HFS Book1 Module1

HFS HOUSEHOLD FOOD
UNISA | SAIDE
DE | W
D SECU
SECURITY
WK KELLOGG
Module 1: PHFS01K
Introduction to Household Food Security
college of
agriculture and
environmental sciences
Introduction to Household Food Security
Module code: PHFS01K
Author: FM Ferreira
Project leader: A Barlow-Zambodla
Critical reader: I Schmidt
Educational consultant: E Whitlock
Language editor: WD Coetzee
Layout artist: M Visagie
University of South Africa

C 2009 University of South Africa
All rights reserved
Printed and published by the South African Institute for Distance Education and the Univeristy of
South Africa.
This studyguide, PHFS01K Introduction to Household Foodsecurity, was developed for the first pilot
run of the Programme for Household Food Security in agreement between the South African Institute
Distance Education and the University of South Africa.
BY NC SA
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial-

Share Alike License.
This means:
You are free:

• to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
• to Remix — to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:

• Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way
that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
• Noncommercial — You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
• Share Alike — If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under
the same or similar license to this one.
Acknowledgements for the use, for educational purposes only, of material taken from the following
documents:
Novia Scotia. 2005. Thought about Food: A Workbook on Food Security and Influencing Policy
The Food Security Projects of the Novia Scotia Nutrition Council and Atlantic Health Promotion
Research Centre, Dalhousie University. www.foodthoughtful.ca
Acknowledgement
The project for training household food security facilitators was initiated by the South African
Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE) that submitted a proposal to the WK Kellogg Foundation
and received funding to help facilitate the design and development of the programme aimed at
further upgrading the skills of community development workers and volunteers. SAIDE approached
the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences of the University of South Africa (UNISA,
CAES) and the two institutions signed a memorandum of agreement in this regard. The programme
was to be offered by UNISA as a Short learning programme. The project is being overseen by a
Steering Committee, under the leadership of Dr M.J Linington (Dean, CAES, UNISA) and Ms J
Glennie (Director, SAIDE).
This study guide for the module PHFS01K Introduction to Household Food Security is the first of
six modules in the programme to be piloted with a group of volunteers linked to non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) in the Eastern Cape. The Eastern Cape Non-governmental Organisation
Coalition (ECNGOC) has supported the strategy through advocacy and helping to link organisations
with the project, thus enabling the recruitment of practising volunteers or community development
workers who want to be trained and specialise in Household Food Security. The ECNGOC organised
consultative meetings between the UNISA-SAIDE project team and a number of interested NGOs
wishing to participate in the pilot project. The NGOs organised community meetings and identified
students at eight sites who would participate in the pilot study. The NGOs and people to be
acknowledged are Student Partnerships Worldwide (SPW), Transkei Land Service Organisation
(TRALSO), The Directorate of Social responsibility in the Anglican Diocese of Grahamstown (DSR),
Africare and an independent community development consultant.
The project is managed by a Project Leader from SAIDE, Dr A Barlow-Zambodla, and has a
designated Programmme Coordinator from CAES, UNISA, Mrs FM Ferreira. Six writing teams
participated in the curriculum development and design process, together with other stakeholders.
The teams were involved in the writing of six study guides (one for each module) and need to be
acknowledged for their dedication to the task of being specialist writers, critical readers, education
consultants and language editors in developing the study packages. Their names will be recorded on
the front page of each study guide. In addition acknowledgements go to a team of people involved
in developing a resource package for Homestead Farming and Water Management for the Water
Research Commission which was also involved in the curriculum design and development process
of this programme.
The Programme in Household Food Security is an approved UNISA Short Learning Programme that
serves to promote community engagement with UNISA by linking curriculum and tuition, research
and community service with the delivery of higher education.This is in line with the UNISA vision: The
African University in the service of humanity.
i
Acknowledgement
The publications use to develop and design the qualifications are to be acknowledged. The publications
are acknowledged the use of their material, content, illustrations, ideas and activities. The material
has been used for educational purposes to design and develop this material study package to train
household food security facilitators for educational purposes in the writing of this study material:
Articles and illustrations have been adapted for use in this training material. These have been taken
from publications where the publishers indicated that parts of publications or illustrations may be
used for educational purposes provided that the sources been acknowledged. Where this has not
been done and recognised as such, the writing team does acknowledge the relevant publications:
The publications used are:
Carter, I. 2001. Series: A PILLERS guides: Teddington: Tearfund.
De Sagte, R. 2002 Learning about livelihoods: Insights from Southern Africa., UK, Periperi.
Publications and Oxfam Publishing.
Food and Agriculture Organisation. 2004. Rural households and resources: A guide for extension
workers. Socio-economic and gender analysis proramme. Rome, FAO.
Food and Agriculture Organisation. FAO. 2007. Food security information for action: Series. EC-
FAO Food Security Programme.: Rome, FAO. Available at: http://www.foodsec.org/d. [CDs]
FSAU. 2005. Nutrition: A guide to data collection, analysis, interpretation and use. Second edition.
Nairobi, Food Security Analysis Unit for Somalia.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. 2006 How to conduct a food
security assessment: A step by step guide for National Societies in Africa, Geneva, IFRC.
NSNC/AHPRC Food Security Projects. 2005 Thought about Food: A Food Security and Influencing
Policy. University of Dalhousie, Novia Scotia. Available at: http://www.foodthoughtful.ca
ii
Table of Contents
Introduction to the module ........................................................................................................ix

Purpose of the module ............................................................................................................x
How Module 1 fits into the programme? .................................................................................x
Overview of modules ................................................................................................................xi
Module 1 outcomes ............................................................................................................... .xii
Brief outline of the units ............................................................................................................xiii
What is in your study pack? ......................................................................................................xiii
The teaching approach for this programme ............................................................................xiv
How will you know what to do in the study guide? ...................................................................xv
The module map ...................................................................................................................xvi
UNIT 1 Finding out about food security .........................................................................1
Introduction ...............................................................................................................................1
Specific outcome and learning outcomes ..................................................................................2
Key Concepts ...........................................................................................................................2
Start-up activity .........................................................................................................................3
1.1. What are food security and food insecurity? .............................................................4
1.2. The food security model ............................................................................................6
1.2.1. Defining food security ....................................................................................6
1.2.2. Steps in intrepeting a food security model ..................................................8
1.3. What is the human right to food? ...............................................................................22
1.3.1 The right to food in the South African Constitution ......................................22
1.3.2 What does the human right to food mean to me, as a faciltator? .................26
Concluding remarks ...............................................................................................................26
UNIT 2 Linking household food security with nutrition and livelihoods ............27
Introduction .............................................................................................................................27
Specific outcome and learning outcomes ...............................................................................27
Key concepts .........................................................................................................................28
Start-up activity ......................................................................................................................29
2.1 How do we define a household and its environment? .............................................31
2.1.1 The environment in which a household functions ......................................31
2.1.2 The household ............................................................................................32
2.2 What is the link between household food security and nutrition? ............................37
2.2.1 What is the difference between food security and food security status? .....39
2.2.2 What are the meanings of the terms food, nutrients and nutiriton? .............42
2.2.3 What is the difference between nutritional security and nutritional status?..44
2.2.4 What are the causes of malnutrition? ............................................................52
2.2.5 How does malnutrition link with household food insecurity? .........................54
iii
2.2.6 How does hunger link with food insecurity? .................................................55
2.2.7 What is the link between poverty and food insecurity? ...............................57
2.3 What is the link between housheold food security and livelihoods? ........................58
2.3.1 What are livelihood strategies? ...................................................................59
2.3.2 What are livelihood assets? ........................................................................61
2.3.3 What are coping strategies? .......................................................................65
2.4 Food insecurity assessment and analysis ..............................................................68
Concluding remarks ...............................................................................................................70
UNIT 3 Stakeholders and action for food security ................................................71
Introduction ............................................................................................................................71
Specific outcome and learning outcomes ......................................................................72
Key concepts ...............................................................................................................72
Start-up activity ...........................................................................................................73
3.1 Vulnerability and how it applies to food security .....................................................74
3.1.1 What is vulnerability? ..................................................................................74
3.1.2 What is the duration of food insecurity? .......................................................81
3.1.3 What is the severity of food insecurity? ........................................................83
3.2 Strategies to address food insecurity ......................................................................84
3.2.1 Short-term relief strategies ..........................................................................85
3.2.2 Household and community capacilty-building strategies .............................86
3.2.3 Strategies to change the system .................................................................89
3.3 Policy in action for food security ..............................................................................93
3.3.1 Policies on a micro level ..............................................................................93
3.3.2 Policies on the meso and exo levels ............................................................94
3.3.3 Policies on a macro level .............................................................................85
3.3.4 South African food security policy and strategy ...........................................98
Concluding remarks ............................................................................................................104
UNIT 4 Taking action for household food security ................................................105
Introduction ..........................................................................................................................104
4.1 Build good working relations ..................................................................................107
4.1.1 Be honest ..................................................................................................107
4.1.2 Be calm and polite .....................................................................................107
4.1.3 Be fair .........................................................................................................107
4.1.4 Be well informed ........................................................................................107
4.1.5 Be helpful ...................................................................................................108
4.1.6 Take the long view, and celebrate the small successes ............................108
4.2 Portfolio activities and the “Triple A” Cycle ..............................................................109
4.3 Your main tasks in this unit are portfolio activities ....................................................110
4.3.1 Assessing (collection of information) ..........................................................110
4.3.2 Analysing information .................................................................................120
4.3.3 Taking action ..............................................................................................121
Glossary ...........................................................................................................................125
Bibliography ...................................................................................................................127
iv
List of Activities
UNIT 1: Finding out about food security ........................................................................1

Start-up activity .................................................................................................................................3
Activity 1.1 What food security and food insecurity mean to me ..................................................5
Activity 1.2 Interpreting the definition of food security ..................................................................9
Activity 1.3 Factors that affect food security ..............................................................................14
Activity 1.4 Reflecting on the levels of action of our food security model ..................................22
Activity 1.5 The right to have access to food according to the Constitution ...............................23
Activity 1.6 Levels on which food security problems can be addressed ....................................25
Activity 1.7 Reflecting on the right to food ..................................................................................26
UNIT 2: Linking household food security with nutrition and livelihoods .............27
Start-up activity ...............................................................................................................................29
Activity 2.1 The members of a houshold ....................................................................................32
Activity 2.2 The household in which Peace lives: Part I .............................................................37
Activity 2.3 Dimensions that ensure a household’s food security ..............................................39
Activity 2.4 Nutrients and their function in our body ...................................................................41
Activity 2.5 Match traditional foods with the Food-based Dietary Guidelines .............................43
Activity 2.6 Who eats the largest variety of food and insufficeient quantities? ...........................43
Activity 2.7 Nutritional condition of the children in the case study .............................................47
Activity 2.8 The nutritional condition of each child .....................................................................51
Activity 2.9 The vicious cycle of poverty ....................................................................................57
Activity 2.10 The household in which which Peace lives: Part II ..................................................59
Activity 2.11 Identifying household assets ...................................................................................62
Activity 2.12 Livelihood strategies to acquire food .......................................................................64
UNIT 3: Stakeholders and action for food security ...................................................71

Activity 3.1 Minimising the risk of becoming food insecure ........................................................76
Activity 3.2 Analysing the vulnerability of households ................................................................78
Activity 3.3 Chronic, transitory and seasonal food insecurity .....................................................82
Activity 3.4 Food banks and food pantries as a short-term relief strategy .................................85
Activity 3.5 Working together for change ...................................................................................87
Activity 3.6 The sustainable livelihood Norms and Standards for home-based care givers ......88
Activity 3.7 Some food policies need to be changed .................................................................89
Activity 3.8 Advantages and disadvantages of strategies to address food insecurity ................91
Activity 3.9 Policies on the meso and exo levels benefiting food security .................................94
Activity 3.10 Examining policy impact on food security ................................................................95
Activity 3.11 Analysing data for the policy-making process .......................................................100
UNIT 4: Taking action for household food security .................................................105

Portfolio Activity 1.1 Observation checklist and walking through the community ......................111
Portfolio Activity 1.2 Identifying problems .................................................................................113
Portfolio Activity 1.3 Identifying and engaging stakeholders, using a Venn diagram ................117
Portfolio Activity 1.4 Writing a scientific report ..........................................................................120
Portfolio Activity 1.5 Taking action (Writing a letter to the authorities) ......................................122
v
List of Figures
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................ix
Figure 1.1 The hornbill: Bird of hope ...............................................................................................i
Figure 1.2 The Triple ‘A’ Approach ................................................................................................vi
UNIT 1: Finding out about food security ...........................................................................1

Figure 1.3 Looking from different perspectives ..............................................................................1
Figure 1.4 The change of food security and food insecurity on a continuum ................................4
Figure 1.5 The development of the food security definition over time ...........................................7
Figure 1.6 The four dimensions of food security ............................................................................8
Figure 1.7 Levels of action and the four dimensions of food security .........................................18
Figure 1.8 The flow of interventions between different levels of action .......................................20
Figure 1.9 The programmes, structures and stakeholders, acting on each level .........................21
UNIT 2: Linking household food security with nutrition and livelihoods ................27
Figure 2.1 Children in a community .............................................................................................29
Figure 2.2 Linking household food security, nutrition and livelihoods ..........................................30
Figure 2.3 Interaction between the natural and socio-cultural environment ................................32
Figure 2.4 How many people live in these houses? ....................................................................33
Figure 2.5 The percentage of household members according to gender ....................................36
Figure 2.6 The continuum of food insecurity and food security with indicators ............................40
Figure 2.7 Building blocks of malnutrition in the food security model ..........................................46
Figure 2.8 Percentage of children with Vitamin A micro deficiency in four provinces ..................49
Figure 2.9 A classification of malnutrition ....................................................................................50
Figure 2.10 The nutrition and malnutrition building blocks for food security model .......................53
Figure 2.11 How the malnutiriton cycle fits into the food security model .......................................55
Figure 2.12 The race against hunger .............................................................................................56
Figure 2.13 The vicious cycle of poverty .......................................................................................57
Figure 2.14 Livelihood strategies consist of a range of activities ...................................................60
Figure 2.15 The asset pentagon of the sustainable livelihood framework .....................................61
Figure 2.16 The livelihood building blocks of our household food security model .........................63
Figure 2.17 Strategies for households in Kitui, Kenya in a normal year ........................................64
Figure 2.18 Coping strategies as responses to household food insecurity ...................................67
Figure 2.19 Our completed food security model with livelihood and nutrition building blocks .......69
UNIT 3: Stakeholders and action for food security ......................................................71

Figure 3.1 Children at the Food Bank SA in Johannesburg .........................................................73
Figure 3.2 Shocks caused by flooding .........................................................................................75
Figure 3.3 Bag-gardening for growing vegetables .......................................................................76
Figure 3.4 Household livelihood assets, activities and capabilities .............................................77
Figure 3.5 A household that benefits from a food bank and pantry .............................................86
Figure 3.6 Community members consulting with government officials ........................................91
Figure 3.7 Food security and intervention continuum ..................................................................92
Figure 3.8 Producing food locally is good for the socio-cultural and the natural environment .....97
Figure 3.9 The policy-making process .........................................................................................98
UNIT 4: Taking action for household food security ....................................................105

Figure 4.1 The Tripple ‘A’ Approach ...........................................................................................109
vi
List of Tables
UNIT 1: Finding out about food security ........................................................................1

Table 1.1 The dimensions and levels of action that influence Thandi’s food security status ...16
Table 1.2 Dimensions and levels of action that influence food security status ........................17
Table 1.3 Actions, structures and stakeholders linked to levels of action ...............................20
Table 1.4 Linking people, the items listed in the Constitution and the levels of action ............24
UNIT 2: Linking household food security with nutrition and livelihoods .............27
Table 2.1 Gender of household members ...............................................................................35
Table 2.2 Nutrients and their functions in our body .................................................................41
Table 2.3 Examples of the relationship between malnutrition and food insecurity ..................54
UNIT 3: Stakeholders and action for food security.....................................................71

Table 3.1 Chronic and transitory food insecurity .....................................................................81
Table 3.2 Integrated Phase Classification for food security ....................................................84
Table 3.3 Interventions for household food security ..............................................................102
vii
viii
Introduction to the module
We would like to congratulate you for choosing to take on a leadership role by engaging in community
development, as only a few feel called upon to facilitate the improvement of lives in their community.
We appreciate that your dedication to helping people is based on respecting people, wanting to help
them improve their quality of life, appreciating and supporting cultural differences and being a good
steward of the land, water and wildlife.
Credo Mutwa, an internationally acclaimed cultural historian,

spiritual leader and author, uses a Zulu instruction to learner
healers which says the following:
Learn from the hornbill, the bird of unconquerable

hope – no matter how bad the drought, no matter how
desperate the famine, the hornbill always holds its head
high, its beak pointed toward a better tomorrow. Never
be like a crow whose ugly beak points earthwards in
pessimism – be ever like a hornbill my child.
This inspiring thought should keep you going and encourage

you to remain optimistic when carrying out your important work
in our rural communities.
We would also like to commend you on your decision to improve

your knowledge, skills and attitudes in the important field of
Household Food Security. As you work your way through this
module you will gain a much better insight into concepts that
are relevant to the field of food security. The module will also
Figure 1.1 The hornbill: assist you in being able to help people in your community to find
Bird of hope solutions and gain access to the range of services provided by
government. You are also in the important position of knowing
how these services are working and giving feedback to government structures on your community’s
needs and resources.
The overall theme is about linking food security to action. Firstly we need to know what we are talking
about and then we need to find information on policy-makers and the role of other stakeholders in
the implementation of food security policies and strategies. But first we need information, we need
to analyse that information and then we need to plan for action. Let us begin by trying to grasp the
meaning of the different words and concepts which we will be using throughout the programme.
ix
Purpose of the module
This module is your first step on the journey towards understanding how the issues related to food
security can be addressed. The modules that follow will take you step by step ever closer to seeing
the bigger picture which, in turn, will empower you to make a real difference in your communities.
In this module we will introduce you to concepts such as food security, food insecurity, nutrition security,
livelihood security, food policies and programmes and the role of stakeholders and facilitators. You will
gain the knowledge and skills required to gather information on many different levels, from the macro
to the micro level. You will also, in time, become equipped to analyse community and household
needs, understand the implications of policies and strategies for communities and households. You
will eventually be able to report on the community situation regarding food insecurity and related
issues and to advocate and request assistance for intervention.
How Module 1 fits into the programme
Each module is an important part of the Household Food Security Programme. The modules for the
programme are the following:
Module 1 PHFS01K Introduction to household food security concepts
Module 2 PHFS02L Participatory extension for household food security
Module 3 PHFS03M Sustainable natural resource use
Module 4 PHFS04N Food behaviour and nutrition
Module 5 PHFS05P Optimising household food production
Module 6 PHFS06Q Food resource management
Module 7 PHFS07R Household food security portfolio
The modules are linked and what you learn in one module will also help you in another. The diagram
given below is a programme map (overview of modules) that will provide you with an overall picture
of the programme. It shows you the main purpose of the programme and what each of the six
modules and the portfolio (Module 7) focus on.
x
Overview of modules
Programme in household food security
Orientation for
Module 1: PHFS01K Module 2: PHFS02L
facilitators - concepts
Introduction to household Participatory extension for
and tools
food security concepts household food security
The programme prepares and equips students with

relevant skills to strengthen the capacity of rural
communities to respond proactively to meeting their
food, nutrition and livelihood needs. By participation
in achievable projects, individuals and groups in rural
areas are mobilised to acquire confidence and skills so
as to increase their ability to break the cycle of poverty.
Module 6: PHFS06Q Module 7: PHFS07R Module 3: PHFS03M

Food resource Household Food Sustainable natural
management Security portfolio resource use
Module 5: PHFS05P Module 4: PHFS04N

Optimising household food Food behaviour and nutrition
production
xi
Module 1 outcomes
The table below shows the topics of the four units in Module 1 and gives you a good idea of what you
are expected to know and to do. The assessment in this module is closely linked to the outcomes. It
includes two assignments, workbook activities and portfolio activities. You will find detailed information
about the assessment activities in the General Tutorial Letter.
Unit Specific Learning Outcomes Assessment

1. 1. Finding out about 1. Interpret the food security model and Assignment 1 (10%)
food security how it links to the household’s ability
to achieve food security
2. 2. Linking household 2. Interpret concepts used to assess Assignment 2 (20%)

food security and analyse household food security
with nutrition and
livelihoods
3. 3. Stakeholders and 3. Identify stakeholders and roles that

action for food can contribute to household food
security security interventions.
4. 4. Taking action for 4. Compile an observation checklist to Portfolio activities

household food identify food security problems in (60%)
security households.
Make an appointment and meet with
stakeholders. (Venn diagram)
Write a report of the findings.
Formulate a written request (letter)
to support a food security activity.
Workbook 10%
Selected activities from
all units
xii
Brief outline of the units
You are expected to identify food security concepts, use them in case studies and collect information
to develop household profiles. You are expected to link vulnerability of households to food security
on a micro level and on a macro level identify stakeholders for support and services to households.
Unit 1 – Finding out about food security
In Unit 1 you are introduced to different concepts related to food security, the definitions and
dimensions of food security. You will be able to identify factors on the different levels that influence
household food security.
Unit 2 – Linking household food security with nutrition and livelihoods
In Unit 2 you will identify and examine the linkages between household food security, nutrition and
livelihoods. It is important to understand the linkages between the different dimensions of food
security by using case studies to identify food security problems.
Unit 3 – Stakeholders and the action for food security
In Unit 3 you will identify the different stakeholders that play a role in mobilising resources and
services to households in communities. You will have to identify stakeholders in the community you
will be working with and find out about their role and activities with households. You will also get a
good idea of which stakeholders can help address to household food security issues and what can
be done to improve the situation.
Unit 4 – Taking action for household food security
The work you did in Units 1, 2 and 3 will prepare you to work with households in your community. In
this unit you will get the opportunity to apply these skills when working with households.
What is in your study pack?
Check your study pack for this module. It should contain the following:
This study guide 3
A module workbook
A tutorial letter 101(TUT 101) with your assignments

and by when you should submit them
A general information tutorial letter 301(TUT 301)
During the year you will receive additional tutorial letters that give you general feedback on the
assignments submitted.
xiii
The teaching approach for this programme
What we as people do, flows from plans we make, based on information we have at the time, and
how we understand that information. As we start implementing our plans, we learn more and can
therefore improve our plans and actions. The approach that we will use, not only in this module, but
also in all the modules to follow, is the Triple “A” approach.
ASSESSMENT
Collecting current
information on key
issues / indicators
ACTION
Developing
strategies or
action plans to
solve problems
and improve
implementations
activities
ANALYSIS
Interpreting the
information, making
sense of it, identifying
areas that need
improvement
Figure 1.2 The Triple ‘A’ Approach

(Adapted from FAO, 2005)
The use of the Triple A approach will be to guide your learning by engaging you in a cyclical process
of assessing, analysing and acting based on the new information which you have learnt.
The ‘Triple-A’ is one of many ways in which this ongoing planning and re-planning process is
described. We gather information (assess), think about it and use it to come up with plans (analyse),
implement those plans (act), all the while gathering new information.
How will the Triple ‘A’ approach be implemented in this module? In this module the Triple A approach
will be implemented in the following way, Unit 1 will offer information on the key concepts of the
food security systems model; Unit 2 will provide insights on how to link household food security with
nutrition and livelihood security; Unit 3 will focus on policy makers and other stakeholders concerned
with food security action and activities; in Unit 4 you will apply skills to enable you to work with
households to improve their food security situation.
xiv
How will you know what to do in the study guide?
We make use of symbols, icons or shades of colour to show you what you are expected to do.
Text activities These are learning activities that encourage you come up with
your own ideas as you read the text.
Icon for Some activities have been selected to help you to reflect on your
workbook own context and deepen your understanding of the main issues
activities dealt with in the module. You will either do these activities by
yourself or in a group. These are workbook activities which are
provided in the study guide but which should only be completed
in the workbook.
Case studies in We have included a number of short case studies that reflect what is
blocks happening in practice in different parts of South Africa and in other
parts of the world. The case studies serve two main purposes: to
give you examples of what people are doing in different contexts
and to invite you to reflect on these experiences as they will help
to strengthen your insight and understanding of the issues to be
addressed.
People’s voices Boxes in the text give quotes of experiences of household members
on food security. Some boxes also give quotes from people and
descriptions of events.
Icon for portfolio The activities with the households in Unit 4 are portfolio activities.
activities They are practical activities and you will be required to produce
specific evidence for your portfolio in order to complete them.
Concept boxes Boxes in the text give definitions and explanations of concepts.
xv
The module map
The module map gives you an overall picture of what Module 1 is about.
Unit 1: Finding out

about food security
Concepts on household
food security
Unit 2: Linking Unit 4: Taking action for household food security

household food Work with households to develop solutions for improved
security with nutrition consultation between households
and livelihoods and stakeholders
Identify linkages
between dimensions
Evidence for Portfolio
Unit 3: Stakeholders
and action for food Work with
security households to
Identify stakeholders • Assess and analyse their own
and policy options household food security
• Strengthens stakeholder
consultation for action
Unit 1: Finding out about food security
xvi
Unit 1:
Finding out about food security
Introduction
When you look at Figure 1.3 what do
you see?
Many problems remain

unsolved because people look for
solutions, and not for new ways of
viewing problems.
Some people will say they see a young

woman and some will say they see an
old woman and some will see both an old
and a young woman. We often look at
the same object and see different things.
We often form an initial impression that
makes it difficult for us to see things in a
different way.
If we, who care and work in communities,

want to address the issue of food security
we need to look at the issue from
different perspectives. Sometimes the
way we see an issue or problem greatly
affects how we resolve or don’t resolve
the problem. Sometimes we hang onto
our initial impression or experience with
a problem and are then not open to
Figure 1.3 Looking from different perspectives
(Adapted from Swendsen and Wijetillek, 1988)
seeing it differently and thus the problem
remains a problem.
The first unit of this module introduces you to the meaning and dimensions of food security. It also
highlights the importance of these concepts to your work as a household food security facilitator, working
as a community development worker or volunteer or any other position within communities.
This unit consists of the following sections:
1.1 What are food security and food insecurity?

