KEY MESSAGES FROM THE FSNWG MEETING JANUARY 24, 2013 (FSNWG JAN 13)
While seasonal and generally good food security conditions reflect improvement in communities in the horn of Africa, we must bear in mind that good is a relative term. Beneath these relatively good conditions exists extreme levels of chronic food insecurity. As learned from Somalia in 2011, these conditions are potentially deadly.
There is increasing awareness of large-scale socio-economic changes in communities where this chronic food insecurity exists. Studies reveal up to 70% of pastoral communities currently live or plan to live outside of traditional pastoral livestock keeping systems. This trend in no way implies that the livestock sector is not well. Evidence suggests that successful livestock keepers are becoming wealthier and also driving a rapidly growing commercial livestock trade.
As we move into the dry season we expect to see a seasonal deterioration in food security and nutrition conditions. These conditions may exceed some emergency thresholds but are a function of chronic food insecurity. More effective responses in these situations may be ones which engage with the changing developmental landscape rather than through traditional humanitarian actions.