Integrated approaches to food and nutrition security
The definition of food and nutrition security requires an integrated understanding of food production, distribution, access, utilization and stability. To achieve maximum impact on food and nutrition security an integrated approach is required at all levels (local, regional and international) in order to understand the complexity of the food system. To see how various approaches to integration are actually being implemented The Broker, commissioned by the Food & Business Knowledge Platform (F&BKP), conducted a study on integrated food security interventions consisting of a systematic mapping of integrated projects.
The objective was to identify the practical implications of adopting integrated approaches to food and nutrition security through literature review, survey questionnaire, and expert interviews. Moreover, implementation bottlenecks of and tools applied by the integrated interventions were identified.
In practice, a diverse array of approaches to such integration existed, designed to address complex issues such as food and nutrition security. Such approaches aimed to go beyond the impact of one-dimensional sectoral projects and, for that purpose, combined the work of different stakeholders across various sectors, disciplines and scales. There was a clear consensus on the added value of integration when it came to tackling food and nutrition insecurity because the synergies brought about by such integration enabled greater impact. This was mainly due to (1) the benefits produced by the alignment of multiple food and nutrition security objectives, and (2) the added value of bringing together knowledge, expertise and resources from different disciplines and sectors.
A discussion paper is written based on an extensive background report of the study.
Please download the discussion paper “Integrated approaches to food and nutrition security” here.