1.2 The food security model
1.3 What is the human right to food?
1
Specific outcome and learning outcomes
The specific outcome for this unit is to interpret the food security system model and how it links to a
household’s ability to achieve food security.
Learning outcomes Assessment Activities Actual time spent
Workbook activities
1. What are food Start-up activity (30 minutes)
security and food 1.1 What food security and food insecurity mean to
insecurity? me (15 minutes)
1.3 Factors that affect food security (30 minutes)
2. The food security 1.6 Levels on which food security problems can be
model. addressed (30 minutes)
1.7 Reflecting on the right to food (15 minutes)
3. What is the human
right to food?
Assignment
Assignment 1: Information for this assignment is
contained in Tutorial Letter 101 (3hrs)
The table above shows you the learning outcomes that you will notice are linked to the three
sections that are addressed in this unit and to the list of assessment activities for this unit. A time
estimate is shown for the completion of each activity. This will help you to plan the use of your time.
When you have completed the activities, write down the actual time you spent on them.
Key Concepts
Food security
Food availability
Food accessibility
Food utilisation
Food stability
Food insecurity
Micro level
Meso level
Exo level
Macro level
Natural environment
Socio-cultural environment
Right to food
2
Start-up activity
Complete this activity on your own in the workbook
Aim: Reflect on food security.
Time: 30 minutes
What you must do
Food security means different things to different people. Think of what it means to you. Now tick off
the issues that affect your life or the lives of people in your community on the questionnaire in your
workbook.
Being able to get the food I need, I…

• must be able to get to a place where I can
buy or grow food
“...people can afford to
• need not have to worry about whether I have grow [food], people can’t
enough to eat afford to buy”
• must be able to prepare and cook food
• must not go to the soup kitchen or food bank
• must not be ashamed of myself and also my
children if we are hungry
Being able to eat safe and healthy foods, I….

• should be able to afford healthy food
• need access to safe food that I know is
good for me ”But, I do suffer
• must be able to give my children the food nutritionally and I can see
it sometimes in my eyes
that I know they need to grow and be and my face gets sucked
healthy in cause I don’t have
• have to know where my food came from and enough fruit and stuff.
what is in it Because you want to give
it to your kids”.
• need access to information so that I can
understand how pesticides, preservatives,
additives and genetically modified foods can
affect my health.
Being able to get foods I like and want to eat, I…

• must be able to afford the foods that I want
to eat ”If I want to buy good
• should enjoy my food food it is expensive. I
• want to share my food with my family and need to fill my kid’s belly
and have to buy food
friends to fill them, not healthy
• celebrate my culture or community with food food”.
• enjoy the foods of my culture
3
To protect the water, land and people who grow and produce food, I..
• should be able to grow my own food
• have to ensure that food can be produced for my children’s children
• have to ensure that growing, producing, processing, storing, and selling food
doesn’t hurt our environment or our communities
• need space, land, water and soil for farms and gardens
• must be aware that people can earn a living wage by growing, producing,
processing, handling, selling, or serving food
• must be aware that our water needs to be clean enough for us to drink and for
fish to survive in.
After you have completed this activity, reflect for a moment on the questions below. Write the answers
in your workbook.
1. Was there anything that surprised you in the questionnaire?

2. Could you or someone you know connect with the statements?
3. Was there anything you had not thought of before?
4. How does this make you feel?
You will gain a much better insight into what food security is all about, as you work through this unit
and the other units in this module.
1.1 What are food security and food insecurity?

Food security, simply put, means being able to get all the healthy food with enough nutrients you
need and to enjoy it with friends and family. Food security also includes being able to make a living
by growing, harvesting and processing food in ways that protect and support both the land, sea and
food producers, thereby ensuring that there will be healthy food for our children’s children. Food
security is the goal we are working towards.
Food insecurity is the opposite of food security. Food insecurity means not being able to get enough
food or enough healthy foods that you need, like and enjoy. It means wondering about where your
food is coming from or worrying about where your next meal will come from. It means wondering if
there will be less food in the future because of the way we are growing and producing food at
present.
Food security Food insecurity
More Food Secure Less
Figure 1.4 The change of food security and food insecurity on a continuum
4
Food security changes from more food-secure to less food-secure, in other words food insecurity.
As you continue on your way through this module, you will come to understand the change in food
security and food insecurity status of the households when the circumstances of the household
change on a continuum (over time), as livelihoods change.
We can summarise the difference between food security and food insecurity as follows:
Food security versus food insecurity
Food security
• occurs when everyone can afford to purchase and is able to access nutritious and safe food
that they enjoy eating
• is when everyone can access food in a way that does not compromise human dignity
• means food is grown and accessed in ways that are environmentally sound and socially just
• means you can feel confident about the food you are eating and that you will have enough
• is about sharing and celebrating your food
Food insecurity
• is when you can’t access foods that you enjoy and the need for you and your family to be
healthy
• is not having sufficient and safe food for future generations
• is feeling stressed about whether you have enough food or about where your next meal is
coming from
• is worrying about the safety of your food and about what is in it
(IFRC & RCS, 2006)
We will explore food insecurity in more depth in Unit 2, but before we take a closer look at food
security, please complete the next activity.
Facilitator’s Notes
Activity 1.1 What food security and food insecurity mean to me
Complete this activity in groups or on your own in your workbook.
Aim: Describe the concepts food security and food insecurity in pictures or in words.
Time: 15 minutes
What you must do
1. Now that you have worked through the food security questionnaire, look at the items you have
checked.
2. Use the points that you have checked, as well as the information given above, to describe, in
pictures or in words, what food security and food insecurity mean to you.
5
Comments on Activity 1.1
Words that may be used to describe food security are more positive and include:
• being able to get the food I need

• being able to eat safe and healthy food
• being able to get food that I like and want to eat
• protecting the water, the land and the people who grow and produce food.
The words people use to describe food insecurity are usually very negative. You may have used
words like shameful, embarrassed, no control, or helpless. In Hawaii a study on food security and
people’s opinions on it was done to try to find ways of measuring food security or food insecurity and
hunger. The most important characteristics of hunger were the shame and feelings of incompetence
and vulnerability of not being able to feed the family or the children; not knowing where the next meal
is coming from and how long until there may be a next meal.
We want to encourage you to talk about food security to anyone who will listen! Talking about food
security is a good way to get others in your community thinking about these issues as well. And
thinking about food security is the first step in doing something about it.
The start-up activity, as well as Activity 1.1, have given you the opportunity to share your experiences,
feelings and thoughts on food security and food insecurity, which you will be able to identify in the
definitions and descriptions that we will be dealing with in this section.
1.2 The food security model
Before we examine a food security model, you need to understand how food security can be
defined.
1.2.1 Defining food security
The concept of food security has evolved over time. The issue of food security was highlighted by
the world food crisis in 1972-74. The crisis caused adverse (negative) conditions in several parts
of the world, which reduced grain supplies. The need for grain therefore doubled its price on the
international market and this threatened the food security status of food-importing countries. As a
result, the first World Food Conference, held in 1974, focused on global food production, trade and
supplies.
The original food security debate therefore paid close attention to the adequate supply of food as
well as ensuring the stability of food supplies by means of food reserves. This is still the situation
today on the national level which ensures the stability of food supplies, as well as the ability to export
to or import from other countries.
You will find that there are several definitions for food security. They have been constantly changing
down the years, often focusing on the household and individual. Although these definitions have
different wording, the meaning of all definitions of food security is essentially the same. The definition
that has been formally endorsed on a global level is the one that was developed at the 1996 World
Food Summit held in Rome.
6
1970’s Focus on world food supplies.
1980’s Securing food access to vulnerable people.
1990’s Sufficient food and concern with protein-energy

malnutrition.
Move to consumption of safe nutritious food, dietary

2000’s needs and cultural preferences.
Towards physical, social and economic food access to

2015
half poverty and hunger by 2015.
Figure 1.5 The development of the food security definition over time (FAO)
Definitions of food security
1. Definition: All people at all times have both physical and economic access to the basic
food they need (FAO Committee on World Food, 1983).
2. Definition: Access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life
(World Bank).
3. Definition: When all people at all times have access to sufficient food to meet their
dietary needs for a productive and healthy life (USAID Bureau for Africa, 1986).
4 Definition: Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic
access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food
preferences for an active and healthy life (World Food Summit definition of Food Security,
1996).
5. Definition: A person, household or community, region or nation is food secure when

all members at all times have physical and economic access to buy, produce, obtain or
consume sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meets their dietary needs and food
preferences for an active and healthy life (IFRC & RCS, 2008).
We can use the definitions of food security to develop a food security model to show you the bigger
picture of how to approach food security. Knowledgeable people in a specific field, such as the food
security field, often use models, which they have developed under controlled conditions, to help
them explain what they observe in real life.
7
1.2.2 Steps in interpreting a food security model
We will show you, step by step, how to interpret a food security model.
STEP 1: The four important dimensions of the food security model in the definitions
There are four dimensions in the food security definition that form the backbone of the model. What
are these dimensions?
Economic and physical

access to food.
Physical
availability Food utilisation
of food
Stability of the three dimensions over time (into the future)
Figure 1.6 The four dimensions of food security
8
Activity 1.2 Interpreting the definition of food security
Complete this activity on your own in this study guide
Link the correct phrase from the definitions given above, with the question in Column 1 and the
dimension in Column 3. Write the phrase from the definition in Column 2.
Column 1 Column 2 Column 3

Questions Add the correct phrase Dimension of food
from the definitions in this security
column
How much food? Availability
How will we get hold of Accessibility

food?
Who should get food Utilisation

and when?
What kind of food? Stability
In Column 1 questions are given in the boxes. The first question, “How much food?”, refers to
enough food being available for a healthy, active life. This phrase refers to the dimension food
availability. The food should not only be available out there, but enough should be available for each
person to be healthy.
The second question refers to how this food will be obtained The phrase “physical and economic
access” refers to whether the food that is available can be accessed by each member of the household
by means of the household growing it or purchasing it. This phrase therefore links to accessibility.
The third phrase refers to “safe food, nutritious food” and “food that will meet the household’s dietary
needs”. These phrases have to do with the utilisation of food by the household and by each member
of the household.
The fourth and last phrase refers to who should get the food and when. The phrase from one of the
definitions is very specific and is that food should be available for all people at all times, bringing
stability. Each of these dimensions of food security therefore has an explanation.
9
STEP 2: Explaining the four dimensions of the food security model
Each of the four dimensions of the model has a specific meaning, as you will see below.
Food availability in a country, region or local area means that food is physically present because
it has been grown, manufactured, imported and/or transported there. It has become obvious that
national and international food availability in itself does not ensure food availability at the household
level. Food at the household level is available if it is produced on the local farms, on the land or in
household gardens, or because it arrives as food aid. This is food that is visible and available in the
area.
Food access is the way different people can obtain the available
food through a combination of household production, supplies,
purchases, barter, gifts, borrowing, food parcels or grants. Access
depends on income available to the household, on the distribution
of income within the household and on the price of food. It also
depends on the market and the social and institutional rights to
which individuals have access. Food access is ensured when
communities, households and all individuals within them, have
adequate resources, such as money to buy seeds for household
production or to obtain the appropriate foods for consumption as
part of a nutritious diet.
Food utilisation is the way people use the food and is dependent on the quality of the food, its
preparation and storage methods, the nutritional knowledge of the households, as well as the health
practices applied. These would include nutrition, child care, sanitation, and the cultural practices
that impact on the food consumption of a nutritionally adequate diet by household members. Certain
diseases negatively affect the absorption of nutrients, whilst growth requires the increased intake of
nutrients.
The stability dimension of food security highlights the importance of having to reduce the risk of
any adverse effects on the three other dimensions, namely food availability, access to food and food
utilisation. The stability dimension of the definition is evident in the phrase all people at all times and
therefore integral to the definition.
All people can refer to the varying degrees to which people are food secure and will be
differently affected by adverse events such as changes in the economy, unemployment,
rising food and/or fuel prices, adverse weather conditions such as droughts, floods and
conflict and war. We have to assess variations in food security status between different
groups. Most commonly humanitarian and development agencies differentiate between the
groups of people according to their main livelihood (source of food and income) in addition
to other factors such as geographical location and wealth.
All times recognises that people’s food security situation may change. Even if the food
intake of people is adequate today, they may still be considered food insecure if they have
inadequate access to food on a periodic basis. Adverse weather conditions, droughts and
floods, or economic factors such as unemployment or rising food prices may impact on
people’s food security status.
10
Each of these dimensions is present on the four levels, on the macro level, the exo level, the meso
level and the micro level. Work through the next section and discover how each one of these
dimensions and levels is linked.
STEP 3: Explaining the levels of the food security model
Before we examine the levels of the food security model you need to understand the reasons
why people are concerned about food insecurity. There are many reasons why people have these
concerns. We care because food insecurity impacts negatively on the socio-cultural environment
and also on the natural environment.
• What is the socio-cultural environment? The socio-cultural environment is made up of

ourselves, our children and families, our communities, our society, our cultural heritage, the
economic and political structures, the leaders and decision makers.
• What is the natural environment? The natural environment provides our natural resources such
as soil, water, air and biodiversity, including wild plants and animals.
These two environments include all aspects of our concern about food security namely:
• children and families

• communities
• health
• transport and infrastructure
• economy
• natural environment
• socio-cultural environment
We will examine our concerns for food security,

which take place on various levels.
We are concerned because of our children

and families
Food insecurity can be very stressful. We can be anxious about having enough food for our children
and other members of the family as well as being able to give them nutritious food. This kind of stress
can be bad for our relationships and health. Feeling stressed and insecure can lead to depression,
anger, diabetes, and high blood pressure. It can also make it harder for us to fight off infections like
colds and flu.
We are right to be concerned about these issues. Poor nutrition in childhood can affect the
development of both the body and the mind. Poor nutrition in childhood has effects that last a lifetime.
The household level is referred to as the micro level. These problems in the household are very
close to us and mostly need our actions to solve them. Not having enough good food can make it
harder for children to do well at school and even to stay in school.
11
We are concerned because of our communities
There is much truth in the proverb that you need “a village to educate children”. The household and
community on the meso level are usually integrally linked and therefore also have a strong influence
on each other. Social groups and social networks act as support mechanisms in the community.
A healthy community is one in which all members have access to a safe, culturally acceptable,
nutritionally adequate diet through a sustainable local food system that maximises self-reliance and
social justice.
Food insecurity, inequality, poverty and unemployment have a negative effect on communities, which
can even lead to community breakdown. The disintegration of social structures at the community or
meso level can, in turn, lead to increased crime when people turn to stealing or dealing in drugs. In
a healthy community, people care for each other, have good leaders and live in harmony because
they are food secure. Good leaders should have sound relationships with stakeholders and local
government structures on the exo level so as to have a hand in the allocation of resources.
We are concerned because of our health
Our health is largely affected by food security and that is why one way to improve food insecurity is
from a health perspective. This means that we recognise that food insecurity has a major impact on
our health and the health of our children, family and on the people in the community. Factors that
impact on food insecurity and therefore on health are personal health factors and coping skills, the
infrastructure, the economy, society, social networks and political structures.
We are concerned because of our transport and infrastructure
In South Africa there is a rural and urban divide. Businesses are concentrated in large cities and
towns. In smaller towns and villages there are smaller businesses whose prices are influenced by
the availability of commodities and transport costs. People travel or migrate over long distances for
employment. They also travel for shopping and for general business. Those who cannot afford to
travel must buy from local stores or from vendors. This is not always regarded as the best option but
it undoubtedly saves on transport costs.
The provision of infrastructure such as roads, transport, housing and electricity is also available to a
lesser degree in rural areas though delivery is slow and often inadequate. This influences the access
to and storage of food. The availability of transport and infrastructure also improves food production
towards commercialisation and could increase profit from sales.
We are concerned because of our economy
Individuals and communities that are food secure can learn and work more effectively. Students
focus better and increase their performance which ultimately will equip them better to contribute
towards the economy. In the workplace workers are able to concentrate better and increase their
productivity. All of this contributes to economic growth and the creation of more job opportunities
for the unemployed. Thus a food secure and healthy nation can create the conditions for further
economic growth.
One of the resources that is available in many poor communities and which can be used to improve
livelihoods and food security is agricultural land. Using a currently underutilised resource, namely
12
agricultural land, can also contribute to economic growth and a better environment for all of us.
South Africa has two agricultural economies, commercial and small emerging. A third economy,
small holding or subsistence, is sometimes added to the other two categories.
We are concerned because of our natural

environment
Why are we concerned about the natural environ-

ment? The way in which some people produce and
process food can be harmful to the natural environ-
ment. In places with high levels of food insecurity
people often engage in the unsustainable harvest-
ing of natural resources and use poor land practices
in order to survive. Poor agricultural and land use
practices can lead to:
• soil erosion
• water and air pollution
• the loss of natural vegetation
• decrease in numbers of wild animal species
• fish stocks being depleted.
• the land available for growing food being overutilised.
• the traditional food sources of many cultures being destroyed.
To ensure sustainable food security, we need planning and policies that protect our land,
water and other natural resources. You will find out more about this in Module 3.
We are concerned because of our socio-cultural environment
The word environment not only refers to the natural

environment but also to the social and cultural (socio-
cultural) environment which is made up of different
components. The socio- cultural environment
includes all aspects that concern us as humans to
be healthy and make a sustainable living. If we do
not care about our socio-cultural environment it can
be destructive to:
• our children and families and their health

• our communities, social, and religious
organisations
• our cultural heritage, language, celebrations and traditional food systems
• our local economy, our safety and our properties, and
• our economy, infrastructure, livelihoods and our ability to make a living
(Adapted from NSNC/AHRRC Food Security Projects, 2005)
You will learn more about the socio-cultural environment in Module 6.

Now complete the following activity to see how food security affects all aspects of people’s lives.
13
Activity 1.3 Factors that affect food security
Aim: Show an understanding of the factors that can influence Thandi’s household food security.
Time: 30 minutes
What you must do
1. First of all read Thandi’s case study, which is given below. Note the factors related to health that
are the basic and underlying causes affecting Thandi’s food security status. The questions that you
must answer follow immediately after the case study.
THANDI’S STORY
(Case study adapted from NSNC/AHPRC Food Security Projects, 2005)
Thandi’s friend had to take her to the hospital because she passed out at work
this morning. But why did she pass out?
Because she has been skipping meals.
Factors: personal health practices and coping skills.
But why does she skip meals?

Because she doesn’t have much food in her house or she is too tired to cook at
night.
Factors: social and physical infrastructure.
Why doesn’t she get more food to eat?

Because she only has R30 left until her next salary and she cannot get to the spaza
shop, which is far from her house. Sometimes she collects food at the soup kitchen
at the local church.
Factors: economy (income which affects her social status), infrastructure and
social support.
But why is the grocery shop so far away?

There used to be a spaza shop nearby but it closed down a few months ago, after a
big supermarket opened a distance from her home, but it is too far for her to walk.
The vendors are expensive and sell mainly potatoes and cabbages.
Factors: physical infrastructure, economy and availability of a few starchy and
fibrous foods which provide little variety.
But why doesn’t she have more money for food or transportation?
Because she is a single parent and only works part-time.
Factors: employment, gender roles.
14
But why doesn’t she work longer hours?
Because she can’t find affordable childcare for the whole day. Her mother lives too
far away and her pension is too small.
Factors: social support and grants, employment conditions.
But why doesn’t she have a family member or friend to help her out with child-
care?
Because she hasn’t lived in the city for very long and doesn’t know many people and
her family all live in a smaller rural community.
Factors: social support networks, rural-urban migration.
But why did she move to the city?

Because there are not many jobs in her home community and the business where she
worked close down. She thought there would be electricity and water in the city,
but she can only afford a shack.
Factors: social support, employment conditions, economy, infrastructure/local
government services.
But why did the local business where she worked close down?
Because there is a global and national recession and food, energy and fuel prices
are high. Large companies struggle to make a profit and often close down their
branches.
Factors: Economic policies, high prices and smaller profit, companies and
industries close down.
2. Use the information in the case study on Thandi to carry out the following tasks:
2.1 Complete the cells in Table 1.1 below, using statements from the case study, as well as
factors based on your own experience or opinion.
2.2 Take another look at this table. The rows indicate the level where action is required, starting
with the micro level at the top and ending with the macro level at the bottom. Although we
have not yet defined the macro-level, you need to be aware that the term macro refers to
the highest level.
2.3 Now find the aspects from the case study that relate to the food security dimensions and
decide on which level the action to address the problem takes place. Write your answer
alongside the level in Table 1.1, where this specific problem may occur.
15
Table 1.1 The dimensions and levels of action that influence Thandi’s food security
status
Action levels Dimensions
Availability Access Utilisation Stability
Micro level
Meso level
Exo level
Macro level
The natural and socio-cultural environment
Thandi’s story shows you how complex and interrelated the factors are that affect food security and
therefore also our health. These factors control or affect the allocation and use of resources on the
different levels of action.
Comments on Activity 1.3W
The issues we are concerned about in food security, that affect the individuals and the family, the
community, the economy, transport and infrastructure, health and the environment that you
worked with in Activity 1.3, all interact with each other and cannot be seen as separate issues.
If Thandi cares about these issues, on which levels of action can Thandi possibly interact with the
issues to improve her food security status?
We can see that the above interactions belong on different levels of action and the resources are
controlled at varying distances from Thandi and her family. Thandi may be able to talk personally to
her children and family members (micro level) or to members of her care group or community (meso
level). It may be more difficult for her to talk to the members of the community water committee,
however, since she has not been in the city for long. If this is an institution falling under the local and
provincial government, it may be even more difficult for her to make contact (exo level). She is even
less likely to talk to the officials of national government institutions or to the Ministers of Water and
the Environment (macro level). You can see the dimensions and levels where action is possible in
the table below. (The table which you have already completed could look more or less similar to this
table.)
16
Table 1.2 Dimensions and levels of action that influence food security status
Action levels Dimensions
Micro level Thandi does not Distance from Skipping meals. End of the
grow crops for shop to home. Too tired to cook month –monthly
food No food in at night. insecurity.
house. Little choice of
Small income food sources
– only R30 left. locally, only
Works part-time. starch and
Single parent. fibrous foods
Meso level Spaza shop Family is far Childcare for Few social
closed. away in rural whole day not networks.
Vendors few and community. affordable. Does not know
expensive. Her mother lives Soup kitchen – many people.
too far away. meal from local Friend takes her
No jobs in local church to hospital.
community, far
away.
Exo level Supermarket is No money for Stays in shack. Lack of

far away. transport. No clean water employment and
Too far to walk. Large or electricity services.
Vendors buy businesses
only potatoes closed down or
and cabbage moved. Thandi
from commercial taken to hospital.
farms.
Macro level Agricultural Social policy. Health policies. Alignment of

and Marketing Old age pension Water and policies.
policies. inadequate. sanitation
Poor economy. policies.
Natural and socio-cultural environment
The micro level is linked to issues that can be addressed by heads of households or care givers,
households as a group and groups outside the household. The meso level row is linked to issues
and projects which can be resolved or initiated by community leaders and their structures. The exo
level row is linked to programmes based on those policies that need to be implemented by provincial
and local government leaders and officials so as to provide the services needed. You may not have
completed the macro level row. In this row the issues are linked to the policies and strategies of
government which our political leaders and government officials are responsible for. If you read
the table vertically, the illustration below gives the direction of action from micro to macro level and
the four dimensions of food security. We will use it in this manner for this household food security
programme.
17
Agricultural policies Marketing and Health policies Food and
and incentive transport policies agricultural policies
schemes
Policies related Strategic food
Water and
Food import and to social support reserves and
MACRO sanitation policies
export policies systems e.g. grants, stockpiling
level food banks, school
Strategic food
nutrition
reserves and
storage
Regional markets Marketing Health services and Food and

and transport and transport programs agricultural support
systems infrastructure programs
Natural and socio cultural environment

Water and
development and
Agricultural projects sanitation services Strategic food
EXO maintenance
and programs and programs reserves and
level Economic stockpiling
development
programs
Local markets Local markets Management and Community food

control of water and preservation and
Food production at Job and income
sanitation systems storage programs
community level generation
opportunities Community Community natural
MESO Transport systems
nutrition, health and resource education
level Social systems
sanitation education and protection
of exchange e.g.
programs programs
bartering, charity
etc.
Food production Food production Food preparation Food preservation

and nutrition and storage
Income from
practices practices
employment or
business activities Food preservation Food production
MICRO
and storage stability strategies
level practices (sustainable
increased
Distribution of food
production; reduced
within households
seasonality)
Food Food Food Food

FOOD SECURITY
Figure 1.7 Levels of action and the four dimensions of food security.
The micro level we usually refer to as the household. Thandi and I and our households, influence
each other’s food security. A household can be described as a group of people, whether they are
related or not, sharing resources, sitting around one hearth and eating from one pot. This household
environment, which could also be referred to as a homestead which affects Thandi and me and
our families is called the micro-level. Certain decisions made in this micro environment, as well
resources in it, can be controlled by ourselves.
18
The meso level we usually refer to
as the community where we interact
with other households, social groups,
social committees and local leaders.
The community can be associated
with a geographical location or area
(natural environment) and people that
share the same resources and interact
with each other to promote their well-
being and development. These groups
on the meso level may be linked to the
church, schools, farmer and women’s
groups, social committees and support
networks (socio-cultural environment).
It is also on this level where education
takes place.
The exo level we usually refer to as the institution and stakeholder level. Thandi and I are
provided with services such as health clinics, schools, water and sanitation, markets, roads and
transport an1d energy such as electricity or coal. The local government (municipalities) and districts
of provinces implement programmes from this level, and decisions are made to control resources.
To most of us it is known that services should be provided to the community through programmes
delivered by the structures of the municipality and some at provincial level. This is the exo level in
which Thandi and I live and should receive services. However we have little say in policies made at
this level and the next level.
The macro level we refer to as

the national and international
levels with their specific political Ministry of
National Finance
and ideological structures. Politi- Planning
Office of the
cal structures are those that make Commission
President
policies and design strategies for
the implementation of ideological
ideas and programmes. Policies
Ministry of Ministry of
are made and strategies planned Social Agriculture
by political structures on the macro Development
level. This is the level that Thandi
and I vote for, but have little control
over. We trust those representing
these political strcutures to make Ministry of
Rural
decisions and policies on our be- Ministry of Development
Education Ministry of
half. Decisions are made in terms Health
of political, economic, social and
welfare issues, the physical envi-
ronment and education.
We can now summarise the various levels that we have been discussed as follows:
19
Household decisions and action Micro level
Project Meso level
Programme Exo level
Policy Macro level

Figure 1.8 The flow of interventions between different levels of action
Now compare your findings in Activity 1.3 to the flow of actions from the micro to the macro levels as
set out in Table 1.3 below.
Table 1. 3 Actions, structures and stakeholders linked to levels of action
Levels of Actions Structures Stakeholders

action
Micro level Household Household decisions and Household members and family
action
Meso level Project Community development Community leaders and groups /
projects, education and Community-based -organizations
training (CBOs)
Exo level Programme Provincial and local Local government officials and
government: Non-governmental Organizations
Implementation of (NGOs)
programmes
Macro level Policy National government Politicians and government
officials
You can now recognise how complex and interrelated these actions, structures and stakeholders are,
especially if you consider Thandi’s story and your own situation. You will by now begin to appreciate
how the causes of food insecurity can be addressed and who’s role or responsibility they could be.
STEP 4:
Identify the building blocks of each level of action of our food security model
What does our food security model look like at this stage?
20
When we examine this model, we see that it is made up of different building blocks at each level of
action and include structures and stakeholders.
Levels of action Programmes and structures Stakeholders

and dimensions
MICRO
level
Food:
Utilisation Decisions and actions taken in Individuals and
Access households households
Availability
Stability
F
MESO
o level
o Food:
d Utilisation Education, training and community Groups and
Access development Community
S Availability
Stability
e
c EXO level
u Food:
Utilisation
r Access
Local government services, structures Local government
i Availability
and programmes officials
t Stability
y
MACRO
level Economic, educational, health, social
Food: and agricultural governmental services,
Politicians and
Utilisation political and ideological structures and
government
Access government
officials
Availability
Stability
Natural environment
Figure 1.9 The programmes, structures and stakeholders, acting on each level
21
Activity 1.4 Reflecting on the levels of action of our food security model
1. Use Figure 1.9 to write a paragraph in which you briefly explain why food utilisation, access,
availability and stability happen on each level.
……………………………………………………………………………………………….............…………
……………………………………………………………………………………………….............…………
……………………………………………………………………………………………….............…………
……………………………………………………………………………………………….............…………
2. On which level or levels will you as a facilitator work?
……………………………………………………………………………………………….............…………
You have now been made aware of the different levels of action. The four dimensions of food security
are present on all four levels of action but in a different form. Each of the four dimensions on a level
affects the food security of Thandi and me and our families. How can we exercise a right to food if so
many people, our families, communities and other stakeholders are involved? Should it not be the
role of government to make sure that every person has access to food? The right to food is written
into the Constitution of South Africa.
1.3 What is the human right to food?

