Cluster Approach to Food Security
By Dr Arvind Kumar
According to a recent news report released by IRIN, a 2010 evaluation of the “cluster approach” conducted by the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPI) and Groupe Urgence Rehabilitation, Development (URD) has recommended the setting up of a new global food security mechanism or “cluster”, to support disaster-affected food insecure communities. According to coordinator of this programme, Graham Farmer, the new cluster is led jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme(WFP). It is also reported that one of the tools deployed by aid workers in emergency responses to such things as floods, droughts or earthquakes is the “cluster approach”, first implemented in 2005. A “cluster” consists of groupings of UN agencies, NGOs and other international organizations around a sector or service provided during a humanitarian crisis. While explaining the rationale behind the December 2010 decision to set up the new cluster, GPPI’s Julia Steets said: “Everybody in the field agrees that one of the greatest challenges [during a humanitarian crisis] is implementing a proper `early recovery’ approach – introducing recovery and development aspects into relief work as early as possible and strengthening transition.”
Generally, the role of global clusters is to strengthen preparedness and build capacity of the aid response. The national or local level clusters make sure response to a crisis is effective and that all NGOs are on the same page. But the most innovative aspect of the new global food security cluster could be that, unlike other clusters, it will choose its priorities according to the needs of existing local and national clusters. In doing so it will endorse a bottom-up approach – something the GPPI/URD evaluation called. for.
