guide all of the sectors in which we work in addressing food insecurity.

AA Conflict Mitigation: Food security and conflict are deeply interrelated dynamics. Conflict undermines food
security where it destroys crops and livestock, displaces populations, disrupts agricultural and food markets,
and interrupts livelihoods. Food insecurity itself can create conflict. In 2007-08, rapid increases in food
prices triggered unrest in 43 countries, including a government overthrow in Haiti, as populations reacted to
rapidly rising costs for critical food staples.24,25 Low incomes and decreased agricultural production can also
increase competition and conflict over limited resources, such as water and arable land.26

AA Health and Nutrition: Poor health and poor nutrition form a vicious cycle that undermines food security
in vulnerable populations, particularly when combined with early marriage and pregnancy. Malnutrition
contributes to 45 percent of all child deaths and results in 2-3 percent decreases in gross domestic product in
affected countries.27/28 Due to their biological need for increased energy and nutrient requirements, pregnant
and lactating women and children aged less than 2 years are especially vulnerable when health and nutrition
are compromised, putting them at highest risk of food insecurity. In contrast, healthy and well-nourished
individuals have the physical and cognitive capacity to care for themselves, their families and their communities,
and the take risks inherent in changing behaviors, and thereby improve food security.

AA Water and Sanitation: Water quality and the hygiene of the living environment have a direct impact
on the biological utilization of food. The health consequences of relying on unsafe water sources and
lacking access to sanitation reduce the body’s ability to absorb the nutrients and therefore undermine
23
 ercy Corps. (2015). Addressing the root causes of complex crises: increasing resilience, strengthening governance, creating peaceful change – a companion paper to
M
Responding to complex crises.
24
United Nations Population Fund Technical Division & International Institute for Environment and Development. (2011). Technical briefing: Urbanization and food prices (pp. 3).
25
Klarreich, K. (2008). Food riots lead to Haitian meltdown. TIME Magazine. Retrieved from: http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1730607,00.html
26
Simmons, E. (2013). Harvesting peace: food security, conflict, and cooperation. Environmental Change & Security Program Report,14(3). Retrieved from https://www.
wilsoncenter.org/publication/harvesting-peace-food-security-conflict-and-cooperation
27
Lancet 2013, the maternal and child undernutrition series paper 1.
28
von Grebmer, K., Ruel, M.T., Menon, P., Nestorova, B., Olofinbiyi, T., Fritschel, H., Thompson, J. (2010). 2010 Global Hunger Index: The Challenge of Hunger, Focus on
the Crisis of Child Undernutrition (pp. 25). Bonn, Washington, DC, Dublin: International Food Policy Research Institute, Concern Worldwide, & Welthungerhilfe.

MERCY CORPS Our Food Security Approach: Resilient Solutions to Root Causes A 10
 food security. Given the cyclical nature of diarrhea and malnutrition, a growing body of evidence
emphasizes the importance of integrating water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), nutrition, and health
interventions with food security programming.

AA Agriculture: A strong agricultural and ecological base ensures the availability of nutritious food to eat and
income for food and health purchases, while reducing vulnerability to natural disaster and food access shocks.
Equitable land tenure and grazing rights are essential to allowing all producers to engage effectively in food
production activities. In addition to providing income for smallholder farmers, efficient and expanding agricultural
markets ensure sufficient food with diverse nutritional content is available at prices households can afford, thereby
increasing both physical and economic access to food. Agriculture also relies on the natural resource base to
maintain and increase production, and yet these resources, including soils and water, are under threat from
overuse. In the agriculture sector, only climate resilient growth will support food security in the long term.

Equitable land
tenure and grazing
rights are essential
to allowing all
producers to
engage effectively
in food production
activities.
Photo: Uganda - Crobbins

AA Governance: Inclusive good governance from community to national levels provides an enabling
environment that supports food security by enhancing stability, promoting security, providing a forum for
inclusive decision-making, and establishing a framework that can guide official and business transactions.
It provides the formal and informal structures and processes that can enhance agricultural and market
productivity, deliver services such as health care and education, and disseminate critical information
through vehicles such as early warning systems. Government institutions must create and enforce
policies that support food security, and communities and citizens must have the capacity to advocate
for the creation or revision of those policies as needed. Programs supporting improved governance
build stronger relationships between civil society groups and government and provide improved
dispute mitigation capacity, ultimately tackling the root causes of food insecurity and better ensuring
community resilience.

AA Climate Change Adaptation: In some of the world's most volatile and impoverished regions, climate
change is exacerbating the problem of food insecurity, exposing more people to natural disasters
and worsening an already unprecedented scarcity of resources, including water and arable land. By
supporting communities in addressing and adapting to environmental changes—including programs

MERCY CORPS Our Food Security Approach: Resilient Solutions to Root Causes A 11
 aimed at managing limited water supplies, promoting crops that thrive under new conditions, and
teaching farmers to protect their land—we are targeting some of the root causes of food insecurity.

Mercy Corps’ food security approach also incorporates the approaches that define our work more broadly.

AA Resilience: Being food secure means being resilient to the diverse shocks and stresses that disrupt
well-being. Communities with greater resilience—that have absorptive, adaptive and transformative
capacities in relation to shocks and stresses—are able to strengthen production and income generation,
provide safety nets, and safeguard the health of the most vulnerable in spite of the challenges they
encounter. Mercy Corps’ resilience approach provides an overarching framework for deepening our
understanding of interconnected systems and how their unique dynamics affect food security.

In some of the world's most

volatile and impoverished
regions, climate change is
exacerbating the problem
of food insecurity.

Photo: Timor Leste - M. Samper

AA Market Development: Most people rely on markets to access their food, and an urbanizing world
requires increasingly complex, geographically dispersed market systems to move nutritious food from
farm to table. Poor populations also struggle to afford sufficient, nutritious foods for the whole family
without consistent income sources. Increased consumption of healthy and diverse foods is not possible if
people cannot afford to buy these foods.

AA Gender: Evidence shows that food security is strengthened when men and women share decision-making
and access to resources within the household, community and livelihood systems. Over the past few years,
the centrality of women’s role in food security has come into sharp focus. Women farmers produce 60–80
percent of food in most developing countries and are responsible for half of the world’s food production. In the
home, women—especially those in rural areas—are primarily responsible for food selection and preparation,
playing a decisive role in their families’ dietary diversity and health. Meanwhile, we see that when households
struggle with acute hunger, gender-based violence soars while men and adolescents bear the brunt of risky
coping strategies, such as migration, that can undermine progress toward longer term food security.

AA Humanitarian Response: In both acute and chronic emergencies, households often struggle to meet
immediate food needs, often undermining their long term productivity to meet short term needs. For
example, a household may sell assets to purchase food or removing children from school so that they can
earn income, strategies that can be destabilizing long term.

MERCY CORPS Our Food Security Approach: Resilient Solutions to Root Causes A 12
 CONTACT
CATHY BERGMAN
Director, Food Security Technical Support Unit
[email protected]

About Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization
powered by the belief that a better world is possible.
In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries
around the world, we partner to put bold solutions into
action — helping people triumph over adversity and
build stronger communities from within.
Now, and for the future.

45 SW Ankeny Street
Portland, Oregon 97204
888.842.0842
mercycorps.org

MERCY CORPS Our Food Security Approach: Resilient Solutions to Root Causes A 13