Does Thandi have a right to food, if there are so many factors affecting food security? Can Thandi
make a difference to her own situation. Can you? We hear people talking about the right to food and
especially the right of children to food.
1.3.1 The right to food in the South African Constitution
The right to food in the South African Constitution is based on the Declaration on the Right to Food
by the United Nations (RSA, 1996). This international undertaking demands that governments be
accountable, in the governance of people, to the rights of the people. This consists of a list of several
rights, which we will be expanding on in the next paragraph.
The South African Government undertook in its Constitution, the most important act of the country
which should guide policies and decision-making to safequard the human rights of its citizens. In
Chapter 8 of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights applies to a natural or juristic person. The Bill of
Rights includes the following economic and social rights: the right to a basic education, the right
to access social security, the right to health services, the right to water, the right to housing, the
right to a healthy environment and the right to adequate food. Human rights and the right to food
cannot be separated from each other. The economic and social right to food is not the responsibility
of one single government department but rather is an interdepartmental issue. The right to food is
embedded in the human rights of each person.
22
This rights-based approach to the right to food can only be realised if all stakeholders participate
on the different levels of action to advance access to sufficient food by everyone. The Constitution
clearly includes three references to the right to food. Now complete the following activity.
Activity 1.5 The right to have access to food according to the Constitution
1. Read the three references from the constitution which are given below.
Three references from the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996
(own emphasis)
Section 27 (1) Everyone has the right to have access to-

(a) health care services, including reproductive health
care;
(b) sufficient food and water; and
(c) social security, including , if they are unable to support
themselves and their dependants, appropriate social
assistance.
Section
Sectio 28 (1) Every child has the right-
(a) to a name and a nationality from birth;
(b) to family care or parental care, or to appropriate
alternative care when removed from the family
environment;
(c) to basic nutrition, shelter, basic health care services
and social services;
Section
Sectio 35 (2) (e) to conditions of detention that are consistent with
human dignity, including at least exercise and the provision, at state
expense, of adequate accommodation, nutrition, reading material and
medical treatment…
2. List the highlighted items in the Constitution in Column 2 of the table below.
3. Link the items in the Constitution to a level or levels of action in Column 3 of the table below.
Who Items listed in Constitution Level of action

Every person
23
Every child
Persons in detention
4. How do what happens on the different levels influence the right to food and control resources?
……………………………………………………………………………………………….............…………
……………………………………………………………………………………………….............…………
The levels of action for these rights refer specifically to the micro- meso- and exo- levels. None of
the items listed in the constitution is on the macro level. This means that each person or individual
should be enabled by government action to gain access to food.
Now check whether the table that you completed is similar to the one below.
Table 1.4 Linking people, the items listed in the Constitution and the levels of action
Who Items listed in constitution Level of action

Every person Health services Exo
Sufficient food and water Exo
Social security Exo
Social assistance Exo
Every child Family care or parental care Micro
Alternative care Meso
Basic nutrition Micro
Shelter Micro
Basic health care services Meso
Social services Meso
Persons in detention Human dignity Meso
Exercise Meso
Adequate accommodation Meso
Nutrition Meso
Reading material Meso
Medical treatment Meso
24
In a rights-based approach Individuals, households, communities and other stakeholders share
obligations and responsibilities pertaining to the right to food. In brief, this means that in a society
where there are poor and food-insecure individuals these people must be empowered to take action.
It also means that the capacity of stakeholders be built to ensure that all people have access to
food.
Activity 1.6 Levels on which food security problems can be addressed
Aim: Identify on which level action can be taken to address the problems of households similar to
Thandi’s.
Time: 30 minutes
What you must do
1. After you have completed Activity 1.4 and Activity 1.5, work with your group to compare what you
have written with each other. Brainstorm the main ideas.
2. Write four paragraphs, one related to each level of action. Summarise your conclusion on the
action to be taken to solve Thandi’s problem, your own and those of your families by using
different ideas from within your group.
A rights-based approach to food requires that food is accessible to all. Even those who are most
food insecure should be identified and plans or programmes put in place to address their inability to
access adequate food.
The dimensions of food security and levels of action for such programmes and projects are displayed
in the table which we have just examined.This table is not complete, but it will nevertheless assist
you in writing your paragraphs. The most successful food security interventions make use of actions
on all four levels. The capacity of those in the community, on the local and district levels, is crucial
to implement programmes on the micro level is crucial. This can only be achieved through effective
social mobilisation for which community mobilisers, volunteers and trainers are identified. More and
more people are becoming aware of their own responsibility to be food secure.
A constitutional court case referred to as Grootboom (FAO 2004a) ruled that the government is
accountable for creating an environment for each person to access their rights. This means that the
government has a role to play in respecting each person’s right to food.
The rights-based approach allows for the rights holders to be empowered and enabled to become
active participants in realising their right to food. The right to food is a fundamental human right and
also an individual right, given the claims for the respect of human dignity by the government. People
have a right to food sovereignty. This means that they have a right to access to food and to producing
food, which means that all people have the right to safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food, to
food-producing resources and to the ability to sustain themselves and their societies (Windfuhr and
Jonson, 2005).
25
1.3.2 What does the human right to food mean to me, as a facilitator?
The human right to food means to me the ability to provide food for myself through a livelihood. A
livelihood could mean earning an income to care for myself, my household or family for the benefit
of the community so as to ensure our sound health. Are these the same factors as those that
caused Thandi’s food insecurity?
Activity 1.7 Reflecting on the right to food
Aim: Reflect on the right to food and how a facilitator can advance this right.
Time: 15 minutes
What you must do
Reflect on and then answer the following two questions in your workbook.
Questions
1. What does the right to food mean for me?

2. How can the facilitator advance the right to food in households and communities?
Concluding remarks
If we are empowered, we can communicate and initiate changes on the micro or meso levels, in our
own households or in the social groups or communities where we are active. The levels for most
intense participation are the mico and meso levels where people come together in groups and learn
through facilitation and from each other to find solutions to their problems in terms of food security.
The interface between the meso level and the exo level of action is referred to as the levels of
participation for education and training.
Unit 2 will cover aspects of household food security such as nutrition and sustainable livelihoods.
In this unit the meaning of concepts to be used by the food security facilitator will be further studied
as foundation for this programme. A facilitator needs to be able to gather and analyse information in
order to be able to identify problems and solutions, so as to address access to food.
Communication with stakeholders on the different macro and exo levels is not always possible,
though it is vitally important to do so. Those opperating on these two levels should have the capacity
to design policies on the macro level to be implemented as programmes on the exo level and rolled
out to communities. The people or stakeholders from the different structures who have to implement
the programmes and control the resources can be communicated with by knowing where they
are, usually through local and community leaders and by using the correct channels. This will be
discussed, at length, in Unit 3.
26
UNIT 2:
Linking household food security with
nutrition and livelihoods
Introduction
The term food insecurity refers to people who live with hunger and fear starvation. In his World Food
Day 2000 message, the Director of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation said:
The scourges of hunger and poverty are morally unacceptable and have to be
defeated. Hunger and chronic malnutrition diminish human life. The lack of physical
or economic access to safe, nutritious and healthy food at all times leads to negative
consequences for peoples and nations. (Diouf, 2000)
In Unit 1 you learned about terms and concepts and were given a model for food security. You
became aware that the opposite of food security is food insecurity. Now we focus on household
food security and what the effect of food insecurity will be on households. These days the concepts
nutrition, nutrition security, livelihoods and household livelihood security are also used when the
bigger picture of household food security is discussed.
2.1 How do we define a household and its environment?
2.2 What is the link between household food security and nutrition?
2.3 What is the link between household food security and livelihoods?
2.4 Food insecurity assessment and analysis

The specific outcome for this unit is to identify the differences and relationships between household
food security, nutrition and livelihoods. By understanding the meaning of each of these concepts, you
can identify aspects or variables (aspects that change) so as to assess and analyse food security.
You will notice that the table below shows you the learning outcomes that link with the four sections
that are addressed in this unit, as well as the list of assessment activities for this unit. A time estimate
is shown for each activity. This will help you to plan the use of your time. When you have completed
the activities, write down the actual time you spent on them.
27
Workbook activities
2.1. How do we define 2.1 The members of a household (1 hour)
a household and its
environment? 2.2 The household in which Peace lives. Part 1.
(30 minutes)
2.2 What is the link
between household 2.6 Who eats the largest variety of food and in
food security and sufficient quantities (20 minutes)
nutrition?
2.7 Nutritional condition of children (I hour)
2.3. What is the link
between household 2.10 The household in which Peace lives.
food security and Part 2.(30 minutes)
livelihoods?
2.12 Livelihood strategies to acquire food
2.4. Food insecurity (30 minutes)
assessment and
analysis
Assignments
Assignment 2: The work in Unit 2 will cover part of
Assignment 2. Information for this assignment is
contained in Tutorial Letter 101. (3hrs)
Key concepts
Households
Community
Food security
Food insecurity
Malnutrition
Under-nutrition
Over-nutrition
Undernourished
Nutritional status
Nutritional security
Food security
Food insecurity
Livelihoods
Vulnerability
Poverty
You learned about food security in Unit 1. In Unit 2 you will build on this knowledge. We will examine
each one of the key words or concepts that has to do with food security. We will tell you what they
mean and how they can be used to gather and analyse information related to food, nutrition and
livelihoods for the well-being of households and communities.
28
Start-up activity
In the previous unit you met Thandi. She is walking through her community on her way home
from work. Thandi sees some of the children playing in the street. What does she notice about the
children?
Thabang
Peace
Sarah Sipho
Lesedi
Dikgang
Figure 2.1 Children in a community
29
Can you make any observations about the children, their nutritional condition and the living conditions
in the household? Give it a try. What would your observations be if you were Thandi?
Peace……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Dikgang……………………………………………………………………………………………………
Thabang………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Lesedi……………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Sarah and Sipho………………………………………………………………………………………….
.....................................................................................................................................................
When considering the nutritional and living conditions of each child, you probably had a number of
different ideas. You discovered that households differ, that they use resources in the environment
differently and that this could influence their nutritional condition. You may have some ideas about
how people meet their food needs, how people make a living and how they make use of resources.
At the end of this unit you will be able to tell whether you were correct in your observations and
whether you were correct on the nutritional condition of Peace, Dikgang, Thabang, Lesedi, Sarah
and Sipho.
Remember that the picture may be misleading and therefore also your observations. There are many
more issues in correctly analysing livelihoods and nutritional conditions. An observation needs to be
made with the use of a checklist of what you want to observe. It should also be followed by other
methods of gathering more specific information, as you will see in Module 2.
For a start, in a very simplistic way, let us explain the link between household food security,
nutrition and livelihoods, as indicated below:
Household
food security
Food:
Livelihood Availability
Nutritional
inputs Accessibility
outcomes
Utilisation
Stability
Natural and socio-cultural environment
Figure 2.2 Linking household food security, nutrition and livelihoods
30
There are two main areas which overlap with household food security, namely nutrition and livelihoods.
Nutrition is an important outcome of household food security, but nutrition security is not solely
dependent on household food security. The livelihoods of households should provide livelihood
security in a broader context to so as to ensure household food security and nutrition security.
You will learn in this unit that food security has different inputs (causes) and outcomes. If we know
how to identify food insecurity we can try to find solutions to problems of households in an attempt
to ensure food security.
2.1 How do we define a household and its environment?

Before we examine a household and its community, we need to remind ourselves that both use
resources and function as part of the environment.
2.1.1 The environment in which a household functions
Furthermore we must remember that the environment in which a household functions consists of both
the natural environment and the socio-cultural environment of that household in the community.
The natural environment of the household in the community
The children you met in the start-up activity, each comes from a household in a community called
Kwaggashoek which Thandi has recently moved into. Thandi therefore has many questions to ask.
Thandi knows so little about the natural environment in which this community
is situated, since she did not grow up in Kwaggashoek. She is eager to establish
her own garden as soon as possible.
Maybe making a garden it is too risky for her. Where can she find more information
about the environment in order to make a garden? Thandi’s grandmother, who lives
in a community called Phara, has enough indigenous knowledge to look at the weather
and the soil and start making a garden by growing many different vegetables. Will
Thandi be able to do the same?
The socio-cultural environment of the household in the community
Thandi wonders about the people staying in the houses in this community. Do
they speak the same language as she does? Are they from the same culture?
Do they have the same beliefs? Do they grow and eat the same foods? Do
they have the same eating habits, feasts and celebrations? Do they belong
to one tribe or to different tribes? Do they have ward councilors? Do they, as a
community, work together in committees? How many households are there and how
many people are living in each house?
These questions of Thandi’s should provide you with some ideas about the kinds questions which
need to be asked to gather information on households. The two environments, the natural environment
31
and the socio-cultural environment, provide many resources and opportunities to households to
enable them to provide for their food and livelihood needs. The access to resources differs from one
household to the next, as does the allocation and use of these resources, both outside and within the
households. You will learn more about the environments in units to come.
Social-cultural
Natural environment
environment
Figure 2.3 Interaction between the natural and socio-cultural environments
2.1.2 The household
The word household can have many meanings. A household,

What is a household?
for the purpose of information-gathering, is seen as the
groups of people living together in one homestead or under A household is a group of people living
one roof and eating from the same pot. They can be related under one roof, sharing resources and
or unrelated, but together they contribute to the household’s eating from the same pot.
resources, share the household chores and usually sit
around the same hearth.
It is worth noting that the word family is seldom used, since, generally speaking, a nuclear family
means the father, mother and children living in a household. The word family can also mean the
whole family from one lineage.
Thandi is thinking about the households in her community.

Some of these households seem to be similar and some What is a community?
§different. Who is the head of the household? How many
A community is people from the
members are there in each household? What are their ages
same location, interacting with each
and gender? Are the occupants still household members if
other forming relationships and
they are not related to the father and mother? What are the
sharing resources from the local
gender roles? Is the orphan part of the household? Are the
environment.
children in the households which you met in the start-up
activity representative of the kind of households in a given
community?
Activity 2.1 The members of a household
Complete this activity on your own in your workbook
Aim: Calculate the composition of a number of households
Time: One hour
What you must do
32
Thandi tries to recall the members in each household, but struggles to remember.
1. Help Thandi add up the number of members in each household in the case study.
1.1 Peace stays with her mother, her grandmother and three other sisters. Dikgang
stays with his father and mother. How many household members are there?
1.2 Dikgang also has three sisters and two brothers. Two 17 year-old cousins who are
boys, also live in the house. How many household members are there?
1.3 Thabang stays with his father and mother. Thabang and his sister are the only children
in the house. How many household members are there?
1.4 Lesedi stays with her mother and father, two brothers and one sister. How many
household members are there?
1.5 Sarah stays with her aunt. The aunt has four children of whom one is Sipho, a baby boy
of two years, and the other three are girls. Sarah is an orphan. How many household
members are there?
2. What is the total number of members for all these households?
3. Use Figure 2.4 below to answer the questions that follow:
Dikgang’s house
1 Adult male
1 Adult female Thabang‘s house
5 Boys 1 Adult male
Peace’s house
3 Girls 1 Adult female
2 Adult females 1 Boy
4 Girls 1 Girl
Sarah’s house
1 Adult female
Lesedi’s house
1 Boy
1 Adult male
4 Girls
1 Adult female
3 Boys
1 Girl
Figure 2.4 How many people live in these houses?
33
3.1 How many adult male members are there in all the households altogether?
3.2 How many adult female members are there in all the households altogether?
3.3 How many boy members are there in all the households altogether?
3.4 How many girl members are there in all the households altogether?
3.5 Complete the table below to show the composition of households in Kwaggashoek.
The abbreviation n is for numbers.
Total in
Names Adult males (n) Adult females (n) Boys (n) Girls (n)
household (n)
Peace
Dikgang
Thabang
Lesedi
Sarah
Total of each ?
3.6 Add up the numbers in the last column. Write your answer in the last block where there is a
question mark. Now add up the numbers in the last row (excluding the number you have just
written in the last block). What do you find?
You have now summarised the information required for Activity 2.1 by means of completing a table.
This information will allow you to assess each household. Do you know how to draw and complete
your own table? Do you know the difference between a row and a column? A column runs vertically
(from top to bottom). A row runs horizontally (from left to right).
You will notice that the names of the children have been written in the first column (the vertical
column) of the above table of Question 3.5. In the top row (the horizontal row), the number of adult
males, adult females, boys and girls has been specified. The last column shows you the total number
of members of each household. The last row shows you the total number of adult males, adult
females, boys and girls respectively.
When you add up the numbers of the last column of Question 3.6 and you add the numbers of the
last row, the total for each, in the last block, should be exactly the same, namely 32.
Displaying the gender and age groups of household members
You can now read the table below for information on the gender of the households.
34
Table 2.1 Gender of household members
Gender of household members

Adult
Children Adult Males Boys Girls Total Total
Females
n n n n n %
Peace 0 2 0 4 6
Dikgang 1 1 5 3 10
Thabang 1 1 1 1 4
Lesedi 1 1 3 1 6
Sarah 0 1 1 4 6
Total 3 6 10 13 32 100
9.3 19 32 40 100
Of the five households in this study, two have females as the head of the household. Peace’s mother
is only a temporary head of household when her husband is not at home. Three households, then,
have a male head of household, of which one male is migrating. The table also gives us 10 boys and
13 girls who are of different ages. It is important to know who is living in the household and who eats
from the same pot. Different members of a household have different roles. These roles are usually
referred to as gender roles. Each person, depending on the age and gender, may have specific tasks
that he or she is responsible for and not all members may have equal access to all the available
resources.
Can you calculate the percentage of males, females, boys and girls in the five households?
The total number of household members is 32. If this is the total number of household members,
it is 100%. Read from the table the column labeled Males. The adult males are 3 in total. Thus the
percentage of adult males can be calculated. The adult males will be 3 divided by 32 and multiplied
by 100. The abbreviation symbol % is for percentage.
Adult males: 3 ÷ 32 × 100 = 9.3% rounded off to 9%
The answer is 9.3%. This means that if there were 100 household members, in total, 9 of these
household members would have been adult males. (The answer will always be rounded off to the
nearest one decimal. For example 9.3% rounded off to 9%). Can you calculate the percentage of
females, boys and girls? The females are 19%, boys are 31% and the girls are 40% of the total
members of households.
Females: 6 ÷ 32 × 100 = 18.75% rounded off to 19%

Boys: 10 ÷ 32 × 100 = 31.25% rounded off to 31%
Girls: 13 ÷ 32 × 100 = 40.60% rounded off to 40%
What you must do: Write the percentages in the last column of Table 2.1. You can display this
information (data) visually in a histogramme which is shown as a bar graph in Figure 2.5. The length
of the bars in the histogramme will give the percentage of household members. This percentage
should be read from the vertical line on the left. This vertical line is called the y-axis. The horizontal
line, which shows you the gender, is called the x-axis.
35
What is data?
Gender of household members
40 Data is scientific information that is
collected and analysed
35
30
25 Males
% 20
Females
15
Boys
10
5 Girls
0
Gender
Figure 2.5 The percentage of household members according to gender
Thandi cannot remember the ages of all the children. How many are small
babies and how many are older children? How many are teenagers or out of
school youth? How many of the adults are elderly people?
How healthy are the household members? Do they have enough food to feed all
members of the household?
When you gather information on households you will have to get the age of each member of
the household. This is called socio-demographic information. You will also be required to gather
information on nutrition.
In addition, you will be required to gather information on the livelihoods of the households: What are
they doing for a living? Where are they buying food? If they do not produce food, where do they get
their food from? Do they have a source for food? Do they receive any social assistance?
To be able to answer most of the questions Thandi asked, we will look at the linkage between food
security and nutrition. You will notice that the questions that relate to the case study are in the
same font as the case study. These questions are examples that will help you to identify the kind of
information which you need and the questions you need to ask.
36
2.2 What is the link between household food security
and nutrition?
Household food security has a dimension food utilisation which is important in food intake or
consumption and how the body utilises food and its nutrients. Food intake is not the only factor
influencing nutrition. Health and illness determine how the body will use the nutrients.
At this stage you should be aware of an overlap in meaning of the concepts: the utilisation dimension of
food security and the adequate intake of food in nutrition. Thandi’s own situation and her observations
of others will help us to explain the consequences of taking in too much food, on the one hand, and
of not taking in enough food, on the other.
As Thandi walks along, she worries about where and when she will get the
next meal for her children. She is already giving her food portion to the
children, because they need the food, so as to be good learners. Thandi
notices that not all the children in the street look similar, with the same
happy faces and healthy bodies. Some of the children look neglected. Remember
that Thandi sees five children and an infant on the street, namely Peace, Dikgang,
Thabang, Lesedi and Sarah, with baby Sipho.
You will be referred to the children in Figure 2.1 and the case studies of each of these children
throughout this unit.
The first case study will be on Peace, a healthy girl, from a food secure household. Peace’s case
study will remind you of what food security is all about and will show you the meaning of food security
and nutrition security.
Activity 2.2 The household in which Peace lives: Part 1
Aim: Identify practices that ensure food security and health
Time: 30 minutes
What you must do
1. Revisit Figure 2.1, which shows you some of the children you have already met in the Kwaggashoek
community. Identify Peace, who is the healthy-looking girl in the picture.
2. Read the following case study on Peace:
37
Peace is the girl with the ball who looks healthy,
active and happy. Peace eats three small
meals a day which her grandmother or mother
prepare. Sometimes she helps to prepare the
food herself. Her grandmother makes sure
that they do not only eat maize each day.
She tries to add a yellow or green vegetable
to the meal on a daily basis, mostly obtained
from their household garden or from that of
the neighbours who exchange with Peace’s
grandmother. Peace’s grandmother also believes
in planting the traditional beans which she grew
up with. In addition, she usually dries fruit and
vegetables from the garden and stores them
for when there is no fresh produce.
Peace’s grandmother and mother care for the children very well. They prepare
food and divide the food stored, so that there is some food to eat every day.
They visit the clinic regularly to receive a food parcel for the small baby. The
two women belong to the Mothers’ Care Group at the local church.
They also keep the house and the outside kitchen very clean. Since the house
does not have a tap inside, they fetch water from the communal tap. They keep
the water containers clean and covered. All members of the household use their
water sparingly and also make use of their washing water for the garden. The
children help their grandmother to maintain the garden and carry out the other
household chores. This leaves sufficient time for school work and for the women
to attend their care group for training.
Questions
1. Is the household in which Peace lives food secure? Justify your answer.
2. How is Peace’s household utilising food to ensure that the household members receive
nutritional food?
3. What else is the household doing to ensure good health?
Unit 1 described household food security as food availability, food access, food utilisation and food
stability. Using Peace’s case study, indicate whether food is available to the household, how food is
accessed, how food is utilised and whether the supply is stable.
38
Activity 2.3 Dimensions that ensure a household’s food security
From the case study in Activity 2.2, give reasons why Peace’s household can be regarded as food
secure. Why could the household in which Peace stays be seen as food secure?
Food availability
Food access
Food utilisation
Food stability
Comments on Activities 2.2 and 2.3
From the case study we can conclude that Peace’s

The women in the care group say
mother and grandmother are making sure they do have that food security is when they
enough food to eat using what they can produce or buy have enough food that has enough
from their earnings. The members of the household work nutrients for all members of the
family. Nutritious food is having vegetables,
together in using their resources effectively and utilising
chicken and sometimes fruit.
a variety of food, although it may be very little to always
have a secure and stable household food supply.
2.2.1 What is the difference between food security and food security
status?
Food security status refers to the degree of food security or the food security situation in a specific
household. Thus we need to ask how much food is available, to what extent the household has
access to food, how they are utilising the food they have and how stable the food supply is.
What would happen if Peace’s grandmother fell sick tonight or her mother
was injured in a taxi accident? What would happen to the garden food if
there were a drought with too little water in the streams and dams? What
would happen if their garden and fences were washed away by a rain storm?
What if there were conflict in the community and their property was
vandalised?
39
Will the food security status of the household change and no longer be secure? Yes, if any of these
situations influences the household’s present food security status, it may change. For example, if
the food is inadequate for each household member’s needs, the food security status will inevitably
change. The household’s food access and food intake will be at risk and it will therefore become food
insecure.
Food security status is a measure of the degree of food security in a community. A number of key
indicators can be used to establish whether a household or community is food secure or food
insecure. On a continuum, one could present it as follows:
FOOD SECURITY STATUS CONTINUUM

Food security LOW HIGH Food security
INDICATORS INDICATORS
• Not enough food available • Enough food available

