Building Household Food-security Measurement Tools from the Ground up

"Humanitarian relief and development organizations increasingly need to measure household food security to monitor and evaluate the impact of programs and make planning and targeting decisions. Existing measures of regional or even local food availability often are inadequate for project-level decision-making, since availability is only one component of household food security. Other components, such as access to food and certainty of the food supply, are also important."

This 8-page paper explores the potential for developing direct measures of household food security that are based on an in-depth understanding of the experience of food insecurity at the household level. It is based on the observation that food insecurity is notoriously difficult to define, in part because - although measures of dietary intake of
individuals can assess aspects such as caloric insufficiency and nutrient inadequacy - they do not assess the cognitive and affective components of uncertainty (expressed as anxiety), unacceptability,
or unsustainability. The core premise of the paper is that fostering effective impact evaluation and planning and targeting decisions requires that local organisations in developing countries have access to tools for assessing household food security that go beyond measuring food availability to include access to food and perceptions of food insecurity.

As detailed here, the United States (US) Food Security Measure is an example of the use of in-depth understanding to develop and validate a quantitative measure of food security. The measure was based largely on research that involved qualitative, in-depth interviews with low-income, rural women with and without children who had experienced food insecurity. This measure, slighly adapted and enhanced by additional measures, was incorporated into a national measure. The authors explain that a key strength of the US measure, and a reason for its success, is that it is well-grounded conceptually: it recognises, for example, the conceptual difference and complex relationship between the experience of food insecurity and strategies to manage or cope with that
experience. The measure is also reportedly quick and simple to administer, generally requiring less than four minutes of survey time. Furthermore, because each set of items captures a different degree of severity, the measure captures the full range of severity and distinguishes among its different levels.

Broadly, the application of this research approach requires the following:

• Construct and validate measures of food insecurity based on people's experience, using both qualitative and quantitative methods in a variety of locations;
• Based on this research, develop a practical protocol that can be feasibly applied in a wide variety of locations to facilitate construction of appropriate
  experientially based measures of food insecurity;
• Disseminate the results and the protocol, and promote their appropriate use.

Specifically, this approach involves obtaining an in-depth understanding and turning this understanding into a measure from which an indicator can be chosen. Methods are outlined here, with examples. For instance, in addition to ethnography, several rapid rural appraisal (RRA) and participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques are detailed here - many of which rely on communication strategies of potential interest to health communicators and researchers. To cite one example, the use of activity calendars involves asking villagers in different food-security categories to distinguish between food-related activities they do in good versus bad years or seasons, including coping and investment strategies, and activities and assets that act as buffers against having to resort to coping. Whatever methodology is used, the authors stress, the measure and indicators need to be validated, ideally against definitive measures.

While stressing that there is no simple formula for constructing valid measures of food security, the authors indicate that, from research to date, the approach of developing measures based on an in-depth understanding of the experience of food insecurity has great potential. They cite some examples of how the US approach, in particular, has been drawn on - reviewing examples of efforts in developing countries, along with relevant conceptual and measurement issues. The potential portability and challenges to use of the US approach in developing countries are discussed. The elements needed to apply this approach are outlined,
along with operations research needed for developing such experientially based measures.

Click here to access a related peer-reviewed summary on the Health e Communication website, and to participate in peer review.