This position paper draws on many years’ experience of working on food security issues and offers support in planning and implementing food security activities and programmes. It reflects and is informed by the achievements and learning of Oxfam Novib and its partners and sets out a programme for the future.

Part 1 of the report sets out the multiple layers of issues that give rise to food insecurity. It reviews the conceptual frameworks for Food Security and Sustainable Livelihoods, considers the range of opportunities for advocacy and influencing, and sets out a programme for translating the lessons learned into an action programme.  

Part 2 sets out practical approaches to embedding food security into livelihoods programmes, including methods for data collection, participatory planning, and identifying and selecting appropriate interventions targeted at levels from individual, household, community, national and international. The approach focuses on causes of under-nutrition at three levels: the direct, the underlying, and the structural. By integrating these three approaches more effective solutions to the persistent problem of food insecurity can be developed. The report concludes by considering a range of indicators that can be used to measure the effectiveness of interventions.