• Cannot buy enough, nor get • Variety of nutritious food
enough good food consumed
• Low variety of food/poor • Good infant and child feeding
dietary intakes and care practices
• Malnutrition • Good health
• Poor infant and child feeding • Good nutritional status
and care practices • Clean water and adequate
• Diseases and infection sanitation
• Mortality (deaths)
• Dirty water
• Poor sanitation
Figure 2.6 The continuum of food insecurity and food security with indicators
What are macro- and micronutrients?
An indicator is a standard which can be measured
to indicate the status or change in a situation. Food Macronutrients : The foods that we consume
security is hardly ever always stable and can change consist of the major nutrients which are the
on a scale or continuum from less to more, low to high bulk of our diets (about 80%) such as proteins
and inadequate to adequate. Therefore food security (meat, milk, dried beans, eggs) carbohydrates
is always strived after and the indicator is therefore (maize, sorghum, potatoes, sweet potatoes
always moving on a continuum between food security and other roots), fat (oils, margarine and
and food insecurity. animal fat) and water.
Food behaviour and nutrition will be discussed in much Micronutrients in food are needed by the body
more detail in Module 4. In this unit we have been in small quantities. They consist of Vitamins
using concepts such as food, nutrients and nutrition A, B, C, D and E and the important minerals
very often. We will only give the description of these iron, zinc and iodine present mostly in protein
concepts so as to enable you to develop their correct foods, yellow and dark green vegetables and
meaning. fruit.
40
2.2.2 What are the meanings of the terms food, nutrients and nutrition?
To understand the concepts nutrition security and nutritional status at household level, you need to
know the meaning of the terms: food, nutrients and nutrition.
Food is the product of plants, animals and other organisms like mushrooms that you eat. Food
contains nutrients and these nutrients, which are obtained from food, are used in the body for
energy, to regulate body processes and as agents to support growth, as well as the maintenance
and repair of body tissues. If quality nutrients are taken in appropriate quantities, they can reduce
malnutrition and the risk of certain, although not all, diseases (Whitney & Rolfes, 2002).
Nutrients in food can be divided into macronutrients and micronutrients. Macronutrients are
carbohydrates, protein, fats (lipids) and water. Micronutrients are vitamins and minerals.
Nutrition can be described as the study of food, the nutrients and other substances that they contain,
as well as their functions in the body. What are the function of nutrients in our bodies?
Activity 2.4 Nutrients and their function in our bodies
Look at Table 2.2, which shows you the six major classes of nutrients in the first column and the three
main functions of each in our bodies, which are indicated in the other three columns with ticks.
Table 2.2 Nutrients and their functions in our body
Growth and
Regulate body
Nutrient Source of energy maintenance of our
processes
bodies
Carbohydrates 3 3
Proteins 3 3 3
Fats 3 3 3
Water 3 3
Minerals 3 3
Vitamins 3
Questions
1. Which two groups of nutrients provide all three functions?
........................................................................................................................................................
2. Which nutrients provide mainly energy and serve as building material?
........................................................................................................................................................
41
3. What is the main function of vitamins?
........................................................................................................................................................
4. What are the main functions of minerals and water?
........................................................................................................................................................
To be nutritional healthy one should eat food that provides all six nutrients. Because people know
foods better than they know nutrients we make use of food groups. For this reason the food groups
and food-based dietary guidelines have been developed as easy tools to help us select foods.
Although the examples provided may sound Western, many traditional and indigenous foods also fit
into these groups and are covered by the food guidelines.
Food groups
The foods which are good sources of the nutrients that our bodies need are grouped according to
the three main functions of food, also referred to as the three food groups. Foods are also grouped
according of the main nutrient content using the five food group guide as below:
THREE MAIN FUNCTIONS FIVE FOOD GROUPS (RSA)
ENERGY • Bread, cereal, rice and pasta group

• Vegetable group
PROTECTIVE
• Fruit group
• Milk, yoghurt, amasi (fermented milk) and
cheese group
BUILDING
• Meat, poultry, fish, dried beans, eggs and
nuts group
Food-based Dietary Guidelines
The South African Food-based Dietary South African Food-based Dietary Guidelines
Guidelines (FBDG) has been specially
developed to consider all foods. These 1. Enjoy a variety of food
guidelines enable people to choose nutritious 2. Be active
food from the variety of food sources that 3. Make starchy foods the basis of most meals
people can produce or afford to buy. This 4. Eat plenty of vegetables and fruit every day
is called a food-based approach. Is this in 5. Eat dry beans, split peas, lentils and soya beans
line with the definition of household food regularly
security? 6. Chicken, fish, meat, milk or eggs can be eaten
daily
Eat a variety of food means eating on a 7. Eat fats sparingly
daily basis a variety of food selected from 8. Use salt sparingly
each food group. Food-insecure and poor 9. Drink lots of clean safe water
households may not have access to food from 10. If you drink alcohol drink it in moderation
all the groups. Part of your role as facilitaor 11. Use food and drinks containing sugar sparingly and
will therefore be to encourage households not between meals
to make a selection of as wide a variety of
foods as possible.
42
Activity 2.5 Match traditional foods with the Food-based Dietary Guidelines
List 10 traditional foods from your community which are eaten regularly and link these to one or more
of the Food-based Dietary Guidelines. An example is given in the first row.
Traditional food Matching food-based dietary guidelines
Imfino also called Morogo Eat plenty of vegetables and fruit every day
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
You will learn more about foods, nutrients, food groups and Food-based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG)
in Module 4.
Activity 2.6 Who eats the largest variety of food and in sufficient quantities?
Aim: Identify the different varieties of food eaten by the children and the Food-based Dietary
Guidelines they match with.
Time: 20 minutes
What you must do
Read the case studies for the five children in our story. See Activity 1.7. Read the questions and
complete the table in your workbook.
1. Which kinds of foods (varieties) are the five children eating regularly from your reading of their
case studies?
2. Name the guideline from the Food-based Dietary Guidelines that matches the foods which the
children are eating regularly.
43
Child’s name Varieties of food eaten Guidelines which match what
(List the foods) the child eats. (Write down the
numbers of the guidelines)
Peace
Dikgang
Thabang
Lesedi
Sarah
3. Who ate the largest variety of food and enough food?
4. With how many of the Food-based Dietary Guidelines did the foods match?
Household members may be nutritionally healthy if they eat a variety of food (diversity) and if they
eat enough good quality food (containing enough of all the nutrients). This is a message that you, as
a facilitator, will hear about in this programme very often and need to convey to households.
2.2.3 What is the difference between nutritional security and

nutritional status?
The desirable or optimal nutritional status of our bodies is when we consume enough of each nutrient
that the body needs, maintain good caring practices and have a clean and healthy environment for
an active and healthy life. The word security means that something can be maintained for some time
(Kent, 2008). A household can be nutrition-secure when the following aspects of good nutrition are
secured, over time. Nutrition security is about the securing the following three aspects, namely:
• The daily food intake of the household What is nutrition security

• The care practices People are nutrition secure when they are
• The clean water and healthy environment food secure and have good care in a healthy
environment with a diet that is adequate in
Nutrition security is dependent on the food security quantity, quality and a variety of nutrients.
provided by the relevant policies, services and household
activities to ensure sufficient food intake and the absorption of nutrients. If Peace’s grandmother
and mother cannot continue to provide nutritious food, then the household food security and nutrition
security will decline and the nutritional status of each member of the household will be threatened.
With reference to our cases study, nutritional status

What is nutritional status?
means the present nutritional status of Peace’s body,
as a young girl at this point in time and whether her The nutritional status reflects the
measurements are in line with the body measurements nutritional condition of the individual as
of all girls of her age. This phrase also encompasses an outcome of that individual’s diet. The
her present daily food intake, care practice, clean water person concerned must receive the right
and the healthy environment in which she lives which quality and quantity of food and the body
provides nutritional security. You can therefore see that must utilise the necessary nutrients. The
nutrition security and nutritional status are dependent nutritional status can be measured by using
on similar factors, but do not have the same meaning. anthropometric indicators, which means
taking measurements of the body.
44
The word security behind nutritional means that the nutritional status can be maintained over a
period of time because of a secure and stable food supply.
Food intake, health and care are interrelated, and actions affecting one area may have significant
consequences for the other.
You will notice that the three building blocks of good nutrition, namely food intake, care practices and
health and safety, can be described as follows:
Food intake
The availability of food, access to food and food intake,

in other words the consumption of adequate quantities of
nutritious food at the household level (micro-level), are My children are not choosy
important factors influencing nutritional status. Nutritional because they are accustomed to
a simple meal, maize and tinned
well-being is influenced by the nutrient content of the fish or maize and with imfino.
food consumed and its absorption by the body. Other Sometimes I also cook maize
requirements include age, gender, level of physical porridge with pumpkin.
activity and health status. These requirements will be
discussed later and will be used to gather information
and assess household food security.
Care practices
Care and feeding practices require time, attention and

support and are very important to meet people’s physical, My mother usually serves us
young children their food first,
mental and social needs. The knowledge, attitudes and
a common practice that helps to
practices of household caregivers largely determine the ensure proper sharing of food
nutritional status of the household. If households have an within the household. We are
incomplete understanding of the body’s nutritional needs also encouraged to eat on time
because this is important for their
and lack of knowledge of how to meet these needs with
health
available foods, this can lead to malnutrition. We will
examine malnutrition later in this unit.
Health and safety
A healthy environment, clean water, hygiene and good

sanitation practices are necessary for nutritional well- I always make sure that the
being, yet they are not within reach of the majority of the children have washed their hands
world’s population. Infectious diseases and inadequate in a small basin with clean water
before eating.
diet act together, each aggravating the effects of the
other to produce what is referred to as the “malnutrition
and infection cycle”. The body’s need for nutrients is
increased during and after episodes of infection. Continuous or chronic and frequent acute infections
make it almost impossible to maintain adequate nutritional status and may lead to malnutrition.
Nutritional status associated with malnutrition has negative effects on nutrition security. How do the
building blocks of malnutrition in the household fit into the food security model which we started
building in Unit 1?
45
Malnutrition, Disability and Death
Poor Diet Disease
Inadequate care and Poor living conditions

Family Food Shortages
feeding practices poor health services
Poverty, unequal access to resources,

low status and education of women,
environmental stress, conflicts, etc
Figure 2.7 Building blocks of malnutrition in the food security model

(Adapted from Burgess and Glasauer, 2004)
Apart from Peace, Thandi also knows the other four children in the group
she passes on her way home. What is the nutritional security and nutritional
status of the other children? Are they also healthy like Peace?
46
Activity 2.7 Nutritional condition of children in the case study
Complete this activity in groups or on your own in your workbook
Aim: Determine the nutritional condition of children from the case study.
Time: 60 minutes
What you must do
1. Read the case studies of the children below:
The little boy, Dikgang, in dirty tattered clothes is thin and

very frail. He looks as if he is not getting enough food at home
or he may be very sick. His eyes indicate that he is not very
interested in the game. Dikgang comes from a family where his
mother and father work. There are five children in the family,
plus two elder cousins who and do not have jobs and whose
parents have died of HIV AIDS. These family members receive
one meal a day of maize porridge with relish or tea, so they
often go to bed hungry, except over weekends when there is
also meat relish. Thandi wonders whether the parents are still
working, or whether they too have lost their jobs. Why is no
one in the family caring for the house and cleaning the yard?
The other child in the group, Thabang, is shorter than the

other boys of his age, but looks healthy. He doesn’t seem to
be very active either. He is said to be a slow learner at school.
However he does look fine and is not thin like Dikgang. His
father works on a local farm, receiving a small salary and a
large bag of maize meal at the end of each month. His mother is
doing a piece job as a household helper on the farm. Thabang’s
mother makes sure that the family has two meals a day and, in
addition Thabang receives a school lunch. Although his father
does not really like vegetables, they always have some relish
and vegetables at least twice a week.
Then there is Lesedi, the son of a local business man, who

always wears tekkies. He is quite large for his age and clearly
overweight, though he is the same age as Thabang. His family
enjoys large portions at mealtimes and, in addition, they have
meat two or three times a week. Apart from this, Lesedi always
seems to be eating or chewing something. He is constantly
consuming bread, biscuits, tinned foods, sweets and cold drinks
from his father’s shop. His father sells just about anything in
his shop that the community wants to buy and also gives credit
to the community until the end of the month, recording this in
his little black book.
47
Sarah is an orphan and stays with her Aunt who has three
children. Sarah is baby Sipho’s baby sitter, and Thandi notices
her sitting on the sidewalk next to the waste dump, watching
the baby crawling around the children who are playing.
Sipho does not look well cared for. His nose is running and he is
very small and thin. Sarah feeds the baby from time to time from
her plate. At others, he simply helps himself. Sarah gets served
last at mealtimes and does not always have the same sized food
portions as the other girls in the family. In addition, she has to
work hard cleaning and cooking and does not attend school. Very
often she feels sick. Her aunt works two days a week in the city
and also receives grants for her three young children and the
orphan. Apart from this, her three school-going children receive
meals at school, consisting of dried beans or meat, starch and
fruit.
2. Each of the children in the above case study is described in a manner that could be associated
with a nutritional condition. The children are illustrated in Figure 2.1. Look at this figure again very
carefully, to enable you to grasp the meaning of the different words that are used to describe them.
Now give the description of the condition of each of the children in the workbook.
Peace is described as a healthy and active girl. Her What is malnutrition?

nutritional status may therefore be described as good Malnutrition is different from nutritional status
or optimal. From observation alone. Peace does not in that it encompasses the physiological
appear to be suffering from any condition in Figure 2.9 conditions resulting from inadequacy or
imbalance in food intake or poor utilisation
Dikgang looks very thin and short. He is a boy who has or absorption of food consumed.
what is known as a low weight-for-height, the result of
ongoing starvation and weight loss, called wasting. He
also suffers from hunger. He is receiving very little food What is undernourishment and
and is not receiving food with enough macronutrients undernutrition?
to give him energy. He may suffer from protein-energy Undernourishment is a food insecurity
malnutrition as a hungry and wasted child. Because he estimate of the number of people with food
does not receive any vegetables and fruit, he may also unavailable and inaccessible to them to
consume.
suffer from micronutrient deficiency.
Under-nutrition relates to people’s weight,

Thabang is receiving enough maize, meat or dried
height and age that are measured to indicate
beans, which provide energy in his diet. He is short, but inadequate food intake, poor health and
looks healthy. He is certainly under height for his age unsanitary conditions. These people do not
since his growth and normal development have been derive full benefit from what they eat.
48
affected. This condition is also referred to as stunting meaning a low height-for-age. He is not an
active child and does not do well at school. He may eat enough energy foods, but not enough of the
essential vitamins and minerals. He does not receive enough vegetables and fruit with micronutrients
and may suffer from micronutrient deficiency, which is referred as hidden hunger.
Lesedi has the privilege of consuming as much maize and meat as he wants to. He can also eat as
many chips, biscuits, ice-cream and sugary sweets from the shop as he feels like. Lesedi is obese
or overweight for his age, due to excessive food intake of too many energy foods. He probably never
feels hungry due to an empty stomach. However Lesedi does not like to eat vegetables and fruit, so
may be suffering from micronutrient deficiency, even though he is overweight. Could he be suffering
from “hidden hunger” if he is obese?
Sarah is very inactive and hungry since she receives less food than the other children and suffers from
not receiving energy foods, vegetables and fruit. She looks underweight, or has what is known as a
low weight-for-age. A low-weight-for-age reflects a condition that can be associated with inadequate
food intake and/or poor health conditions.
If the baby is eating from Sarah’s plate, as well as receiving the food from the food parcel which
he needs, he may be receiving enough food. Both Sarah and baby Sipho are sitting and playing in
a dirty, unhealthy spot. This may be exposing them to the causes of infection and ill-health. They
may both be suffering from macronutrient deficiency and micronutrient deficiency. The poor health
environment which they sit and play in daily may also contribute to their bodies not using the nutrients
which they need.
From observation alone, Peace does not appear to be suffering from any of the conditions described
above. Children with macronutrient deficiency may suffer from hunger. Those children with a
micronutrient deficiency suffer from “hidden hunger”. Which condition is present more often, but not
visible? How many children suffer from micronutrient deficiency? Is hidden hunger also included
in the description of hunger? Look at the percentage of children with Vitamin A deficiency, that is
referred to as “hidden hunger”, below:
Percentage (%)
Province
Figure 2.8 Percentage of children with Vitamin A micro deficiency in four provinces
(Adapted Wenholdt and Faber, 2006)
49
What percentage of children in the Limpopo Province and the Northern Cape have Vitamin A
deficiency?
.............................................................................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................................................................
What does the bargraph indicate about food security in a rural province such as Limpopo
Province?
............................................................................................................................................................
.............................................................................................................................................................
The bar graph in the above figure shows the percentage of children, with vitamin A micro deficiency
and who in four provinces in South Africa could be suffering from hidden hunger which may lead to
being stunted and lack of productivity. Many children in South Africa suffer from “hidden hunger” due
to a diet that does not include enough protein, vitamins and minerals. Hunger is therefore a misleading
concept and may affect many more children than we can imagine. Hunger will be described in more
detail later in this section.
Figure 2.9, given below, shows you a classification of malnutrtion which indicates the relationship
between the different nutritional conditions in and lack of productivity later in life.
Ill health
and death
Malnutrition
Overnutrition Undernutrition
Macronutrient Micronutrient Macronutrient

imbalance deficiencies deficiencies
More than Less than Less than

adequate adequate adequate
Carbohydrate Vitamins Carbohydrate
Protein Protein
Vitamin A, B, C,
Lipids
D and E Lipids
Minerals
Iron, Iodine
Zinc
HIDDEN
OVERWEIGHT HUNGER HUNGER
More than adequate Less than adequate
Figure 2.9 A classification of malnutrition (Adapted from Wenholdt & Faber, 2006)
50
Read this figure from the top and follow the lines between the boxes to see which conditions and
adequacy of nutrients are linked. Below the boxes with nutrients, the type of physical experience
due to the kind of food intake is given, namely overweight, hunger or hidden hunger.
In the activity given below, you will have an opportunity to use scientific terminology for the
children’s conditions that you described in Activity 2.7.
Activity 2.8 The nutritional condition of each child
1. Use the case study in Activity 2.7 and Figure 2.9 to identify the nutritional condition of each child.
Write the nutritional condition of each child next to his or her name.
Peace…………..…………………………..……..……..……..……..……..……………………………………
Dikgang………..………………………………………………………………………………………..
Thabang………..……………………………………………………………………………………….
Lesedi……..……………………………………………………………………………………………
Sarah…………..………………………………………………………………………………………..
Sipho…………..…………………………………………………………………………………………
2. Complete the table below in your workbook by identifying the children who can be described as
being overweight, experiencing hidden hunger or experiencing hunger.
Children Overweight Hidden hunger Hunger
Peace
Dikgang
Thabang
Lesedi
Sarah and Sipho
51
2.2.4 What are the causes of malnutrition?
When you look at the food security model in Figure 2.10 below, you will notice that there are three
major groups of causes of malnutrition, namely immediate causes, underlying causes and basic
causes. However, you first need to know what manifestation of malnutrition means.
Manifestation of malnutrition
The result or manifestation of malnutrition is caused by factors operating on different levels which
are associated with malnutrition. Malnutrition can be manifested in morbidity (ill-health and disease)
or in mortality (death). Morbidity is a state of injury, ill-health or disease. Mortality refers to death, or
the frequency or number of deaths. This word is also used to indicate the degree of malnutrition or
food insecurity on the national level.
Immediate causes
When you look at the food security model which we are building, you will notice that the immediate
causes of malnutrition are on the micro level and are understood to be inadequate dietary intake,
ill health or sometimes a combination of these factors. Sometimes the human body of such a
person cannot absorb the nutrients it needs and this becomes one of the most important causes of
malnutrition. This also links with the household food security dimension utilisation that includes the
use of nutrients by the body, which thereby influences a person’s food security status.
Underlying causes
Notice that the food security model shows that the underlying causes of malnutrition include many
factors that influence food intake, caring practices and a safe and healthy environment. The food
intake depends on the access to food by the household and the consumption of food, both of which
are also part of the household food security dimension utilisation.
Basic causes
Resources on the different levels of action are important for household food security. The basic or root
causes have to be addressed to provide a long-term solution to food security and nutrition problems.
The framework clearly shows that inadequate human and environmental resources, poor economic
systems and political and ideological factors are basic causes that contribute to malnutrition.
We can therefore summarise the above by saying that each group of causes can be aligned with
the building blocks of the micro, meso, exo, and macro levels which we examined in Unit 1. It is also
important to realise that these three groups of causes of malnutrition do not function independently,
but interact in important ways. In other words factors at one level influence other levels. The
manifestation and immediate causes of malnutrition affect the individual, whereas the underlying
causes may operate at the household and community levels and the basic causes at higher levels
(national, regional, global).
How do the concepts manifestation, immediate causes, underlying causes, and basic causes fit into
our food security model? Take a close look at Figure 2.10 below:
52
Levels of action Structures and actions Stakeholders
and dimensions
Ill health
Manifestation
Morbidity
Mortality
MICRO
level Malnutrition
Food:
Utilisation Immediate
causes
Access Inadequate food Infections and
Availability intake poor sanitation
Individuals and
Stability
households
F Food Care Health and Underlying

intake practices safety causes
o MESO
o level
d Food:
Utilisation Education, training and community Groups and
Access development Community
S Availability
e Stability
c
u
r EXO level
Food:
i Utilisation
Local government
Local government services, structures and
t Access programmes
officials
y Availability
Stability
Basic
causes
MACRO
level Economic, educational, health, social and
Food: welfare agricultural governmental services,
Utilisation Politicians and
political and ideological structures and
Access government
government
Availability officials
Stability
Natural environment
Figure 2.10 The nutrition and malnutrition building blocks of the food security
model
53
2.2.5 How does malnutrition link with household food insecurity?
You have learnt, from the case study in Activity 2.8, that malnutrition is a condition, an outcome
of food insecurity. You have also learnt that it may be related to food and non-food factors, such as
inadequate care practices for children, insufficient health services and an unhealthy environment.
Malnutrition and food insecurity tend to overlap in most instances. Food insecurity may be present
in varying degrees. Inadequate food intake is not always the only reason for food insecurity. If a
household has a malnourished child, this is not always as a result of a lack of food in the household.
For example, if a mother uses incorrect weaning or feeding practices with her infant, the child may be
malnourished, despite there being sufficient food in the household. A household with malnourished
individuals will always be classified as food insecure, regardless of whether the causes of the
malnutrition were food-related or related to non-food factors.
As you have seen above, malnutrition is a physiological nutritional condition, whilst household
food insecurity is the result of an insufficient food intake causing malnutrition. Hunger is a physical
condition caused by not eating enough food.
Table 2.3 Examples of the relationship between malnutrition and food insecurity
The results of both malnutrition and food insecurity lead

1. Malnourished and food-
to the highest degree of malnutrition and are severe in a
insecure
small percentage of cases.
Some people may be malnourished for non-food reasons

for instance due to poor health and/or caring practices.
2. Malnourished due to non-
These people will be food-insecure because of the food
food reasons
utilisation component, that is, that the body will not be able
to use the food nutrients.
Thethose
Amongst the food-insecure are most diffi
who cultare
parttemporarily
of
mothering is when there is not
3. Temporary food insecurity food-insecure and hungry at food
the end of the month or the
to feed my
season. However this cannot children
yet be called malnutrition.
during mealtimes. I
almost go mad wondering what they are
going to eat.
So, when we have two or three meals a day,
everybody is happy.
This group of food-insecure includes those at risk of
4. At risk of future food
future food insecurity, but who are not currently hungry or
insecurity
malnourished.
You may have heard people talking about the “malnutrition cycle”. The cycle displays how malnutrition
and other worsening factors affect those suffering from malnutrition until these people become very
ill, infected with diseases, and eventually die, due to ill health.
54
Ill health
Manifestation
Morbidity
Mortality
Malnutrition
Inadequate Poor health Immediate

dietary intake and diseases causes
Nutritional status
Underlying
causes
Food Care Health and

intake practices safety
Figure 2.11 How the malnutrition cycle fits into the food security model
In Figure 2.11 the arrows indicate the cyclical nature of the different effects of malnutrition and how
severe ill-health can lead to death.
2.2.6 How does hunger link with food insecurity?
Peace comes from a poor family but can be described as a healthy girl.
What happens in her household to ensure her food and nutrition security
and health? What is the household doing that is positive and prevents
hunger?
What is hunger? Some describe hunger as an empty

The most difficult part of
stomach. Others see hunger as the feeling one gets when mothering is when there is not
the food one is eating is not the preferred food, when it food to feed my children during
is not culturally acceptable, or when it is inadequate in mealtimes. I almost go mad
wondering what they are going to eat. So,
quantity and quality.
when we have two or three meals a day,
everybody is happy.
Hunger is linked to the following dimensions of food
security, namely: availability, access, utilisation and Our hunger is calm when our
stability. stomachs are full, even if our
dish is very simple, like maize
porridge.
55
Availability and access to food depend on a variety of factors, which include acquisition, food
processing, food storage, income and cash transfer through social safety nets. If any of these factors
fails, then the household members may experience hunger and may also fear starvation.
The utilisation issues relate to food intake and appropriate caring behaviour. The proper utilisation
of food will enable people to prepare adequate food to eat. This, in turn, will reduce the risk of
infection and support the utilisation of safe water and unpolluted air. Inadequate food intake is the
most important contributory factor in hunger. In addition, if food is available, yet is not prepared and
served in a preferred manner before being consumed, a person may refuse to eat it and thereby
experience hunger.
Hunger is a very real experience for communities suffering from poverty. These communities fear
both malnutrition, which affects their productivity, and possible starvation, due to food insecurity.
Household food security researchers have found factors such as vulnerability to food insecurity and
possible hunger to be useful in identifying whether households will be at risk when shocks or similarly
negative occurrences affect the household that can influence food security.
The race against hunger: accelerating the pace
Annual
reduction
needed:
22 million
undernourished
Annual
reduction
achieved:
6 million
undernourished
1991 - 1998 2001 - 2015
Figure 2.12 The race against hunger

