Food Security and Title II Food Aid
USAID Response
For over fifty years, the U.S. Government has provided much needed development and emergency food assistance. More than $1 billion is spent annually on food aid activities, reaching millions of malnourished and vulnerable people. The 1990 Farm Bill authorization legislation and USAID's 1995 Food Aid and Food Security Policy made improved nutrition a central objective of food aid programs.
USAID's Food Aid and Food Security Policy emphasizes that, while food aid can make a significant contribution to reducing malnutrition and improving food security, food aid alone is not sufficient to achieve sustainable reductions in malnutrition. Food resources must be combined with technical assistance, training, and services aimed at improving the capacity of communities, households and individuals to meet their dietary needs. Thus, a priority focus of the Title II development/emergency food aid program is increased integration with other USAID resources to enhance the effectiveness of child survival, maternal health, nutrition and other community development activities.
An additional emphasis of the U.S. Government food aid program is to strengthen the capacity of program implementers to manage by results and improve the ability to report on the impacts of the program on food security and nutrition in countries and populations receiving U.S. food aid.
Progress to Date
More than one-third of food aid development resources, approximately $400 million in FY 2003, was used for health, nutrition, water and sanitation activities. The food aid program reaches some of the poorest and most needy countries through partnerships with implementing partners, largely the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP), Private Voluntary Organizations (PVOs) and faith-based organizations, and constitutes the largest USAID investment with improved nutrition as its objective.
The Title II food and monetization resources directly support proven interventions to improve child survival and nutrition, such as promotion of exclusive breastfeeding, prevention and integrated management of childhood illness, improving diets and micronutrient consumption, and improvements in maternal and antenatal care. This support provides opportunities to document innovative implementation approaches and to develop and validate appropriate indicators to further improve the design and performance of nutrition programs.
A recent assessment of the Title II food aid development portfolio found dramatic improvements in the quality of nutrition and health programming, with the integration of complementary activities, such as technical assistance and training, largely funded by cash generated from the sale of Title II food or monetization. (Read: A Review of the Title II Development Food Aid Program [PDF, 72KB]). While consistent with USAID policy, the integration of resources and activities is essential for a measurable impact to result.
Title II Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition (MCHN) programs have evolved from center-based efforts, where growth monitoring and food supplementation were the major activities, to integrated community-based development programs with long-term sustainable health and nutrition objectives. Over the past six years, improvements in the nutritional status of children have been reported by more than half of the Title II MCHN programs in a wide range of countries. (Read: The Impact of Title II Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Programs on the Nutritional Status of Children [PDF, 392KB])
Diarrheal disease has been reduced and immunization rates have increased. Improvements in key household-level nutrition and health behaviors and in the delivery of essential MCHN services have contributed to a positive impact on child nutrition and health status.
Better problem analysis, program design and performance reporting have contributed to these notable achievements. Title II MCHN programs are better targeted at the most vulnerable women and children. Supplementary feeding programs have been integrated with complementary activities designed to directly improve food consumption by the mother and child in the home and improve their utilization of food through the provision of essential services and improvements in nutrition and health care behaviors. The focus of performance reporting has shifted to nutrition, health and food security impact from the earlier focus on the inputs and outputs of the program. The Bureau for Global Health (GH) has been instrumental in the achievement of these improvements, through the technical support it has provided to USAID and the food aid implementing partners including PVOs and the WFP.
Vision for the Future
While significant improvements in the quality and performance of food aid MCHN programs have been documented, the programs can be further strengthened. GH will continue to work in partnership with the Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA), Missions, Implementing Partners and international agencies to maximize the contribution of the food aid development/emergency portfolio to improve diets and nutritional status for the program's targeted population.
GH works with other USAID Bureaus and Missions, and food aid implementing partners who implement more than 84 food aid development activities in 20 sub-Saharan Africa countries, three countries in South Asia, and six countries in Latin America.
Partners
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