(Adapted from Sesay, 2008)
Hunger is thus best portrayed by the following four situations:
• Famine and starvation, with not enough food of any sort to eat
• Having enough food to eat, but that is of inferior quality
• Having enough food to eat that is adequate in quantity, but with inadequate amounts of
nutrients.
• Having enough food to eat that is adequate in quantity, but not preferred by the consumer.
56
The phrase hunger gap is often used to describe the period just before the main harvest, when
people to not have enough food, when the food stores of the household are often low and people
need to lower their food intake in order to survive until the harvesting time. It may also happen that
a drought or cold weather lead to a loss in crops or livestock. In such cases the situation becomes
even worse and it may take two to three years to recover their position.
We can summarise the above by saying that an absence of hunger therefore consists of having
adequate amounts of food in both quantity and quality, and an optimal concentration of all the
necessary nutrients in the body. An absence of hunger must also depend on the absence of possible
infections, such as malaria and gastro-intestinal parasites (for example worm infections), which,
together with a lack of nutrients, can cause malnutrition.
2.2.7 What is the link between poverty and food insecurity?
People can be caught in a vicious cycle of poverty (See Figure 2.13 below). When they are caught
in this cycle, this can result in severe cases of malnutrition which can damage millions of lives due
to both mental and physical disability and ultimately lead to death. Understanding malnutrition and
its link to poverty is therefore very important indeed, since it carries heavy costs for both individuals
and households, as well as for communities and nations.
Activity 2.9 The vicious cycle of poverty
Look at Figure 2.13 below and then answer the questions that follow.
,
POVERTY
Low earning Fear, hunger
capacity and starvation
leading to food
insecurity
Low food
intake and
Impaired inadequate
productivity nutrients
and cognitive
development
Undernutrition,
infections and
Stunted children and nutrition-related
growth failure diseases
Small-bodied adults
Figure 2.13 The vicious cycle of poverty (Adapted from FAO, 2008)
57
Questions
1. Explain what role stunting and growth failure play in the cycle of poverty.
…………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………
2. In what ways can poverty influence learners’ cognitive ability (learning capacity)?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
3. Why are women and children living in poor communities more vulnerable to food insecurity?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
The “vicious cycle of poverty” illustrated in Figure 2.13 depicts the impact of poverty on food security.
As food sources and resources decrease and assets decline, less food is consumed, which can
lead to undernutrition, diseases and infections, stunted development and slower growth in children.
This, in turn, leads to small body size in adults, and may also lead to impaired learning capacity,
decreased productivity and, ultimately, to low earning capacity. This whole vicious cycle may start
very small with consumption strategies.
As the cycle repeats itself through seasons and generations, the poverty cycle becomes more
intense and destroys livelihoods. The way to break the poverty cycle is to begin by monitoring
vulnerability and then to take steps to ensure food security and good nutrition already in the early
stages of a developing crisis or an emergency. Poverty is accompanied by malnutrition, as well as
by vulnerability, isolation, and illiteracy, accompanied by a breakdown of human dignity.
2.3 What is the link between household food security and

livelihoods?
The concept livelihood, as we will use it in this module, simple means making a living, which implies
a combination of resources (assets), capabilities and activities. In a food security context it refers to
people, their capabilities, their assets, their income and the activities needed to sustain a means of
making a living, including ways of obtaining food.
The concept sustainability means the way in which households develop the ability to
sustain themselves which will enable them to always be secure and able to make a
living in the foreseeable future. Households have sustainable livelihoods when they
can cope with and recover from shocks and stress and can maintain their capabilities
and assets, without undermining their natural environment. Sustainable livelihood
refers to people’s capacity to generate and maintain their means of making a living,
as well as enhancing their well-being and that of future generations.
58
2.3.1 What are livelihood strategies?
Is the livelihood of the household in which Peace lives sustainable and food-secure? How do they
manage this? You may have realised that household food security includes both food and non-food
factors. Livelihoods largely provide the input resources for the nutritional outcome of household food
security.
Activity 2.10 The household in which Peace lives: Part 2
Aim: Identify strategies used in a household, which contribute to food security
Time: 30 minutes
What you must do
1. Read Peace’s case study, which is in Activity 2.2, very carefully once again. Then read the
remaining part of the case study for Peace, which is given below.
We read in Activity 2.2 that Peace is part of a poor family, but a well cared
for family with few resources which the family manages to put to good use.
Her mother is a vendor and her grandmother keeps a household garden and
is one of the few people who still collects food from the veld, when it is
available. The grandmother also keeps a few goats which she exchanges or sells when
required. Peace’s mother sometimes also sells food from the grandmother’s garden or
helps to dry and store food for wintertime. With the profit the mother makes, she
buys healthy food and vouchers for electricity. She collects firewood, redundant
wooden objects or dung from the veld to use as fuel to cook or prepare the food.
Peace’s mother receives a child grant of R220 for her baby and Peace’s grandmother
receives a grant for the elderly. Peace’s father is a migrant worker with a second
wife in the city, so they only see him three to four times a year, when he leaves them
R200. They wish they could own the plot that the grandmother received from the
chief. Pearl’s uncle told the family that they could apply for the necessary papers
from the community land administration committee under the Communal Land
Restituon Act. Then, if they could only save enough money, they could have their own
water tank for watering a bigger garden and could also plant feed for their chickens
and goats.
2. Peace’s mother and grandmother create a livelihood by using different strategies or ways of
earning money for the household, such as providing food and other essential items. Identify the
strategies that they use for the benefit of the household and describe them in your workbook.

The livelihood strategies which Peace’s household engage in are as follows: household food
production in the form of making a vegetable garden and keeping small livestock; receiving social
59
grants and a food parcel; vending crafted items and second-hand items; processing and selling extra
food; gathering food from the veld; and receiving remittances three to four times a year from Peace’s
father.
The livelihood strategies used are intended to bring in money or encourage activities which provide
the necessary resources which are needed by the household. These livelihood strategies consist of
a range and combination of activities that household members undertake in normal times in order
to maintain a livelihood. The combination of activities for men and women differs according to their
gender roles and the time spent on a particular activity.
According to De Sagte (2002), these activities can be classified as productive activities, community
maintenance activities and reproductive activities. Productive activities can be divided into two
groups: natural resource-based activities, such as garden production, land cultivation, livestock
keeping, weaving, collection and gathering; non-natural resource-based activities such as services,
remittances, as well as informal and formal trade. You can see the different categories of activities
in Figure 2.14 below.
Livelihood strategies
consist of a
combination of
activities
Community maintenance Reproductive

Productive activities activities activities
Building social and group Food preparation,
relationships for household support feeding, child rearing
Natural resourced-
based activities Non-natural resource-
based activities
Garden production,
land cultivation, Services, remittances,
livestock keeping, as well as formal and
weaving, collection informal trade.
and gathering.
Figure 2.14 Livelihood strategies consist of a range of activities
Most households employ a combination of the two kinds of productive activities. Urban households
may rely more on activities that are non-natural resource-based. Even in urban settings, however,
many households will use the limited land space around or near the compound for small-scale crop
production and may also keep some small livestock. For each of these livelihood activities different
groups of assets and resources should be available. Households are also involved in community
maintenance activities and reproductive activities. It is important to know who is involved in which
activities, the age and gender of the household members, how much time they spend on the activities
and their decision-making power on the resources or assets required for the activities.
60
2.3.2 What are livelihood assets?
Livelihood assets can be natural, physical, financial, social and human. Let us take a closer look at
each of these assets.
Natural capital or assets
Natural assets consist of natural resources which are useful for livelihoods, for example land, water,
wildlife, wild foods, and other resources from the natural environment.
Physical capital or assets

I lost my job at the maize mill. I
The physical assets are the physical resources that was just long enough in the job to
include the basic infrastructure and production equipment. quit planting my fields back home.
The government closed the maize
These resources therefore consist of transport, housing,
board. I was jobless with no income. I could
energy, communication and water systems, as well as not go back to my village as the fields had not
production equipment. been cleared and planted. There would be no
harvest for the next season. I cannot go home
without any money to buy seeds.
Financial capital or assets
The financial assets are the financial resources that come from savings, credit, remittances, social
grants and pensions, all of which are used to secure livelihoods.
Social capital or assets
The social assets are the quantity and quality of social resources, such as networks, membership
in groups, social relations and access to local and national institutions, which people can draw on
as a means of securing their livelihoods.
Human capital or assets
Human assets consist of skills, knowledge, the ability to work and good health, all of which are
important for securing livelihoods. The assets are displayed in the sustainable livelihood framework
as a pentagon with five corners which you can see in Figure 2.15.
Natural capital
Human capital Livelihood Physical capital

assets activities
capabilities
Social capital Financial capital
Figure 2.15 The asset pentagon of the sustainable livelihood framework

(De Sagte, 2002)
61
The assets are the groups of resources which are available and which should be within reach of the
household (micro) or which are in the community (meso). The household should have the capability
or skills to use it. Assets and resources are allocated differently within households. They are allocated
according to age, gender roles, the control of resources and those who hold the power of decision-
making for the members of the household. Assets which are external to the household and requiring
a higher level of decision-making must be acquired from the local government (exo level) or the
government (macro level). Apart from household’s choices, livelihood assets can be controlled and
transformed by means of policies and institutions which are the concern of the local government or
the government.
Activity 2.11 Identifying livelihood assets
1. Identify the different assets that Peace’s mother and grandmother are utilising to create a livelihood?
Which of these are assets on the micro level and which are from resources on the other levels?
2. Compile a table showing your results.
• In column one give the livelihood activities.
• In column two give the assets used for each activity.
• In column three give the level: micro, meso, exo or macro, from which the resources are
acquired.
3. Provide a heading for the table you have compiled.
The table that you have compiled showing your results should be similar to the one given below:
Livelihood activities Assets Level

Vending goods Financial Meso
Making a garden Physical Micro
Keeping chickens and goats Physical Micro
Food parcel Social Macro
Grants: One child and one
Social Macro
elderly person
Remittances from father Financial Exo / Macro
Process food for winter Natural Micro
Collect food and firewood from
Natural Micro
the veld
Collect water from the
Physical Exo / Macro
communal tap and electricity
Mothers’ training at the care
Human Meso
group
Health clinic Social Exo / Macro
School education / Mothers
Human Exo / Macro
training
Mothers’ group Social Meso
Church Social Exo
62
Only when the household in which Peace lives engages in activities in order to provide a livelihood,
can they have access to these livelihood assets and resources. Only then can the household have
food security and good nutrition.
How do the livelihood assets fit into our food security model?
MICRO Food Security status

Manifestation
level
Food:
Utilisation
Food utilisation as absorption and
Access use by the human body
Availability
Stability Immediate
causes
Food Consumption
F
o Intra-household allocation, control of Underlying
o causes
resources and coping strategies
d
MESO Household livelihood strategies
level
S Food:
e Utilisation
Livelihood
c Access
Availability assets activities
u
Stability
r capabilities
i
t EXO level
y Food:
Utilisation Local government services, structures and
Access programmes
Availability
Stability
Basic
causes
MACRO
level Economic, educational, health, social and
Food: welfare agricultural governmental services,
Utilisation political and ideological structures and
Access government
Availability
Stability
Natural environment
Figure 2.16 The livelihood building blocks of our household food security model
63
Households with access to many assets, for example financial assets (money) or physical assets
(livestock), may be protected from food insecurity because they have enough assets to provide
food security. Households with fewer assets and livelihood strategies may have less access to food
sources and therefore may not be secure.
Activity 2.12 Livelihood strategies to acquire food
Aim: Interpret pie charts on livelihood strategies
Time: 30 minutes
What you must do
1. Look at the pie charts in Figure 2.17 below. They show you the results of a community survey of
food sources for very poor, middle income and rich households.
What is a pie chart? A pie chart is a kind of graph in the form of a circle. A pie chart is used to show
how a whole quantity is divided into smaller parts just as we would divide a pie or pizza into slices.
It therefore shows how big ‘pieces’ of information are relative to other pieces.
A pie chart always reads a percentage out of 100%. This means that the percentages of the parts
should add to a 100%. If 25 % of the very poor households produce their own crops, this means
that for each 100 very poor households, 25 households produce their own crops.
2. What is the difference in percentage between each food source for households in the three
categories?
Strategies of food for households in Lowland Kitui, Kenya: a ‘normal’ year
very poor households middle households

own crops own crops
relief/gifts milk/meat
(5-10%) (25-30%)
(5-25%) (10-20%)
wild foods relief/gifts

(0.5%) purchase (10-20%) purchase
(80-85%) (40-50%)
The relative importance of food options

rich households
varies by strategies: for instance, rich
own crops households have greater access to
milk/meat (35-40%)
(10-20%) livestock and own crops than poorer
groups. Purchase, on the other hand, is
relief/gifts most important for poor households.
(10-20%) purchase
(35-50%)
Because of these variations, the effects
of food shortages are different for each
wealth group.
Figure 2.17 Strategies for households in Kitui, Kenya in a normal year

(Source unknown)
64
Complete the table in your workbook, using the information from the pie chart.
Type of household % Own crops % Purchase % Milk/meat % Relief/gifts

Very poor households
Middle income
households
Rich households
3. Which households purchased the most and which households the least food?
4. What could be the reasons for the differences between the food sources for households?
5. Which households would be more vulnerable if there were droughts?
6. Which households have members who are the most likely to lose their jobs?
7. Which households can afford protein-rich food such as milk and meat in a normal year?
8. Which households will benefit from receiving a grant?
9. Which households will benefit from a food parcel in an emergency?
10. Which households will benefit from a seed parcel to enable those living there to grow their own
food?
From the information given in the pie charts, we can conclude that poor households are assumed to
be more vulnerable than wealthier households, whose members have assets and resources which
maintain their food security status. Poor households also apply coping strategies much sooner than
wealthier households do, in order to sustain their livelihoods.
2.3.3 What are coping strategies?
In any crisis situation communities and households, whether they be poor or not very poor, will
develop short-term responses, known as coping strategies, in order to reduce the risks to their lives
and livelihoods. Coping strategies can be divided into two categories: consumption coping strategies
and livelihood coping strategies.
We will begin by examining consumption coping strategies. Later in the section we will look at
livelihood coping strategies.
Consumption coping strategies
Consumption coping strategies are short-term and can be corrected when food becomes available
again. Initially, people choose short-term strategies as coping strategies that are not damaging to
livelihoods, for example, eating cheaper food, eating fewer meals a day, and the collection of veld
foods or wild foodstuffs.
65
These coping strategies are the temporary consumption responses to food insecurity and can be
reversed when circumstances become normal once more.
Coping strategies related to food are therefore referred to as consumption strategies.
Typically, food-insecure households employ four types of consumption coping strategies.
• Firstly, households may change their diet. For instance, households might switch food consumption
from preferred foods to cheaper, less preferred substitutes.
• Secondly, the household can attempt to increase its food supplies, using short-term strategies
that are not sustainable over a long period. Typical examples are consuming wild foods, immature
crops, or even seed stocks.
• Thirdly, if the available food is still inadequate to meet their needs, households can try to reduce
the number of people that they have to feed by sending some of them elsewhere. This could be
by sending the children to the neighbours’ house when those neighbours are eating.
• Fourthly, and most commonly, households can attempt to manage the shortfall by rationing the
food available to the household. They could cut down the portion size or the number of meals,
favour certain household members over others, or skip whole days without eating).
Maxwell (2004) developed an instrument to measure consumption coping strategies. The questions
he asked his respondents were answered for the strategies that had been employed by them over
the previous 30 days. However, in addition to this information, one also has to know whether this
period was for a normal month and in which season, since certain factors may have a serious
influence on circumstances in a normal month.
Look at Maxwell’s strategy tool very carefully. Then answer the question that follows.
Coping Strategy Index (Maxwell, et al., 2004)

In the past 30 days:
• How many days have you had to eat food that you would not prefer
because you do not have, or do not have money to buy the preferred food?
• How many days have you had to borrow food, or buy food on credit
because you do not have, or do not have money to buy food?
• How many days have you had to rely on wild foods, or harvest immature
roots?
• How many days have you had to consume seed stock?
• How many days have you had to leave your children to beg, scavenge, or
fend for themselves?
• How many days have you had to ration portion size because you do not
have enough food, or do not have money to buy food?
• How many days have you had to restrict your own consumption to make
sure the children get enough to eat because you do not have, or do not have money to
buy food?
• How many days has your family had to go the whole day without eating?
66
Question: To which of these questions above can you or someone you know answer “more than
three days.”
Consumption strategies require minor changes to the use of household assets and resources and
therefore are not damaging to livelihoods. However, what happens in the long term when there are
no other options but to sell or exchange assets?
Livelihood coping strategies
In the long term as more households adopt the same consumption coping strategies, the value of
these strategies becomes diminished and they change to livelihood coping strategies. For example
the price of livestock falls and wages become insufficient.
Livelihood coping strategies that are irreversible demand the extensive use of household resources.
These households then have to resort to more damaging strategies that can undermine long-term
livelihood viability, for example the selling off of key assets, the taking out of loans at exorbitant rates,
the remortgaging of land. These strategies are irreversible and effect future livelihoods. In political or
conflict-related emergencies, such options may include engaging in violent, illegal, unsafe or socially
degrading activities. Coping strategies are employed to prevent the risk of the total loss of assets
and food insecurity.
How do consumption coping strategies change to livelihood coping strategies in the long term?
Responses to Household Food Storage
Crop & Livestock Adjustments

Diet change
High
Low
Famine food use

Grain loan from kin
Labor sales (migration)
domestic resources
Small animal sales

Commitment of
Reversibility
Cash/cereal loan from merchants
Productive asset sales
Farmland pledging
Farmland sale
High
Low
Outmigration
Time
Figure 2.18 Coping strategies as responses to household food insecurity. (Adapted

from Watts (1983) by Frankenberger & Goldstein, Office of Arid Lands Studies, The University of
Arizona in Maxwell and Smith, 1999)
67
In severe cases, when coping becomes impossible, “distress” strategies may be used. Productive
assets and land are sold and families move out. Some strategies may be detrimental to health such as
eating food that is not normally eaten and strategies that carry social costs. Such detrimental strategies
cause degradation to societal values and norms: sex for money, alcohol abuse and criminal activities
are carried out in order to acquire resources. In this sense, coping strategies and mechanisms to
adapt to the extremes of food insecurity and hunger, lead to poverty and malnutrition.
2.4 Food insecurity assessment and analysis

The general objective of a food security assessment is to understand how severe the food
insecurity is, and why this is the case. The more specific objective is to determine if there is a need
to intervene so as to return people to a normal food security situation in the short term and/or in the
long term.
A food security assessment and analysis should consider the food security situation of various groups
of people. In addition, food security assessments can help to predict a future shortage of food or the
duration of an insecure food period.
The information to be gathered for analysis during a food security assessment is as follows:
• How many people live in the house?

• What are the gender and age of the household members?
• How do people acquire food to meet their food What is a house?
needs?
• What variety of food do they consume? A house could be a shack, a hut or a
shelter.
• Who is responsible for acquiring, producing or
buying the food?
• Who is responsible for processing, preparing and
serving the food?
• How do people make a living?
• What resources do they have?
• Who controls and makes decisions regarding resources?
• Who accesses these resources for food over time?
• How does a normal situation compare to a crisis?
• Can people manage without assistance from an organisation or the government?
• If not, how can an organisation or the government support coping strategies? (International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2006)
Why do we ask these specific questions? We need to understand how people make a living, whether
it is by means of food production, working for a salary or a mixture of the two. More specifically, we
need to know how they meet their food needs, who acquires food and who the responsible
food caregiver is. We need to understand what resources people have available for themselves
such as land, animals, fishing areas, pasture for grazing, the number of livestock, and the labour
force. We need to understand who controls the decisions that are made, who can access the
resources that are available and whether this access changes over time. For example, it may
be that water sources for animals are restricted in the dry season so that only those who can pay to
make use of such sources may access them.
68
Morbidity
Mortality
Manifestation
Malnutrition
Poor
Inadequate Immediate
Food health and
dietary causes
Utilisation diseases
Nutritional Status
Nutritional Security
F
Food Care Health and
o intake practices safety
o Underlying
d causes
Intra-household allocation, control of
S resources and coping strategies
e Individuals and
Household livelihood strategies
c households
u
r Food
Livelihood
i Access
assets activities
t
capabilities
y
Community and
Group facilitation
Information / Education / Training
Local government services, structures and

Food programmes
Basic
Availability
causes
Economic, educational, health, social and

welfare agricultural governmental services,
political and ideological structures and
government
Natural environment
Figure 2.19 Our completed food security model with livelihood and nutrition
building blocks
69
The assessment will need to compare the normal situation with the current one. Comparisons
between the two allow you to decide how and why the situation has deteriorated. This is the first
step towards understanding the needs that arise due to a hazard or chronic crisis, which, in turn, will
enable you to determine the best response.
We can summarise what we have been discussing by saying that, up to now, we have been building a
model of words and concepts that have been used in the case studies and activities in Units 1 and 2.
So what does our final model look like? See Figure 2.19 above.
The key concepts and words we used to build our model come from frameworks developed by
international researchers.
Why do we need frameworks and models? These frameworks are used at international and national
level to gather information and access information on households and communities, analyse this
information and plan action projects. You do not have to memorise or study the detail of each of
these frameworks. However it is important for you to be able to identify each framework and its key
words or concepts.
Concluding remarks
Understanding the various dimensions of food security is important when establishing priorities in
food security policy and programme formulation, making long term investment decisions as well as
in evaluating response options when responding to food insecurity.
In the next unit we will examine the various strategies that are in place to address food security
issues. We will also identify the stakeholders who can influence food security and how you, as a
facilitator working in communities, can link households with these stakeholders in order to enhance
food security.
70
UNIT 3:
Stakeholders and action for food security
Introduction
How do you react when you read a statement such as the one below?
More money is spent on advertising processed foods and junk foods than
on nutritious and healthy foods. Children are exposed to much of this advertising.
About 80% of food commercials aired on a Saturday morning on TV shows for
children are foods of low nutritional value, such as high sugar cereals and sweets.
(Adapted from Media Awareness Network)
Should there be a response to such statements? Who should take control? Do you, as an individual,
have control over the situation? What policies and programmes are in action in South Africa to
address household food security and other food matters?
In this unit we will further explore concepts applied to food security as well as strategies and policies
for action to address food security.
3.1 Vulnerability and how it applies to food security.
3.2 Strategies to address food insecurity.
3.3 Policy in action for food security.
71
The specific outcome for this unit is to identify stakeholders and interventions in order to address
household food security.
The table below shows you the learning outcomes that you will notice link with the three sections
that are addressed in this unit and the list of assessment activities for this unit. A time estimate is
shown for each activity. This helps you to plan the use of your time. When you have completed the
activities write down the actual time you spent.
Workbook activities
1. Vulnerability and 3.2 Analysing the vulnerability of households (2h)
how it applies to food
security. 3.4 Food banks and food pantries as a short-
term relief strategy
2. Strategies (15 minutes)
to address food
insecurity. 3.6 The sustainable livelihood Norms and
Standards for home-based care givers addressing
3. Policy in action for food security and income generation (15 minutes)
food security.
3.8 Pros and cons of strategies to address food
security (1h)
3.10 Examining policy impact on food

security (2h)
3.11 Analysing data for the policy making

process (1h)
Assignments
Assignment 2: The work in Unit 3 will cover part
of Assignment 2. Information for this assignment
is contained in Tutorial Letter 101. (3hrs)
Key Concepts
Strategy
Vulnerability
Shocks
Risks
Chronic food security
Transitory food security
Capacity building
Stakeholders
Policies
Programmes
Interventions
72
Start- up activity
Have you ever had to go to a food bank to get free food? If

not, think for a minute about how the people who have to
go there for free food feel. How did you feel or how would
you feel?
People who have to use food banks have many stories
to tell. A grandmother says that food banks are a great
help, but that the food is often not enough and only lasts
for a meal or two. A mother of four says that the food is
not always nutritious and is often inedible, because it is
damaged in some way. Most people are very embarrassed
about having to go to a food bank. They try to hide it from
their children. Although volunteers working in the food
banks mean well, they sometimes, quite unintentionally,
add to the embarassment of those who are obliged to
receive food from food banks.
Figure 3.1 Children at the Food Bank SA in

”I felt the people at
Johannesburg
the soup kitchen were
(Adapted from Banking on food for SA’s hungry, 2009)
looking down on me... I
felt inadequate and I felt
ashamed and I felt all
Reflect on soup kitchens and food banks and other those things”.
similar programmes designed to address hunger in
communities.
“So for some of us who
Suggest an alternative that you think will help to address food don’t have enough to eat,
insecurity issues. we already know shame.
Shame is so comfortable.
……………………………………………………… It just fits like a jacket. So, you go
somewhere and someone gives
………………………………………………………
you a bit more, you take it. It fits.
………………………………………………………… It feels normal”.
………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………
Why do people have to use interventions such as food banks, pantries and kitchens?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………
73
As you work through this unit, you will become aware of the severity and depth of food insecurity.
You will also become aware of different intervention strategies which are intended to address the
issue of food insecurity and how you, as a facilitator, can become involved in making a difference.
3.1 Vulnerability and how it applies to food security

The concept food security is dynamic in nature. What does this mean? It means that people may be
able to maintain food security today (at present), but may be vulnerable in that they may experience
food insecurity in future.
3.1.1 What is vulnerability?
The term vulnerability is not always used in the same way in the literature. However, for our purposes
we will use the following definition provided by Robert Chambers who says:
Vulnerability is defenselessness, insecurity and exposure to risk, shock and

stress….and difficulty in coping with them.’ (Chambers, 1989)
Chambers (1989) adds that vulnerability has two sides:
• It has an external side which consists of the risks, shocks and stress to which an individual or
household is subjected
• It also has an internal side which amounts to defenselessness, in other words a lack of any
means of coping with damaging loss.
When you examine the above definition you will notice that it refers specifically to shocks, stress and
risk.
What do we mean by shocks, stress and risks?
Shocks are sudden events that impact on the livelihood security of people like Thandi. Examples of
shocks include:
• Floods
• Political violence and instability
• Theft
• A fire that destroys grazing and crops
• Outbreaks of infectious diseases, such as foot-and-mouth, which affect cattle, sheep, pigs and
goats
• The untimely death, illness or accidnet of an economically active household member.
Stress is a long-term trend that impacts negatively on livelihoods. Examples of external stress are
poor transport and communication systems, inadequate public services, inferior education and
health systems, a steady decline in the quantity and quality of natural resources, national or regional
economic decline and climate change. Some stresses are internal and come directly from within
the household, such as alcoholism, violent and disruptive behaviour, or the illness of a household
member.
74
Risks are the likelihood that negative events, such as those given the examples above under the
headings Shocks and Stress, will take place (De Sagte, 2002).
Figure 3.2 Shocks caused by flooding
The effect of the shock or stress will depend on the following factors:
• The scale, severity and duration of the shock.

• Opportunities to replace a loss of income.
• The normal household food security status and livelihoods strategies.
• The decisions and choices which a household make.
• The degree of dependency on the market and on businesses.
Some people say that households such as Thandi’s have limited control or no control over certain
shocks and stress.
Other people disagree with this view and believe that this make people only seem powerless. They
say people do have control because they can prepare for and react to the events that contribute to
vulnerability.
Which group of people do you believe is right?
75
Activity 3.1 Minimising the risk of becoming food insecure
The community to which a friend of Thandi’s belongs, lives inside a flood plain and plant their crops
there. They are at high risk of a flood causing them to become food insecure.
Questions
1. Does this community have any control over avoiding becoming food insecure during a flood?
..............................................................................................................................................
2. How can residents avoid becoming food insecure during times of flooding?
..............................................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................................
3. How do you or the people you know, manage to cope with shocks such as those given in the
examples under the headings Stress and Shocks above?
..............................................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................................
What are coping strategies?
In any crisis situation communities and households, poor or less poor, will develop short-term
responses, known as coping strategies, in order to reduce the risks to their lives and livelihoods.
“At least I can plant some

green vegetables and plant
a bag every three weeks.”
An example is a traditional household that will cope with

drought by selling livestock or stop planting crops that depend
on a lot of water and go back to planting drought- resistant
crops. Another example is where people in squatter camps
cope with the lack of space for gardens by planting vegetables
in used motorcar tyres or black plastic bags.
Figure 3.3 Bag-gardening for growing vegetables
76
What is the resilience of a household or community?
Resilience is defined as the ability of the community to keep within a certain level of well-being
(e.g. food security) by withstanding shocks and stress, depending on the options available to the
community for making a living and its ability to handle risks.
An example of resilience is when vulnerability to drought might be reduced by introducing drought-

tolerant varieties of crops, improving soil and water management, or introducing crop insurance
schemes.
Analysing vulnerability of households
Only when we understand the influence of shocks and risks on the food security and the livelihood
strategies of households will it be possible to empower households to deal with them. We need to
consider three key components when identifying the ability of households to cope with shocks and
stress and the degree of vulnerability of these households.
The three key components which you see in Figure 3.4 below are the assets (resources) of the
household, the household’s ability to cope (capabilities) and the activities of the household.
Assets /
Resources
Food:
Availability
Activites Accessibility Capabilities
Utilisation
Stability
Figure 3.4 Household livelihood assets, activities and capabilities

(Adapted from De Sagte, 2002)
We therefore need to gather and analyse information so as to understand the possible impact of the
shocks and stress, in order to decide on a suitable plan of action.
Vulnerability analysis provides us with two main intervention options:

• Reduce the degree to which the household or community is exposed to the shock or stress.
• Increase the ability of the household or the community to cope.
Food security policies and programmes should not only address current food security issues, but
should also enhance efforts to address future threats to food security. We will examine policies in
more detail later in this unit.
To summarise the section on vulnerability, do the next activity in which we will revisit the households
of the five children you met in Unit 2.
77
Activity 3.2 Analysing the vulnerability of households
Aim: Analyse the vulnerability of the households of Peace, Dikgang, Thabeng, Lesedi and Sarah
Time: Two hours
What you must do:

1. Read the case study below of the households of the five children you met in Unit 2
Household A: Peace
Household composition
• The household head is a single female parent with
Grade 10.
• There is also a grandmother or “gogo”.
• The grandmother has had no schooling.
• Peace has three sisters, one being a baby.
Food consumption strategies

• They eat maize as staple food.
• They eat yellow and green vegetables on a daily basis.
• The baby receives a baby food parcel and supplements.
• They exchange food with neighbours for variety.
• They eat dry fruit and vegetables and store different kinds of food.
• The grandmother has a vegetable garden and the children help her.
• The mother has a piece-job and uses a taxi or walks.
• The mother sells extra food.
• They own four goats and often exchange a young goat (kid goat) for an adult goat.
• They regularly visit the clinic.
• The mother is a member of the Mothers’ Care Group at church and in the community.
• All the children of school-going age attend school.
• They use the communal tap for water.
Household B: Dikgang
• The father who is the household head.
• The father has Grade 10 and is a trained driver.
• The mother has Grade 2, was a girl-child bride and was forced into marriage.
• Dikgang has two brothers and three sisters, but only the two boys, who are
older than Dikgang are at school.
• The two cousins whose parents have died of HIV/AIDS.

• Maize porridge or bread once a day with tea.
• Sometimes relish from cabbage or other leafy vegetables.
• A meaty relish once during the weekend.
• They sometimes buy on credit from the general dealer.
• They often go to bed hungry.
78
• The father and mother do not have permanent jobs, but work on a contract basis.
• The two cousins are unemployed youths.
• The fields belonging to the household are no longer ploughed.
• They own three cows, but no goats.
Household C; Lesedi
• The father who is the household head.
• The father has Grade 12.
• The father received training at college and dropped out.
• The mother has Grade 9.
• Lesedi has two brothers and a sister.

• They eat large portions during mealtimes.
• They eat meat two or three times a week.
• They eat green and yellow vegetables once or twice a week.
• They eat bread as a staple food.
• They regularly eat biscuits, sweets, cold drinks and ice-cream.
• The father owns a general dealer business in the community.
• He sells on credit to the community, so they owe him money.
• The father bought a small truck on credit.
• The father will use his truck as transport in the community, but his transport service
is very expensive.
Household D: Thabang
• The father is the household head.
• The father has Grade 8.
• The mother has Grade 4.
• Thabang and his sister are the only children.
• Both children attend the farm school.
• Thabang and his sister are slow learners.

• Maize porridge with tea every day.
• The household receives two meals a day, sometimes with a little relish.
• They sometimes receive vegetables from the farm which does not include yellow or
green vegetables.
• The father works on a local farm for a small salary.
• They receive a large bag of maize meal from the farmer every month.
• The mother does piece jobs on the farm.
• Thabang sometimes helps in the garden, but often feels too tired.
• The mother receives a small irregular stipend and some vegetables.
79
Household E: Sarah
• A female head of household with Grade 10.
• She has four children of her own, of whom three are in school.
• Sarah is a niece who is an orphan, tending to baby Sipho.

• Maize porridge or bread once a day with tea.
• The children receive meals at school, dried beans and sometimes fruit.
• Sarah does not go to school and receives smaller portions than the other children.
• During the day Sarah shares her food with the baby.
• The mother is working two days a week as a helper in the city.
• However, transport is however expensive.
• She receives social grants for the four children and for Sarah.
• Sarah, the orphan, does the household chores and looks after the baby.
• They do not own animals.
• They tried making a garden but found the water to be too expensive.
• The other girls are too lazy to help water the garden.
2. Complete the table below in your workbook to show how vulnerable the five households are.
Use the household composition, food consumption strategies and livelihood strategies as criteria to
decide what makes a household vulnerable.
Household Food consumption

Household Livelihood strategies
composition strategies
A: Peace
B: Dikgang
C: Thabang
D: Lesedi
E: Sarah
Questions
1. Which one of the five households is the most vulnerable? Justify your answer.
2. Which one of the five households is least vulnerable? Justify your answer.
3. Draw a score-board on which you rank each household between 0 and 10 according to its degree
of vulnerability.
4. Use the information on your score board to draw a bar graph to show the degree of vulnerability
of each household. Do not forget to indicate your x-axis and y-axis.
5. Write a suitable heading above your bar graph.
5. Explain why you can’t draw a pie chart to show the degree of vulnerability of each household?
80
Household B can be ranked the highest in terms of vulnerability, followed by Household D. Why
is Household B more vulnerable while there are so many males present? Do you all agree that
Household A is least vulnerable, despite the fact that it has a single mother as the head? Do you
agree that the role of the grandmother adds to the household’s status? Despite the simple nature of
the ranking you did, you may agree that more specific information is needed in order to accurately
assess the vulnerability of a household. This specific information will be examined in more detail in
Module 2.
You are now aware that vulnerability leads to various degrees of food insecurity. There are important
differences in how the duration and severity of food insecurity impacts on people’s lives, which is the
topic of our next section.
3.1.2 What is the duration of food insecurity?
Not all households or communities suffer food insecurity for the same period of time. This may vary
from a short-term experience to a long-term condition.
Food security analysts and researchers have found it helpful to define two general types of food
insecurity: Chronic food insecurity and transitory food insecurity.
Table 3.1 Chronic and transitory food insecurity
Chronic food insecurity Transitory food insecurity
is…… long-term or persistent short-term and temporary
happens people are unable to meet their minimum there is a sudden drop in the ability
when… food requirements over a sustained to produce or access enough food to
period of time. maintain a good nutritional status.
results extended periods of poverty, lack of assets short-term shocks and fluctuations in food
from…. and inadequate access to productive or availability and food access, including
financial resources. year-to-year variations in domestic food
production, food prices and household
incomes.
can be typical long term development measures short measures. It is relatively

overcome also used to address poverty, such unpredictable and can emerge
with…. as education or access to productive suddenly. This unpredictability makes
resources, such as credit. planning and programming more
difficult and requires different capacities
and types of intervention including
early warning capacity and safety net
programmes.
(Adapted from the FAO, 2008)
81
Seasonal food insecurity
A third type of food insecurity falls between chronic and transitory food insecurity and is known as
seasonal food insecurity. It is similar to chronic food insecurity as it is usually unpredictable and
follows a cyclical pattern of inadequate availability and access to food. The seasonal food insecurity
is associated with seasonal fluctuations in the climate, cropping patterns, work opportunities and the
prevalence of diseases.
Food shortages could occur in the pre-harvest period, when stocks on farms are depleted and other
resources of food, such as wild foods, are not available. In rural communities seasonal food insecurity
is commonly referred to as “hungry gaps or periods” and “periods of plenty” which are related to the
agricultural calendar or cyclical availability of employment.
Activity 3.3 Chronic, transitory and seasonal food insecurity
1. Look at the descriptions of chronic, transitory and seasonal food insecurity which are given
below.
2. Review each description and decide whether it refers to chronic, transitory or seasonal food
insecurity.
Descriptions of chronic and transitory food Refers to which kind of

insecurity food insecurity?
1 “Occurs when there is a temporary inability to meet food
needs, which is usually associated with a specific shock
or stress such as drought, floods or civil unrest”
2 “During harvest season part-time employment provides
an income to farm families to enable them to buy more
food.
3 “A persistent inability to meet minimum nutrient
intake requirements.”
4 “The sudden reduction of a community’s access to food
to below the nutritiously adequate level”
5 “Food shortages occur in the pre-harvest period every
year.”
6 “When a community is unable to meet the food
requirements of its members over a long period of
time”.
7 “A consequence of persistently inadequate diets in terms
of quantity and/or quality of food resulting from
community poverty”.
8 “Affects communities that are able to meet their
minimum food needs at normal times, but are unable to
do so after a shock”
82
The answers to this activity can be found in the footer1 on this page.
Why is it important to recognise the duration of food insecurity?
Recognising the duration of food insecurity has implications for food policies and programmes and
also for adequately assessing food security. As you work through this unit you will find out more
about food policies and programmes.
3.1.3 What is the severity of food insecurity?
When analysing food insecurity, it is not sufficient to know what the problem is that people are
experiencing. It is also important to understand the impact of the identified problem on their overall
food security and nutritional status. This knowledge will influence the nature, extent and urgency of
the assistance needed by the affected households or communities.
The severity of food insecurity can be measured in terms of:
• levels of food intake or

• a range of livelihood aspects.
We will examine each of these in more detail.
Severity of food insecurity according to food intake levels
The first measure is to relate the severity of food insecurity to the

amount of food consumed and the energy it provides. The energy value of food is measured in kilo
calories (kcal) per day. Usually adults need 2,100 kcal per day to provide them with enough energy
from the food consumed. Any intake of less 2,100 kcal per day makes a person vulnerable to food
insecurity.
According to the adequacy of the energy provided by food, people can

be categorised according to the following groups:
• Food secure
• Mildly food insecure
• Moderately food insecure and
• Severely food insecure.
The above measure of food insecurity for hunger compiled by the Food and Agricultural Organisation
(FAO, 2008), is referred to as undernourishment. This refers to the proportion of the population
whose dietary energy consumption is less that a pre-determined value. People who suffered from
undernourishment are referred to as the undernourished.
1 Answers to Activity 3.3

1. Transitory 2. Seasonal 3. Chronical 4. Transitory 5. Seasonal 6. Chronic 7. Chronic 8. Transitory
83
Severity of food insecurity according to livelihood aspects
You are now aware of the severity of food insecurity according to food intake levels. However what
is the severity of food insecurity according to livelihood aspects?
Assets / A range of livelihood aspects associated with food

Resources
insecurity provides a classification system for
food security. The Integrated Food Security and
Humanitarian Phase Classification (IPC) for food
Food: security is one example. This classification system
Availability is based on livelihood measurements in terms of
Activites Accessibility Capabilities
assets, food and resource access, and strategies to
Utilisation
Stability classify food insecure households, as you can see in
Table 3.2 below.
Table 3.2 Integrated Phase Classification for food security
IPC Indicators
Generally food secure The death (mortality) rate is low
Chronically food insecure Malnutrition is always present in most children
Acute food and livelihood crisis Low availability of food and food access
Humanitarian emergency Usually only staple food available
Limited clean water available
Famine/humanitarian catastrophe Food coping strategies become ineffective
Loss of livelihood assets
Selling livelihood assets
The term acute food insecurity may be used to describe a severe and life threatening situation.
The most extreme situations are usually associated with substantial loss of life and will warrant the
description of famine.
We have seen that there are important differences in the duration and severity of the way in which
people experience food security. What strategies are there to address the issue of food insecurity.
3.2 Strategies to address food insecurity

People like Thandi and others in the community, need help to become food secure. What are some
of the strategies that can be implemented to address Thandi’s food insecurity and that of other
people in the community? Over the years different kinds of strategies have been used by various
stakeholders to address this issue.
These strategies can broadly be divided into three main categories, namely those which are focussed on
• short-term relief
• building household and community capacity
• changing the system through improved policies.
84
What are the advantages (pros) and disadvantages (cons) of each of these strategies? We will
explore the policies linked to these strategies in depth in Section 3.3 of this unit.
3.2.1 Short-term relief strategies
Strategies such as food banks, food pantries and children’s What is the definition of the word
feeding programmes are meant to help people like Thandi and ‘stakeholders’?
her children who are the most food insecure. These strategies Stakeholders are people who are
only provide short-term relief for the immediate issue of hunger. interested in, or affected by an
However, they do not address the underlying causes of food issue, and who want to be involved
security, such as inequity, inadequate income and social in looking for solutions.
exclusion.
Activity 3.4 Food banks and food pantries as short-term relief strategies
Aim: Interpret information on food banks and food pantries by answering some relevant questions.
Time: 15 minutes
What you must do

Read the case study below and then answer the questions that follow:
Free State — MEC for Social Development in the Free State, Ouma Tsopo
says that food banks aim to benefit orphaned and vulnerable children, as well
as the elderly and individuals who are not receiving government financial
assistance by means of benefits such as social grants and social relief programmes.
Through the Social Relief of Distress, many people have been able to receive food
parcels.
According to the department, the beneficiaries of the food banks include non-profit
organisations operating as part of a church and government or community group,
commonly called food pantries. Whilst some food pantries serve only a few families
each month, many others provide emergency food support to hundreds of families.
“A food bank is like the wholesale arm of the food distribution system for those
living in poverty, while food pantries are the retail arm that serves people directly
with the emergency food,” said the department. Food banks receive their food from
companies or supermarkets that have excess stock, as well as by means of donations
from businesses. They distribute goods, including canned and boxed dry groceries,
fresh produce, frozen foods, bakery products and some personal hygiene or household
cleaning products.
The department said the need for food banks and food pantry services has been
growing in recent years, since people’s incomes have not kept up with rising costs. The
department emphasised the importance of sustaining the project, noting that food
banks must not be a once-off activity (Khumalo, 2008).
85
Figure 3.5 A household that benefits from a food bank and pantry
(http://www.betterplace.org/projects/1514/pictures/57596)
Questions
1. What is the difference between a food bank and a food pantry?

2. How does the food bank get its food to the people?
3. Which organisations and structures are involved in food bank activities?
4. On which levels of action do food banks and food pantries function?
5. Find out if there is a food bank in your community or local area.
6. Who may be and who should be the beneficiaries of food from the food banks?
7. In your opinion will the food banks be, or are the food banks, working effectively?
8. Name some other examples of short-term relief programmes.
3.2.2 Household and community capacity-building strategies
Food security strategies to develop the skills of individuals What is the meaning of ‘capacity
can also help build capacity. Skills-building is therefore building’?
linked to capacity-building.
Capacity building is an approach which
Let us consider an example: If an individual like Thandi
develops the skills and commitment of
is involved in a community garden programme, she, and
people, as well as structures and resources
the other people involved, develop gardening skills and,
in a community, with the aim of improving
in the process, learn about growing their own food. At
issues such as food insecurity and health.
the same time they are producing inexpensive food and
contributing to a cleaner environment.
Strategies that build individual skills can therefore help build capacity, which, in turn, builds communities.
This happens because programmes such as the garden programme give people a chance to get
together and develop social networks. By coming together, talking and learning about issues that
affect food security, people become motivated and work together to address these issues.
Capacity-building is most effective when people in the community are involved in identifying
solutions together. Therefore participatory approaches are strongly recommended so as to involve
86
the community in identifying and finding solutions to their problems. Capacity-building and skills-
building strategies include community development, training or education in order to develop human,
social and financial assets. Many groups can, on their own, set objectives and take the initiative in
empowering themselves.
Activity 3.5 Working together for change
Read the case study below and answer the questions that follow:
A group of ladies in the east of Mamelodi belong to a skills-building group

called ‘Kgora Basadi ‘(Food Women). One of the tasks the group set itself
was to investigate the food prices of different stores. To their surprise
they found that the spaza shop nearest to them charged more for almost all food
products than other stores that were further away, but still within walking distance.
They wrote letters to the owner of the more expensive spaza shop to inform him of
their investigation and to complain about his food prices. After further negotiations
the owner of the spaza shop changed the pricing practices to be more in line with the
other shops.
Questions
1. How did the skills of the Kgora Basadi group contributed to building the capacity of their
community?
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
2. How will Thandi benefit by becoming a member of a group such as the Kgora Basadi group?
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
3. Give your own example of how developing the skills of individuals regarding food security can
lead to the capacity-building of communities.
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
87
Another example of a capacity-building strategy for Kgora Basadi is the system of food and recipe
exchange activities which is designed to build people’s capacity to grow and reintroduce traditional
foods into their household diets. The ladies bring nutritious traditional vegetables to the meeting and
exchange healthy, inexpensive recipes using traditional foods, as well as providing seeds for the
home garden. They then arrange presentations to the women in their social networks.
Capacity is not built overnight. For the most part it is built gradually, and depends on:
• people who are committed and willing to become involved

• people with skills and knowledge related to the key issues
• support from organisations and businesses and leaders in the community
• economic and financial resources
As a facilitator who will be working with households in communities, do you regard yourself as
committed, motivated, prepared to learn and to use the correct channels to get what you need in
order to work together with households towards positive change?
Activity 3.6 The sustainable livelihood Norms and Standards for home-based care
givers.
Aim: Interpret the minimum Norms and Standards for home-based care givers, addressing food
security, home gardens and income generation.
Time: 15 minutes
What you must do
Read the Norms and Standards for home-based care givers in the box below.
The document Norms and Standards for home-based care-givers has the following
norms for the cluster ‘sustainable livelihoods’:
Food security:
• Qualifying families in need have access to one food parcel for three months whilst an
alternative solution is arranged.
• Where meals are provided for qualifying families, provide at least one meal per day.
• Organisations to assist to establish one small vegetable garden.
• Record keeping of projects.
Income-generation:
One income-generation project is initiated and run within a period of three years of the Community
Home-Based Care Programme’s existence.
(Department of Social Development, 2008)
88
Questions
1. Identify the norms that relate to capacity-building and those related to short-term relief?
2. Do you think it is possible to build capacity for change with households? Justify your answer.
3. Name the skills households could develop from the norms provided in the box above.
4. How many households do you think can a home-based care giver service?
5. Why do you think it is important that there are a set of norms and standards for home-based
care givers?
One goal of capacity-building is to mobilise people in a community to use strategies to change

policies and adopt systems so that community health and wellness are supported. What are the
strategies which will change the system?
3.2.3 Strategies to change the system
The main aim of employing strategies in order to change What is a public policy?
the system is to improve policies that have to do with
food security. Communities that face food insecurity, like A public policy is a broad framework of
the one Thandi lives in, can therefore most effectively ideas and values within which decisions
be helped through supportive agricultural and economic are taken and action or inaction is pursued
policies. High food prices are at present a daily topic of by governments in relation to some issue
conversation and are a major concern to the poor and or problem. (Brooks, 1989)
the hungry.
Activity 3.7 Some food policies need to be changed
The block below gives you information on two policy issues:
• The agricultural policy to support smallholder farmers.
• The high food price issue.
89
Smallholder farmers
Mr Diouf of the FAO urged governments to provide development and economic
assistance to boost agriculture, particularly by smallholder farmers.
“Investment in agriculture must be increased because for the majority of poor countries a healthy
agricultural sector is essential to overcome poverty and hunger and is a pre-requisite for overall
economic growth,” he said.
The urban poor would probably face the most severe problems in coping with the global
recession, the UN warned, because lower export demand and reduced foreign investment were
more likely to hit urban jobs harder.
Many migrants to urban areas would be likely to return to rural areas, it added, transferring the
burden.
Incomes have also dropped “substantially” in some developing countries where families depend
on remittances from relatives working abroad.
With the financial crisis hitting all parts of the world more or less simultaneously, developing
countries have less room to adjust, the UN agency says.
Food prices
Among the pressures is the reality that borrowing from international capital markets is “more
limited” in a global crisis, the FAO said.
Food costs in developing countries now seem more expensive, despite prices in world markets
declining during the food and fuel crisis of 2006-08, it added.
They remained, on average, 24% higher in real terms by the end of 2008 compared to the
situation in 2006.
“For poor consumers, who spend up to 60% of their income on staple foods, this means a strong
reduction in their effective purchasing power.” the FAO said.
(BBC News, 2009)
Question
Reflect on the community’s responsibility to become involved in the two policy issues discussed
above.
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
To develop good sustainable policies, communities must be involved. If they do not become involved,
there will not be a link between the policy and the experience of the people.
Communities must therefore become involved, by generating and gathering community-based

evidence, which will support the development of the policy. Capacity-building projects on many
levels (micro, meso, exo and macro) are essential in order to develop food security by means of
public policy.
90
By becoming involved, communities will gain a better understanding of the policy process, which,
in turn, will empower them to influence the formation of policies that address issues such as food
insecurity. In this way a community will become stronger and healthier, the government will be more
responsive and issues such as food insecurity will be addressed.
Figure 3.6 Community members consulting with government officials
Activity 3.8 Advantages and disadvantages of strategies to address

food insecurity
Complete this activity in groups in your workbook
Aim: Explore the pros and cons of strategies which are designed to address food insecurity
Time: One hour
What you must do
1. In your groups think of an example of each of the strategies discussed above.

You may use your own examples, or those given below.
Examples:
Food parcels as short-term relief strategy
Food gardens, as a community capacity building strategy
Changes to income support programmes, as a system change strategy
91
2. Brainstorm the pros and cons of each example.
3. Each group member must summarise the main points of the group discussions.
Questions
1. What are the pros and cons of your short-term relief strategy?
2. What are the pros and cons of your community capacity-building strategy?
3. What are the pros and cons of your systems-change strategy?
4. Make your own summary of the main points.
5. Identify a food security issue in your community that your group would like to address. Brainstorm
the pros and cons of each strategy that you intend to employ in terms of the group’s abilities and the
resources that are available to you.
What would you like to accomplish and how long would it take you to do so?
A good place to start your discussions is to revisit the definition of food security (Unit 1). Think about
how effective a short-term relief strategy, such as food parcels, may or may not be in addressing
food insecurity.
However it is important to remember that the three different strategies used to address food insecurity
are interrelated and often build on one another. We say that the strategies can be considered along
a continuum, in other words a scale.
For example, strategies to develop individual capacity can in turn develop community capacity,
which, in turn, can improve policy, as you can see in Figure 3.7 below:
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

Short-term relief strategies Individual and community Systems-change strategies
capacity- building strategies
Food insecurity Food security
Examples: Food banks, Examples: Community Example: Change to

soup kitchens and other gardens and kitchens which food, social and economic
emergency food help move beyond emergency systems through food policy
programmes food and focus on capacity- and social justice networks
building
Figure 3.7 Food security and intervention continuum

(Adapted from NSNC & AHPRC Food Security Projects, 2005)
92
However, each strategy has advantages and disadvantages. You need to realise that what may work
for Thandi and her community may not work for another community. Every community is different in
terms of abilities and resources and will therefore need a unique approach.
3.3 Policy in action for food security

People are not always sure of what is meant by the word policy. They think that policies are rules
and regulations that only politicians and other government officials deal with. This is not true! Policies
operate on all levels of society. And we can therefore say that a policy is a guide for action which:
• outlines rules
• defines roles and responsibilities
• provides principles
• reflects values and beliefs
• states an intention to do something
When we look at the definition of a policy we realise that it What is a policy?

can be applied even to what happens in our own homes. For
A policy can be defined as a plan of
example, a policy within a household may be only buying food
action agreed to by a group of people
that is locally produced. Schools have policies that describe
with the power to carry it out and to
how children should behave. Workplaces have policies on
enforce it (Dood and Boyd, 2000).
sick leave, shops on returning goods and governments on
issues such as food security.
You can therefore see that there are “policies” which operate on the micro, meso, exo and macro
levels. However, policies are not always called policies on the micro level of the household, although
they are still policies.
3.3.1 Policies on a micro level
We all have household (or personal) “policies” which are the guidelines for actions based on the
household’s standards, beliefs and values. A household policy may be that I as the care-giver will
only buy local produce to support local farmers and the local economy. However, when a household
is food-insecure the decision will not always be food first.
Although Thandi’s policy for her family is healthy eating, she will use the little
money she has available for transport and energy for cooking staple food in her
home and, only lastly, will worry about buying healthy food.
Intra-household decision-making, in other words “policy” on livelihoods, is influenced by three aspects

related to the allocation and management of household resources. These are listed below:
• Livelihood capabilities, rules and power. This aspect relates to how things are done and
by whom, in other words, to norms, values, traditions and customary law. Who decides, who
controls, who owns and who benefits?
• Livelihood activities - This aspect relates to what is done, in other words, to the routine
activities of the household members, their age and gender, and the practices that identify who
does what. Who gets what, who can claim what and who benefits from what?
93
• Livelihood resources - This aspect relates to what is used. What is produced? (Resource
mobilisation and distribution of resources based on responsibilities, gender roles and rules)
(March, 1996)
Unfortunately, because of household relationships or economic constraints (problems), it is sometimes

difficult to carry out our more important household policies on food availability, accessibility, utilisation
and measures which will bring about stability. Often a household’s food security is dependent on the
community and the external environment.
3.3.2 Policies on the meso and exo levels
Policies on the meso and exo levels guide how tribal structures, organisations, business and local
government operate in communities. We, as individuals, have little say in these policies, which can
have a major negative impact on food security. What do we mean by this? Think about the way in
which water committees function, the way in which waste removal is handled, or how land developers
use land which should be used to produce food. Another example is the way in which supermarkets
over-charge for food.
Activity 3.9 Policies on the meso and exo levels benefiting food security
Read the case study below and answer the questions that follow:
For food-secure South Africans the problem of hunger is often

underestimated, but according to Food Bank SA’s Executive Director Geoff
Penny, more than 14 million South Africans don’t know where their next meal
is coming from.
Over the next three years, FoodBank SA plans to open 20 FoodBanks
around the country and to increase its food supply by five-fold, says Penny.
“What we really want to do is halve hunger over the next five years and
eventually eradicate hunger altogether. But we have to be realistic. There
are other factors involved such as drought and food prices. But we do
believe we will make a difference to food security in South Africa,” he adds.
Based on a food security model promoted by the Global FoodBanking Network,

FoodBank SA will act as the national governing body for a network of community-
based FoodBanks, the first of which was established in March 2009 in Cape Town.
The community FoodBanks, as well as the national body, actively procure food on
behalf of agencies (social services organisations and NGOs) operating in the area
of food security. Food is mainly acquired through donations from major retailers
and manufacturers, as well as from government agencies, private organisations
and individuals. The food is then stored safely and sorted into nutritional
packages before being made available or delivered to the relevant agencies.
In addressing their own mandate to eradicate hunger, the South African Government
recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with FoodBank SA, thereby showing
their support for the programme.
(Adapted from Banking on food for SA’s hungry, 2009)
94
Questions
1. Is this case study based on a short-term or long-term relief strategy on the meso and exo
levels? Justify your answer.
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
2. Give two examples of how the Food Bank SA will benefit the community.
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
3. Give an example of a programme in your own community on the organisational level

(exo level), which has benefited or is benefiting, household food security.
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
3.3.3 Policies on a macro level
What policies operate on a macro level in South Africa? On all levels of government in South Africa,
national, provincial and also on the municipal level, public policies are developed to address specific
issues such as food insecurity. We will examine South Arica’s policies on food security in the next
section.
Reflect for a moment on whether you feel it is important that policies must be developed
• to protect our children, families and communities
• to protect our natural environment and therefore our natural resources
• to support our local businesses and build the local economy
• to protect our people’s livelihoods, food security, nutrition and health
All policies, whether on a micro, meso, or macro level, have an effect on someone.
What do we find when we examine the impact of certain policies?
Activity 3.10 Examining policy impact on food security
Complete this activity in groups in your workbook
Aim: Examine policies to determine their impact on food security
Time: Two hours
What you must do
1. Working in groups, look at the examples below of policies on the micro, meso, exo and macro
levels that have to do with food security.
95
Policies implemented by households (micro level)
• I try to buy only fruit and vegetables that are produced locally.
• I buy only from spaza shops and try to avoid buying from large supermarket chains.
1.1 Discuss the following:
• What are your personal (household) policies regarding food?

• What impact do household policies have on the household’s food security?
• What are some of the barriers to your household’s food security?
Policies implemented by the community (meso level)
• The Women’s Group, plants traditional sorghum to make traditional dishes and beer for
celebrations.
• As a household, it is expected that its members invite the extended family to celebrate a
wedding and that they provide food for all who attend.
• Women in the Women’s Group learn about nutrition and healthy food.
• What is the policy of the community with regards to which people are invited to
celebrations?
• What role do cultural foods play in the community?
• What impact does land allocation by the tribal chief have on household food security?
• What are the barriers to obtaining community food security?
Policies implemented by local organisations (exo level)
• Some supermarket chains will not buy a product from a smallholder farmer unless the
farmer can provide all the stores in the supermarket chain with the same product.
• Some schools earn money by selling the exclusive rights to sell products in the school to
certain snack-producing companies.
• Who are affected by the policies of the supermarket chains and schools mentioned above?
• Why do these policies affect the people you identified in the previous question?
• How do these policies affect food security?
• What other policies implemented by organisations and businesses in your community affect
food security?
Policies implemented by government (exo and macro levels)
• The transportation policies of some municipalities result in poor public transportation and a
greater dependence on taxis.
• Some land use policies allow the development of farmland for other uses.
1.4. Discuss the following:
• How do these public policies impact on your own and your community’s food security?
• What other public policies impact on food security?
2. Having had your group discussions, write your own short paragraph giving your impression of
the impact of certain policies on all levels of food security.
96
The group discussions you have had may have revealed different perceptions and opinions on the
impact of policies on the different levels of our society You may have agreed with many of the ideas
that were brought forward such as buying locally produced vegetables and fruit.
Why is it important to buy locally produced food?
Buying locally produced food, such as vegetables and fruit, has positive implications for the health of
people in their communities, as well as on the natural environment and on the economy.
• Social, cultural and physical health

Local food links you with your local farmers and with their food production. It is a move
away from globalisation and celebrates diversity.
Local food is fresher, tastes better and is healthier, since it invariably contains fewer
chemicals, additives and preservatives.
• The health of the natural environment

Local food reduces the amount of fuel used for transport, which, in turn, reduces global
warming.
Well-managed family farms and food gardens support clean environments.
• Healthy economies
Buying local food supports local farmers.
Local food keeps your money within your community.
Figure 3.8 Producing food locally is good for the socio-cultural and the natural
environment
You may also agree that people in communities should work together to change those policies that
have a negative effect on food security. What do we find when we examine South African policies
on food security?
97
3.3.4 South African food security policy and strategy
Traditionally, public policy has been a “top-down” process where decisions are made at government
level, passed down to the groups and organisations responsible for implementing the policy and, as
a last step, reach the people like Thandi in the communities, who are affected by the policy. Is this
still the case with South African public policy?
In South Africa, policies are submitted for comment by parliamentary committees and, in addition,
for comment by the public. Complaints are accommodated and the proposed draft policy reworked.
Once ready, it is ratified by parliament for approval by the Minister or by the President. Households
often have little understanding of the policy-making process and therefore have very little input into
how they are formulated, unless these households are represented by competent community leaders
or by representatives of certain organisations.
Let’s us take a closer look at the process that South African policy-makers follow.
A policy is developed by means of four steps:
• Situation analysis
• Development planning
• Implementation
• Evaluation
Situation analysis
Who are and where are the
food-insecure?
Development
Monitoring Planning
All interventions Develop strategic
are monitored for vision
success and objetives
Implementation
Identify programmes to
initiate interventions
Figure 3.9 The policy-making process
98
Step 1: Situation analysis
In the situation analysis the questions Who are the food-insecure and Where are the food-insecure
had to be answered. The results show that food-insecure people are:
• 35% of the total population

• overwhelmingly Black people
• women, the elderly, children, orphans, the disabled and the chronically ill
• the landless, the low income earners, the social security grant-dependents and the unemployed
• natural disaster victims and other categories of disaster victims
• in rural areas: rural towns, commercial farming areas and former homelands
• in urban areas: townships, informal settlements and metropolitan inner cities.
Challenges in addressing food security issues
The data analysis also indicates that the food insecurity issues to be addressed can be linked to the
following challenges:
• Lack of access to productive resources

• Unstable household food production
• Weak household food trading systems
• Lack of household purchasing power
• Lack of income and job opportunities
• Poor household nutrition and food safety practices
• Weak social security and food crisis management systems
• Overlapping policies and strategies
• Weak institutional and organisational structures
• Weak analyses of food security vulnerability, information and communication.
How can you interpret the situation analysis data for South Africa which was used during the policy-
making process?
99
Activity 3.11 Analysing data for the policy-making process
Aim: Analyse the food insecurity situation in South Africa by interpreting situation analysis data
Time: One hour
What you must do
1. Write a sentence to explain what the word data means.
2. Read the problem statements in the table below.
3. Link each statement with the relevant challenge or challenges listed above.
(The first row shows you an example of a typical answer.)
Problem statements Challenges

35% of the South African Population is Lack of access to productive resources.
vulnerable to food insecurity and lives off less Lack of income and job opportunities.
than R20 a day
Social grants provide the main income for
around 12 million people (29%) at a cost of
around R60 billion a year
At present, the South African population is
around 48 million people. 5.3 million of them
are living with HIV/AIDS. Around 500 000 new
infections a year occur. Only one in every five
of these people has access to antiretroviral
(ARV) treatment.
There are 1 million children in South Africa who
are orphans twice over, which mean that they
have lost both their parents.
Poorer households spend around 71% of their
income on purchasing food.
4. In groups discuss possible interventions in order to address the food security issue.
5. Compile your own table in which you show possible interventions on the macro exo, meso and
micro levels designed to address each of the challenges.
In compiling your answers you should have become aware that more than one challenge can be
linked to a problem statement. We will examine interventions on the various levels later in this
section.
100
Step 2: Development planning
The policy-makers used the results from the situation analysis to develop the following strategic
vision and objectives:
The vision of food security in South Africa is:
Universal physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food by all South
Africans at all times to meet their dietary needs and preferences for an active and healthy life.
Question: What do you notice about the vision for food security in South Africa? You are correct if
you say that this vision is also the definition of food security.
The strategic objectives are to:
• enhance household food production and trading

• improve income and job opportunities
• improve nutrition and safety
• improve safety nets and food emergency management
• integrate strategies and improve institutional capacity
• promote stakeholder dialogue
• improve analysis, information and communication
• implement legislation on the right to food?
Step 3: Implementation
The policy-makers used the above objectives to identify a number of programmes to initiate
interventions, (which prescribe the action to be taken), in order to implement the policy.
What are the programmes that were proposed?
• A special food security programme on food production and trading

• A community development programme
• An integrated nutrition and food security programme on nutrition and food safety
• A comprehensive social security and food emergencies programme – safety nets
• A national school nutrition programme
• A public works programme – income and job creation
• Stakeholder dialogue
• A capacity-building programme
• Information and communication management
Table 3.3 below shows you a summary of interventions for implementation, on the macro, exo, meso
and micro levels that can address food security issues on the household level.
101
Table 3.3 Interventions for household food security (WRC, 2009)
Macrolevel Exolevel Mesolevel Microlevel

National government Local / Provincial Groups / Community Households
government
FOOD AVAILABILITY
Agricultural policy on Programmes: Projects and learning groups Households
smallholders and food gardens • Local production of food • Household gardens • Produce stable foods or sell for income
• Encourage local and • Production of staples, • Community gardens • Plant vegetables and fruit according to the seasons
community food production vegetables and animals for • Community seed banks • Increase household food production
• Provision of inputs: seeds and income
fertiliser • Participatory extension:
• Farmer support service Household food security
(extension) for increasing gardens
productivity
Water policies Programmes water Community Water groups Household Water use
• Building of dams and management • Maintenance of communal taps, water • Build and maintain household water tanks for food
reservoirs for local • Work for water programme wells production
government • Smallholder irrigation • Use permaculture strategies to reduce water use
• Irrigation scheme policies schemes strategies- Permaculture
• Building homestead water
102
tanks
FOOD ACCESS
Macro–economic policy Programmes Project activities Encourage household resources to
• Importing and exporting of • Lower food prices on basic • Education on value of good food • buy low cost high quality staple food
foods staple foods • Buy from local food vendors • buy close to home
• Tax controls (VAT exemption • Negotiate reasonable food prices • buy nutritious foods
on basic foods) • plan shopping
• Food prices- control price of
certain basic foods
Transport policies Local transport Project activities Encourage household to

• Subsidise bus transport for the • Provide bus and taxi transport • Negotiate reasonable transport prices • spend less on transport
masses against reasonable prices • Community transport • plan shopping trips
• Use animal traction eg donkeys
Social policies Social Grants Cash in hand Household capacity
• Social safety net-grants • Managing points for grant • Use of grants responsible for household • Responsible use of relief handouts
• Emergency food relief payments food security • Consider sustainable livelihood strategies
• Target and distribute food for • Target vulnerable households • Plan household finances and allocation
relief
Employment policies Programme public works • Job creation for food access • Use cash to buy food
• Job creation • Income generation projects • Manage household income
• Work for water • Encourage getting extra food and crafts • Work for income
• Small business development
FOOD UTILISATION
Health policies: Community Nutrition Education, learning group activities and Encourage effective
• Integrated food and nutrition Programmes campaigns - • food selection and preparation practices
intervention • Food intake • Food based nutrition education • care and feeding practices
• Care practices • Food intake • sanitation and hygiene practices
• Sanitation and hygiene • Care practices
• Sanitation and hygiene
Health policies Programmes Learning Groups and Services Encourage effective
• Provisions of health system for • Health and nutrition, • Learning groups to promote good • visits to clinics for HIV/AIDS, immunization and
public and primary health care immunisation and infections health practices and awareness of clinic infections, growth monitoring
• Growth monitoring, food services • breastfeeding and using food parcels for babies
parcels • Train community-based caregivers
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding
FOOD STABILITY
Governance: Integrated food Coordination of implementation Coordination between stakeholders on Participate in learning groups and facilitation sessions
security policy and strategic of strategic plans targeting of households for community
plans projects
103
Food intervention vulnerability Warnings on risks and shocks Community awareness of vulnerability Make households aware of vulnerability and develop
information system (FIVIMS) • Floods, heavy rain interventions Receiving information on preventive strategies for immediate action
• Drought taking immediate action
• Conflict
National food storage for food Farmer Co-operatives storing Food-based projects Household resource use
security food • Community Food-based projects • Encourage effective household food storage and
• National Food Banks • Local organisations processing and value-adding projects processing practices
distributing food for food • Food parcel distribution, Community • Receive free food or food for work to stabilise food
parcels, school feeding, food soup kitchens and food banks consumption
banks and for soup kitchens
Something to do
Read and reflect on the summary of interventions in Table 3.3 and explain what your role as a
facilitator is in implementing these interventions.
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................
As you are aware, stakeholders are people who are interested in or affected by an issue, and who
want to be involved in looking for solutions.
The household food security facilitator will therefore be a stakeholder who facilitates programmes
with households.
The household members are also stakeholders and not mere beneficiaries in addressing issues
related to the food security of their household.
Step 4: Monitoring
All the interventions addressed in Table 3.3 need to be monitored and evaluated to assess whether
they have been successfully implemented on each level: macro, exo, meso and micro.
Concluding remarks
At this stage you should have a good understanding of what a policy is and how it affects food
security. We now need to ask ourselves What process can we follow to enhance our ability to
influence policy?
We can divide the process of how to influence policy, into four steps:
1. Know your issues, goals, supporters and opposition.

2. Identify and engage stakeholders and develop networks; that is, connect different people and
groups.
3. Understand the policy process, and the policy makers.
4. Take action.
Although it is beyond the scope of this programme to examine the four steps in the box above in
detail, you will get an opportunity, in Unit 4, to observe a community and households, to identify a
specific food security problem and to write a letter to the relevant authorities in order to address the
problem or issue.
104
Unit 4:
Taking action for household food security
Introduction
You have now completed Units 1 to 3 of this module and have gained the basic knowledge regarding
the concepts in food security and applications. Well done! This means you can now ‘speak the
language’ used by people who work in the field of household food security. You have also gained
important skills, which you will need when you work in partnership with households, as required in
the modules that follow.
Before we continue, complete the table below and decide if you really do have a clear understanding
of what you have learned in Units 1, 2 and 3.
I still recall the basic definition and know that the

Key concepts information can be found on page….of this study
guide. Tick and add a page number.
Tick ( ) Page number (Page 3)
Unit 1
Food security
Food availability
Food accessibility
Food utilisation
Food stability
Food insecurity
Natural environment
Micro level
Meso level
Exo level
Macro level
Human right to food
Unit 2
Households
Community
Malnutrition
Under-nutrition
Over-nutrition
Undernourished
Household food security
status
Nutritional status
105
Livelihood security
Unit 3
Strategy
Vulnerability
Shocks
Risks
Chronic food security
Transitory food security
Capacity building
Stakeholders
Policies
Programmes
Interventions
In this unit you will be given the opportunity to apply your knowledge and skills when you work in
groups, using certain tools and methods which are common in the field of food security. We will
build on these concepts, tools and methods in Module 2 and you will apply them in all the other
modules.
Guidelines for the facilitator on appropriate conduct for portfolio activities
• Before you continue with the portfolio activities it is important that you ask yourself a few
questions:
О Make sure that you have asked yourself the following questions:
О Am I clear about what I will be trying to do in the activities involving the community?
О Is the community clear about what I am trying to do?
О Do I risk creating false expectations?
О How can I avoid doing so?
• Be ready to explain in easily understandable ways the purpose and what you are doing and
what you want to use in or with the community.
• Be clear about the questions you want to ask. Ask open ended questions, so that the people
give their own answers. Avoid repetition of the same questions. You should ask follow-up
questions to clarify what it is that you would like to know.
• Decide on how an exercise should be facilitated, who should facilitate it and who will take
notes.
• Pay particular attention not to increase the level of stigmatisation of the people with a specific
problem by separating them too much from the rest of the group.
• Be sensitive to the needs and status of the people and the socio-cultural context in which
you are working. Ask advice on appropriate behavior from someone who is familiar with the
particular community.
• Become familiar with the composition of the group and make a point of sharing your results
with the group at an appropriate point.
• Allow at least one to two hours for each activity, if a time is not specified.
106
Materials you may need for portfolio activities
For each activity you will need the evidence sheet, prepared instructions and questions, a notebook
for taking notes and a pen or pencil. You may use flip chart paper, or make your own large sheets by
pasting paper into large sheets, and a thick pen. You can make use of the ground or floor to draw on,
using local materials such as sticks or pebbles.
4.1 Build good working relations

No matter what path you take in your efforts to improve food security in your community, you will
need to develop cooperative, constructive relations with many different people. The people you
engage may include people in your community, politicians, public servants, the media, policy
makers, researchers, health professionals, and people in other organisations who are concerned
about food security. In community development capacity-building, learning and mobilisation are
slow processes and working relations are built over time. To build good working relations, you
need to consider the following:
4.1.1 Be honest
Be yourself and always tell the truth. Good relations are built on trust. If the people you are working
with or trying to influence think that they cannot trust you, you will not be effective. Honesty and
sincerity are powerful tools.
4.1.2 Be calm and polite
Keep your temper under control and be polite to everyone you meet. Thank everyone who helps
you. This includes secretaries, receptionists, administrators and other workers. People in these
positions can be a big help if they are on your side so don’t burn any bridges on leaving a community.
Community action (lobbying for policy change, for example) can go on for a long time and you may
see the same people again and again.
4.1.3 Be fair
If you are trying to influence people, lobby or change policy, there is great value in putting yourself
in the shoes of the people you are trying to influence. Don’t just ask them to see your side. Try to
see theirs as well. People will be more willing to listen to you if they see that you are willing to listen
to them. You don’t have to agree with their position, but you will be able to make your points more
effectively if you understand their position. It is very effective if you can state your case as: “We would
like to work with you to solve this problem together”.
4.1.4 Be well informed
Many aspects of action on food security involve lobbying for and advocating changes in policy. Good
policy is based on sound information. Know your issue and come to meetings prepared to explain it
clearly and to answer questions on it. Advocacy is most effective when you not only bring a problem
to the table, but can also suggest a solution. Your insights, ideas and suggestions can contribute to
the formulation of good policy.
107
4.1.5 Be helpful
People will be more willing to help you if you are willing to help them. Look at activities like advocacy
as an exchange, in other words you want others to buy into your plan of action. You want something
from the people you are trying to influence. What can you offer them in return? For example, public
officials all need to know about the outcomes and effects of the policies that they are responsible
for. You can offer them information on the effects of a policy on your community and people in your
community from your group’s unique point of view.
4.1.6 Take the long view, and celebrate the small successes
Community action can sometimes be a long, drawn-out process. This is especially true of actions like
lobbying or advocating for policy change, but it applies to all kinds of community action. Before you
start, you need to be reasonably sure that you have the energy and enthusiasm to keep at the job for
what could be a long haul. Don’t give up and don’t expect things to fall into place immediately. Don’t
take conflicts and defeats personally. Keep talking. Keep coming back. Be willing to compromise, as
long as you’re still moving toward your goal. A small step in the right direction is better than no step at
all. Remember to celebrate your own and the households’ small successes along the way (Adapted
from NSNC/AHPRC Food Security Projects, 2005).
108
4.2 Portfolio activities and the “Triple A” Cycle
Start-up Activity
Do you still remember what the “Triple A’’ cycle approach is? To find out whether you do, complete
the following sketch.
STEP 3 STEP 1
STEP 2
Figure 4.1 The “Triple A” Approach
Step 1: …………………………………………………………………………………………….....
Step 2: ………………………………………………………….…………………………………....
Step 3: …………………………………………………………………………………………….....
Your sketch should show the following:
Step 1: Assessment phase: Collecting current information on key issues/indicators.
Step 2: Analysis phase: Interpreting the information, making sense of it, identifying areas of
success and areas that need improvement.
Step 3: Action phase: Identifying strategies for action or action plans to address identified
problems and improve implementation activities.
All the portfolio activities you do in this unit will be guided by the “Triple A Cycle” approach.
109
4.3 Your main tasks in this unit are portfolio activities
What are your main tasks for this unit? Your main tasks are the five activities shown in the table
below. These activities are compulsory portfolio activities, which must be included in your
portfolio.
Use the portfolio file you received, with evidence sheets especially for the purpose, for filing your
completed portfolio activities. You should also include other items so as to provide evidence. You will
also be required to include your reflections on the activities in your portfolio.
Note: It is very important that you refer to the portfolio section in the Tutorial Letter 102 and 301 when
you compile your portfolio.
Your task Tools and methods Portfolio activity

1. Assessing information • Observation checklist for walking 1.1
you will be collecting on your through the village (Observation
own or in partnership with and walk).
the group.
• Identify problems or causes, 1.2
using stories
1.3
• Identify and engage with
stakeholders (institutions,
organisations, groups and
important individuals) relevant
to food security issues in a
community (Venn diagramme)
2. Analysing the • Write a scientific report on the 1.4
information you collected information you gathered in
in partnership with the Activities 1.1 and 1..3
group and deciding which
are positive and which are
negative points
3. Taking action together • Compile a letter to the authorities 1.5
by coming up with an
action plan that will
address food security
issues
How do you go about conducting (carrying out) the three tasks of gathering information, analysing
information and taking action, in partnership with your group, for improved food security?
4.3.1 Assessing (collecting information)
During this programme you will need to collect different sets of information and there are several
techniques that make it easy for you to do so. This will be discussed in more detail in the next module.
We start with basic principles in this module. It is an important skill for a household food security
facilitator to be to talk about food security and to be observant. You will be collecting information in
Activities 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3.
110
Portfolio Activity 1.1 Observation checklist and walking through the community
Complete this activity on your evidence sheet in the portfolio file.
You can collect an enormous amount of information through observation. Observation means looking
very carefully to see what is happening. You can refer to what you observe as an object, activity,
event, or person. It will depend on the situations you observe in the area/community.
Walking provides more opportunities to observe more specific household food security situations
than driving through an area. You will have to walk around the community and observe what is
happening with regard to any food availability, food accessibility, food utilisation and food stability.
Refer again to Unit 1 and use the four dimensions of food security as a framework to enable you to
write a checklist of what you want to observe. Then plan the route. It is best if you are accompanied
by one or more persons who know the community and can help with planning the route.
You can ask a number of questions which will provide information related to the four dimensions
of food security. Write down a checklist, of what to observe, where and when to observe it, how
to observe it and how much to write down. This will assist you in observing conditions, people,
problems and opportunities.
Note all your observations as you walk through the community. You can add a draft map of the area
and the route you walked, as additional evidence.
Note: Do not scribble down your observations on any old piece of paper. You may use
a notebook for recording your questions and making notes. Use the evidence sheet to
record your information. You will find the evidence sheet in your portfolio file.
Aim: Observe different conditions, people, problems and opportunities in a community that could
be linked to the four dimensions of food security.
Time: Two to three hours in the community. Two to three hours to record the evidence.
What you must do
1 Ask one or two members of the organisation you work for or a key person you have been
referred to, to walk in a small group through the community and observe what is happening
with regard to the food security problem.
2 Look at the example of an evidence sheet, given below, for observing your community
You may have to adapt some of the questions to suit your situation and may change the
sequence (order) of your questions.
3 What you observe must be recorded in a notebook and its relevance or possible influence
on food security and insecurity indicated. (Remember that already in the previous units we
said that observation can never be used on its own but should also be used with methods
that you will learn in Module 2).
4 Carefully remove the evidence sheet from the portfolio file for your observation, which is
numbered Portfolio Activity 1.1. Complete the sheet and put the completed sheet into
your portfolio file.
111
Note: You may add any other additional information and indicate to which information item
it is linked and why. Although photos are expensive, you may use a cell phone with such a
facility, download the photos and print them out.
The evidence sheet below for Portfolio activity 1.1 is an example. You have to complete this
evidence sheet in the portfolio file.
Example ONLY
Evidence sheet for Portfolio Activity 1.1 (Observation checklist)
This evidence sheet is ONLY an example. You have to complete the evidence sheet for Portfolio
Activity 1.1, which is in your resource file.
Observations can be done by walking through the community. Walking provides more
opportunities to observe specific household situations than driving through an area. What
you observe should be related to the four dimensions of food security. You will have to list
the observations in the four dimensions of food security. The questions that you will ask will
be informed by the concepts that you dealt with in terms of the household composition, food
consumption and livelihood assets and strategies of households.
Observation questions in the evidence sheet should relate to the following:

Natural environment
General situation in and around the area or village
General culture of people, languages and organisation into groups/families
Food availability
Condition and types of livestock, field crops and plants in home gardens of households, natural
plant growth
Agricultural land, property sizes/residential plot sizes, quality of soil
Food access
Condition of infrastructure: Water sources, roads, energy, telephone, houses/homesteads, health
facilities, shops and other important buildings
Transport and types of vehicles
Presence of government departments’ offices and community organisations
Community security
Food utilisation
Socio-cultural food practices and equipment for food production, harvesting, storage, processing
and food preparation
Food consumption, feeding and associated health care practices, utensils or evidence.
Household environment, access to water, energy, waste removal and sanitation and equipment.
Food Stability
This can be any observation that will improve the above on the long term and ensure food
availability, accessibility and utilisation
112
Note: Don’t forget to put the completed evidence sheet into your portfolio file as evidence!
Portfolio Activity 1.2 Identifying problems
The more you know about an issue and the clearer you are about what you want to achieve, the
more effective you will be, in order to take action.
Aim: Use story-sharing techniques to identify food insecurity issues in a community.

Time: 1 hour
What you must do
1. Work in groups with workshop session members or community members. Group members
must briefly share stories (experiences) on food security issues that they observed during
Portfolio Activity 1.1.
Note: Be careful about confidentiality and do not use original names and places that could
offend people, when telling your stories.
2. Listen carefully to the stories with an open mind and open heart.
3. Brainstorm the themes that contribute to the food insecurity issues. Write them on a flipchart
or somewhere where everyone can see them.
4. Look for themes, issues and causes that run through the stories. Think about immediate,
underlying and basic causes and the outcome of causes on the different levels of action.
Even include projects and programmes that contribute to the problem, whether in natural or
socio-cultural environments . Write them on another page of the flip chat and hang it next to
the list of issues.
5. Discuss the effects of the situation. What have you learned from the story? Do you need to
find more information before you can do anything about it? What kind of information do you
need?
6. Look at the issues and causes and brainstorm ways to address them. Be practical when you
think of the solutions. However, also think of solutions, if you could do whatever you wanted
to correct the problem.
7. Now use the following diagramme to help you organise the information which was discussed
by the group.
What is happening?
Why is it happening?
So what?
Now, what can we do about it?
113
WHAT?
Tell stories and look for themes that run
through the stories. Brainstorm with the
group. Use the building blocks of the food
security model as a guideline. What issues
contribute to food security? Write them on a
flip chart
NOW WHAT?
WHY?
Look at the issues and
Why is food insecurity
causes and brainstorm
happening? Look for
ways to address them.
themes through the stories
Consider practical
and link the themes to the
solutions, but also try to
building blocks of the food
think big – if you could do
security model Write on a
whatever you wanted, how
flipchart and hang next to
would you attend to the
the list of issues
problem?
SO WHAT?
Look at the effects of the issues and the
situation. What have we learned from
these stories? Do we need to find more
information? What has changed for you after
hearing these stories?
(Adapted from Labonte and Feather in NSNC/AHPRC Food Security Projects, 2005)
114
Example of a shortened story and only the themes given.
Polina’s story (shortened)

Polina has no vehicle. Most of the grocery stores, or big stores are two
kilometers or more away. So when you’re walking, and you are walking with an
8 year-old… she cannot help to carry much ……..she also gets tired….hopefully
somebody’s got my younger child……. And you’re walking though the store, you are
thinking about what you will be able to carry home…. continue
The following evidence sheet will help you to document, in a structured manner, what you have
discussed and decided upon.
Evidence sheet for Portfolio Activity 1.2: (Identifying themes, problems and issues related
to food security, using stories
Activity 1.2 which is in your resource file.
Use the food security model Figure 2.19 to identify the themes, conditions, people, problems and
opportunities that relate to food security, nutrition and livelihoods.
Food and nutrition security outcomes
Deaths of children and persons living with HIV/ AIDS (PLWA).

Illness among children, the aged, women and men of productive age
Age and gender of effected people.
Immediate causes of food insecurity and malnutrition
There are many reasons why a child or a person may become undernourished. The
causes vary from person to person, but can be divided into immediate, underlying and
basic causes.
A poor diet may be due to

• poor variety of food
• low concentrations of energy and starch
• low concentration of nutrients in foods
• meals that are too small
• food that is too watery
• infrequent meals
• insufficient breast milk
Sick people with infectious diseases may:

• not eat much
• eat food, but their bodies absorb few nutrients
• lose nutrients from the body
• use up nutrients in the body more quickly (for example, during a fever)
115
Underlying causes of food insecurity and malnutrition
They can be divided into food insecurity and malnutrition, as well as livelihood-
related underlying causes. These are family food shortages, inadequate care and
feeding practices, especially of children and women, poor living conditions and poor
health services.
Food insecurity and malnutrition
Family food shortages, which may be due to:

• lack of money for food
• low production of food
• poor food processing and preservation and lack of equipment
• poor food storage and facilities in the house
• poor choices and budgeting
• cultural preferences and food habits
Inadequate care and feeding practices, which may be due to:

• the way families feed young children and encourage them to eat
• the way families care for women (especially during pregnancy, childbirth and
breastfeeding) and for the sick and old people
• the way food is prepared and the level of hygiene in the home
• the ways families prevent and treat illness at home and use health facilities.
Inadequate health and environmental services:

Poor living conditions (for example, insufficient water, inadequate sanitation and
overcrowded houses) as well as poor health services. Shortages of medicines and
skilled health staff increase the risk of disease, Inadequate environmental sanitation
services increase the risk of food-borne diseases.
Livelihood assets and gender resource control
Household productive, communication and reproductive activities

Women’s workloads and social roles are important underlying causes of food insecurity
and malnutrition. The effect of the allocation of tasks and time spent by women on
• food production for the family and local trading
• care and quality of diets women can give
• workloads and social role in the family
• the preparation of more than one meal a day
• the type and quality of care women can give to families, given they often have
little authority and little control over resources such as land and money.
Household Livelihood assets and resources include
• natural resources
• physical resources
• financial resources
• social resources
• human resources
116
Basic causes
For each underlying cause there is a deeper cause which can be traced back to the
local , provincial, national or international level that may include:
• widespread poverty and lack of employment opportunities
• unequal distribution and control of resources at the community, district ,
provincial or national/international level
• the low status and education of women
• population pressures
• environmental damage
• crime, political unrest and conflict
• lack of health, education, and other social services
• discrimination of minority and indigenous groups
(Adapted from Burgess and Glasauer, 2004 )
By now you will have identified food security issues that could exist in the community that you will
be working with. Which organisations operate in the community to address these problems?
Portfolio Activity 1.3 Identifying and engaging stakeholders, using a Venn diagram
Aims:
• Identify key stakeholders and internal and external organisations/groups/important individuals

active in a community.
• Identify who participates in local organisations/institutions by gender.
• Find information on how the different organisations and groups relate to each other in terms of
contact, co-operation, flow of information and provision of services.
Time: 1.5 to 3 hours
What you must do
1. Work in your groups and identify which organisations/institutions/groups are found in the
community and which other ones from elsewhere are working there. Also think of the small
non-formal groups like community committees.
2. Discuss the following questions:
• What methods for assisting each other exist among people?
• Which local groups address issues related to each of the five capitals or assets:
natural (agriculture, livestock, water, grazing, arable land)
physical ( transport, roads, business buildings, residential areas energy provision,

water provision, telecommunication)
117
financial (saving, credit,)
social (religion, welfare organisations, networks, environmental health, ducation)
human (age, gender, literacy, skills, indigenous knowledge, values)
• Who make important decisions in the community (organisations/institutions/ groups

and individuals)
3. Ask one of the participants to write down all the institutions that are mentioned and to give
each organisation a symbol or abbreviation so that everybody can understand.
4. Ask one of the participants to draw a big circle in the centre of the paper or on the ground
that represents their group.
Example of a Venn diagram, without information, as an illustration of how to draw one.
Thandi’s
Household /Mothers’ Care
Group
Illustration of a Venn diagram

5. Ask participants to discuss how important each organisation is to them. The most important
ones can be drawn as big circles and the less important ones as small circles.
6. Participants discuss how they benefit from the different organisations.
7. The facilitator and note-taker have to listen very carefully and the note-taker writes down
why organisations are regarded as more or less important.
8. Ask participants to indicate the degree of contact/co-operation between themselves and the
organisations by distances between the circles. You may use the following key:
Distance between circles Degree of contact

Large distance between circles No or little contact or co-operation
Circles close to each other Only loose contact exists
Touching circles Some co-operation exists
Overlapping circles Close co-operation
118
9. Ask participants to discuss which institutions only accept women or only accept men as
members, or which provide services only to men or only to women. Show the answers by
marking the circles with a common symbol for men or women.
10. Ask participants which organisations/groups address household food security and
nutritional issues. Discuss in which way they address these issues. Mark the organisations/
groups with a common symbol.
The following evidence sheet will help you to document, in a structured manner, what you
have discussed and decided upon.
Example ONLY
Evidence sheet for Portfolio Activity 1.3 (Venn diagram on institutions)
Activity 1.3 which is in your portfolio file. Redraw your Venn diagram on the page provided on the
evidence sheet.
Which organisations/institutions/groups/individuals are working in or with the

community?
Which organisations do the community members regard as important?
List all the institutions according to their importance. List the most important ones
first.
Give more information on the organisations /institutions/groups/individuals working
in the community:
• Explain separately for each of the most important organisations in which
ways the community members benefit from their activities.
• Which of the groups are addressing household food security, nutrition and
food production issues?
• Which organisations work together?
• Which groups are meant for women and which for men only OR / Which
organisations provide a service for men or for women only? Why do they
provide such a service only for men or only for women?
• Which groups or kinds of people are excluded from certain groups or
organisations or from their services (the poor, the disadvantaged, those of a
particular religion, ethnic considerations and so on).
What role can any of the stakeholders play in your involvement in the community?
(Adapted from NSNC/AHPRC Food Security Projects, 2005)
119
4.3.2 Analysing information
You now need to analyse the information you gathered in Activites 1.1, 1,2 and 1.3. When you have
completed your analysis, you must write a report on your findings.
Portfolio Activity 1.4 Writing a scientific report
Write a scientific report on the information you gathered in Activites1.1,1.2 and 1.3. In order for you to
write such a report, you will need to carefully analyse the information that you gathered by discussing
it in your groups and then completing the evidence sheet in your resource file.
Example ONLY
Evidence sheet for Portfolio Activity 1.4

(Writing a scientific report on information gathered)
Activity 1.4 which is in your portfolio file. In your report handle the following components in the
order in which they are given.
Executive summary
A very short description (maximum one page), in which you write an overview, which
is similar to a summary, of the main findings. It is best to write this once you have
completed your report.
List of contents
List the main sections of the report, together with their page numbers.
Introduction
Here you will give the purpose of the report and why the information was gathered.
The aims of gathering the information must also be specified here.
Background
Provide a brief description of why it was necessary to gather the information. (Is
there, for example, a crisis or food-insecure household, with children under five years
of age, or persons living with HIV/AIDS in the households which you had dealings
with.
Methodology
• Indicate why the information was gathered in the particular place.
• Specify the people who were involved in gathering the information.
• Who formed part of the discussion groups?
• What techniques were used to gather the information?
• How was the information gathered?
• Give the timeframe. How long did it take you to gather the information?
120
Results
• Describe particular vulnerable livelihood groups or those that are vulnerable
to food insecurity in the present situation. Also include the causes of
malnutrition, if that is a major problem.
• Describe the geographic region, the range of livelihood groups, the gender, the
cultural group, any displaced people or refugees.
• The report results should cover most of the questions which you answered in
Activities 1.1 and 1.2. Focus on how food security will change, due to the crisis,
how people are trying to cope with it and whether they are succeeding.
• Also include some broader issues such as security, health, water and
infrastructure.
• Explain the practical constraints which you had to deal with.
Summarise as far as you are able to do so.
Conclusion
Write a brief conclusion on the food security situation :
• Food availability
• Food access
• Food utilisation
• Food stability
Recommendations
• Make suggestions for possible interventions. Give sound reasons for making
these decisions.
• Specify the advantages and disadvantages of each suggested intervention, as
well as for each constraint.
Annexures
As an annexure at the end of your report include the following:
• a map of the area in which you worked.
• a time schedule of what happened when.
• photos, if these are relevant.
Note: Don’t forget to put the completed evidence sheet into your portfolio file, as evidence!
4.3.3 Taking action
At this point, you will have identified issues/problems concerning food security in your community
and will also have identified the relevant stakeholders, perhaps even policy makers who could be
potential partners. You will also have written a report on your findings. The next step is to develop
an action plan.
There are several strategies that can help in your efforts to engage stakeholders and
some of these are:
• to start a dialogue in your community

• to form a food policy group
• to circulate a petition
121
• to make presentations to key stakeholders groups
• to write letters to policy makers
• write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper
For our purposes, we are going to focus on one of the strategies, and that is to write a letter to the
authorities.
Portfolio Activity 1.5 Taking action (Writing a letter to the authorities)
Letter writing can be an effective way of communicating your needs. Write to a local government
official, an NGO, or a community development group to assist you and provide guidance on your
training programme. This could be your employer or a person who could help “open doors” for you
when, for Module 2, you have to identify households in order to complete your portfolio activities.
A letter may be more effective than a meeting face-to face, in the first instance, since a letter
provides a record of your communication. Even so, it is always a good idea to follow up on it after
sending such a letter, so as to ensure that it has been received and interpreted correctly.
Aim: Write a letter to the authorities to communicate your concerns about the food security
problem that you have identified.
Time: 30 minutes
What you must do
1. Discuss the letter you want to write in you group.

2. Take into consideration the guidelines given below when writing your letter.
What to include in the letter
1. Begin by saying who you are.

2. State the purpose of the letter and what you are asking for.
3. Explain its importance for promoting household food security in the community or local
government area.
4. Include a local example, to illustrate your point.
5. State what action you think is needed and why.
6. Indicate that you look forward to working with the recipient in taking the action that you
have proposed.
7. Finish in a way that encourages a response
122
Tips on Writing a Good Letter
• Personalise the letter. Don’t send a generic letter.
• Keep it short, definitely no longer than two pages. Always close with a
statement regarding their response or comments, for example, “I look
forward to your response.”
• Maintain a positive tone to the letter.
• Write on only one subject for each letter
• Have someone else, or better still, a few people, read and edit your
• letter.
• Include your contact details.
• Follow up your letter with a telephone call.
(Adapted from NSNC/AHPRC Food Security Projects, 2005)
Evidence sheet for Portfolio Activity 1.5 (Writing a letter to the authorities)
The following letter is ONLY an example. You have to complete your own letter for
Portfolio Activity 1.5. You will find the paper, with the heading for the activity, in your
portfolio file.
How a letter to the authorities or to an NGO should be set out:
Your full address

date
Recipient’s title, initials and surname
Recipient’s full address
Dear Dr/Mr/Mrs/Ms………………………..
Body of letter
(See: What to include in the letter and Tips on Writing a Good Letter)
Yours sincerely,
Your title, initials and surname

Your telephone number(s)
Note: Don’t forget to put the completed letter into your portfolio file as evidence!
Finally put the portfolio activities and additions in your portfolio file and submit to the facilitator.
123
124
Glossary
Community: A group of individuals and households staying in one locality, sharing resources and
services interact with each other and specific relationships or form social networks.
Capacity building: An approach to develop skills and commitment of people, as well as structures
and resources in a community, with the aim to improve issues such as food insecurity and
therefore, health
Environments:
• Natural environment: The natural environment provides our natural resources such as
soil, water, air and biodiversity, which include wild plants and animals.
• Socio-cultural environment: The socio-cultural environment is made up of ourselves, our

children and families, our communities, our society, our cultural heritage, the economy and
political structures, leaders and decision makers.
Food availability: In a country, region or local area means that food is physically present because
it has been grown, manufactured, imported and/or transported there.
Food access: The way different people can obtain the available food through a combination of
home production, supplies, purchases, barter, gifts, borrowing, food parcels or grants
Food insecurity:
• Chronic food insecurity is long-term or persistent. Occurs when people are unable
to meet their minimum food requirements over a sustained period of time. Is often
the result of extended periods of poverty, lack of assets and inadequate access to
productive or financial resources.
• Transitory food insecurity is short-term and temporary. Refers to a sudden drop in

the ability to produce or access enough food to maintain a good nutritional status. Is
primarily caused by short-term shocks and fluctuations in food availability and food
access, including year-to-year variations in domestic food production, food prices and
community incomes
Food security: Exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to
sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active
and healthy life.
Food stability: The stability dimension of food security highlights the importance of having to
reduce the risk of any adverse effects on the three other dimensions, namely food availability,
access to food and food utilisation.
Food security status: The degree of food security or the food security situation in a specific
household. It refers to how much food is available, to what extent the household has
access to food, how they are utilising the food they have and how stable the food supply
is.
125
Food utilization: The way people use the food and is dependent on the quality of the food, its
preparation and storage methods, the nutritional knowledge of the households, as well as the
health practices applied
Households: A household for the purpose of information-gathering, is seen as the groups of people
living together under one roof. They can be related or unrelated but together they contribute to the
household finances, share the household chores and usually use the same basket of resources and
sit round the same hearth.
Levels:
• Micro level: The level on which the household functions.
• Meso level: The level on which the community functions.
• Exo level: The level on which institutions and the stakeholders involved,function.
• Macro level: The national and international levels with their specific political and
ideological structures.
Livelihood security: Making a living, which implies a combination of activities
Nutritional security: Includes three aspects of the household namely, the daily food intake, the
care practices, the clean water and household environment
Nutritional status: The present nutritional status of household members, that is, at this point in
time.
Policy: Is a broad framework of ideas and values within which decisions are taken and action or
inaction, is pursued by governments in relation to some issue or problem.
Right to food: The right to food in the South African Constitution is based on the Declaration on
the Right to Food by the United Nations. This international undertaking demands that governments
be accountable, in the governance to people, to the rights of the people.
Shocks: Sudden events that impact on livelihood security
Stakeholders: People who are interested in or affected by,, an issue and who want to be involved
in looking for solutions.
Stresses: Long-term trends, that impact negatively on livelihoods.
Sustainable food system: A way of producing and distributing food that protects the environment
and ensures that our land, air and water will be able to continue roducing food in the future.
Vulnerability: Defencelessness, insecurity and exposure to risk, shock and stress and difficulty in
coping with them. Vulnerability has two sides: An external side of risks, shocks and stress to which
an individual or household is subjected to and an internal side which is defencelessness, meaning
a lack of means to cope with damaging loss.
126
Bibliography
BBC. 2009. ‘World hunger; its one billion’ (Quote Diouf). BBC News. Available at: http://
foodbank.org.za.
Burgess, A. and Glasauer, P. 2004. Family nutirtion guide. FOA Food and nutrition
division. Rome , FAO.
Carter, I. 2001. Agroforestry: A Pillars Guide. Teddington, Tearfund.
Callens, K and Seiffert, B. 2003. Methodological guide: Particpatory approaisal of

nutrition and household food security sutuations and planning of intervetions from
livelihoods perspective, Rome, FAO.
Chambers, R. 1989. Vulnerability, coping and policy. IDS Bulletin 20.
Department of Social Development. 2007. National Norm and Minimum Standards for
home and community based Care (HCBC) and support programme. (Booklet). Pretoria.
De Sagte R. 2002. Learning about livelihoods: Insights from Southern Africa., UK,
Periperi.Publications and Oxfam Publishing.
FAO: See Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Feuerstein, M. 1990. Partners in evaluation: Evaluation and community programmes with

participants. London, MacMillan Education.
Food and Agriculture Organisation. 2003. Trade reforms and food security:
Conceptualising the linkages, Rome, FAO.
Food and Agricultural Organisation. 2004a. Right to food case study: South Africa.
Intergovernmental Working Group on the elaboration of a set of Voluntary Guidelines for
the realisation of the Right to Adequate Food in the context of National Food Security,
Rome, FAO.
Food and Agriculture Organisation. 2004b. Rural households and resources: A guide for
extension workers. Socio-economic and gender analysis proramme. Rome, FAO
Food and Agriculture Organisation. FAO. 2007. Food security information for action:
Livelihood assessment and analysis. EC-FAO Food Security Programme.: Rome, FAO.
Available at: http://www.foodsec.org/dl. [CD]
Food and Agriculture Organisation. 2007. Food security information for action: Nutritional
Status Assessment and Analysis. EC-FAO Food Security Programme, Rome. FAO.
Available at: http://www.foodsec.org/dl [CD]
127
Food and Agriculture Organisation 2007. Food security information for action: Food
security information systems and networks. EC-FAO Food Security Programme. FAO:
Rome. Available at: http://www.foodsec.org/dl [CD]
Food and Agriculture Organisation. 2008. Food security information for action: Food
security concepts and frameworks. EC-FAO Food Security Programme Rome, FAO,
Available at: http://www.foodsec.org/dl. [CD]
Food Bank 2009. Banking on food security for South Africa’s hungry. Available at: http://
www.FoodBank.org.za.
Food bank. 2009. FoodBank Johannesburg launch. Available

at: http://www.picasaweb.google.com/FoodBankSouthAfrica/
FoodBankJohannesburgLaunchHighResolutionImages#.
FSAU. 2005. Nutrition: A guide to data collection, analysis, interpretation and use.
Second edition. Nairobi, Food Security Analysis Unit for Somalia.
IFRC and RCS: See International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. 2006. How to conduct
a food security assessment: A step by step guide for National Societies in Africa, Geneva,
IFRC.
Kureya, T. 2006. Workshop report: Methodology and Training Workshop on Household

Vulnerability Index (HVI) for Quantifying Impact of HIV and AIDS on Rural Livelihoods,
Pretoria, FANPRAN and Southern Africa Trust.
Maxwell, D, Watkins, B, Wheeler, R. and Collins, G. 2004. The Coping Srategies Index:
Field methods 1manual. Eastern and Central Africa regional Mapping Unit: World Food
Programme.
Maxwell,S. and Smith, M. 1992. Part I: Household food security: A conceptual view. (In
Maxwell S and Frankenberger, T. Household food security: Concepts, indicators, and
measurements. A technical review). New York and Rome: UNICEF/IFAD.
NSNC/AHPRC Food Security Projects. 2005. Thought about Food: A Food Security
and Influencing Policy. University of Dalhousie, Novia Scotia. Available at: http://www.
foodthoughtful.ca.
Safiliou-Rothchild. C. 2001. Food security and poverty: Definitions and measurements

issues: Dialogue Working Paper4. Colombo, SriLanka: Dialogue Secretariat.
RSA: See South Africa.
Sesay, B. 2008. The race against hunger: Food and nutrition. Illustration. PPT slide.
128
Sontheimer, S, Callens, K and Seiffert,k. 1999. Conducting a PRA training and modifying
PRA tools to your needs. An example from a partipatory household food security and
nutrition project in Ethiopia. Rome, FAO. Available at: http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/003/
x5996e00.htm (Accessed 3 December, 2008)
South Africa. 1996. The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. (Booklet): Act 108
of 1996: South Africa.
South Africa. 2004 Communal land Rights Act: Act No 11 of 2004 (CLaRA). (Booklet).
Pretoria, Department of Land Affairs.
Stimie,C.M.; Delange, M. and E. Kruger. 2009. Agricultural Water Homestead Farming

Systems: A resource kit for farmers. farmer trainers and facilitators. Pretoria, Unpublished
document. Water Research Commission.
Svendsen, DS and Wijetilleke, S. 1988 Navamaga: Training activities for group building,
health and income generation, Third edition, Washington, DC,OEF International.
UNICEF nutiriton framework. Available at: http://unsystem.org/scn/archives/Tanzania/p300.

jpg (Accessed 8 August, 2008)
USAID. 1992. Policy determination: Definition Food Security.
Wenhold, F. and Faber, M. 2006 Nutritional status of South Africans with specific
reference to malnutrition. Report to the Water Research Commission as part of the project
“Nutritional value and water use of indigenous crops for improved livelihoods”. Pretoria ,
Water Research Commission.
Windfur, M and Jonsén,J. 2005. Food sovereignty: Towards democracy in localized food
systems. Rugby, ITDG.
WPF: See World Food Programme.
World Food Programme. 2009 Introduction to qualitative data and methods for collection
and analysis in food security assessments. Technical Guidance Sheet No 8. (Prepared by
Morinière, L). Emergency food Security Assessments (EFSAs): Food Security Analysis
Service: World Food Programme. September 2007. Available at: http://www.wfp.org/food-
security.
129
130
college of
agriculture and
environmental sciences
College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, c/o Christian De Wet and Pioneer Avenue, Florida
Private Bag x 6, Florida, 1710, South Africa
Telephone: +27 11 471 2259 / 3092, Facsimile: +27 11 471 3867
www.hfs.org.za • www.unisa.ac.za

HFS Book1 Module1

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originalbeschreibung:

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

HFS Book1 Module1

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

HFS HOUSEHOLD FOOD

Module code: PHFS01K

University of South Africa

All rights reserved

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial-

You are free:

• to Remix — to adapt the work

Under the following conditions:

The publications used are:

Carter, I. 2001. Series: A PILLERS guides: Teddington: Tearfund.

Introduction to the module ........................................................................................................ix

UNIT 1 Finding out about food security .........................................................................1

UNIT 3 Stakeholders and action for food security ................................................71

UNIT 4 Taking action for household food security ................................................105

UNIT 1: Finding out about food security ........................................................................1

UNIT 3: Stakeholders and action for food security ...................................................71

UNIT 4: Taking action for household food security .................................................105

UNIT 1: Finding out about food security ...........................................................................1

UNIT 3: Stakeholders and action for food security ......................................................71

UNIT 4: Taking action for household food security ....................................................105

UNIT 1: Finding out about food security ........................................................................1

UNIT 3: Stakeholders and action for food security.....................................................71

Credo Mutwa, an internationally acclaimed cultural historian,

Learn from the hornbill, the bird of unconquerable

This inspiring thought should keep you going and encourage

We would also like to commend you on your decision to improve

How Module 1 fits into the programme

Module 1 PHFS01K Introduction to household food security concepts

Module 2 PHFS02L Participatory extension for household food security

Module 3 PHFS03M Sustainable natural resource use

Module 4 PHFS04N Food behaviour and nutrition

Module 5 PHFS05P Optimising household food production

Module 6 PHFS06Q Food resource management

Module 7 PHFS07R Household food security portfolio

Programme in household food security

The programme prepares and equips students with

Module 6: PHFS06Q Module 7: PHFS07R Module 3: PHFS03M

Module 5: PHFS05P Module 4: PHFS04N

Unit Specific Learning Outcomes Assessment

2. 2. Linking household 2. Interpret concepts used to assess Assignment 2 (20%)

3. 3. Stakeholders and 3. Identify stakeholders and roles that

4. 4. Taking action for 4. Compile an observation checklist to Portfolio activities

Unit 1 – Finding out about food security

Unit 2 – Linking household food security with nutrition and livelihoods

Unit 3 – Stakeholders and the action for food security

Unit 4 – Taking action for household food security

What is in your study pack?

This study guide 3

A tutorial letter 101(TUT 101) with your assignments

A general information tutorial letter 301(TUT 301)

Figure 1.2 The Triple ‘A’ Approach

Unit 1: Finding out

Unit 2: Linking Unit 4: Taking action for household food security

Unit 1: Finding out about food security

Many problems remain

Some people will say they see a young

If we, who care and work in communities,

This unit consists of the following sections:

1.1 What are food security and food insecurity?

Learning outcomes Assessment Activities Actual time spent

Complete this activity on your own in the workbook

Aim: Reflect on food security.

What you must do