FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION MONITORING - A CONCEPTUAL-FRAMEWORK, ISSUES AND CHALLENGES

This paper provides an overview of the concepts, issues and challenges that planners and policy makers face in designing food security and n utrition monitoring systems and using their outcome in the formulation of policies and intervention programmes. The principles involved in v arious types of monitoring systems are outlined after a brief review o f their objectives. This is followed by a description of necessary ste ps in implementing a monitoring system and possible flows of informati on and its use in various stages of decision making. Identifying relev ant issues in designing different types of food security and nutrition monitoring, future challenges facing governments, academic institutio ns and donor agencies in developing sustainable monitoring systems are discussed. Presenting some of the leading research issues in improvin g the design and implementation of food security and nutrition monitor ing, some guidelines for evaluating their performances in meeting the objectives of improved policy making and reduced food insecurity and m alnutrition are provided. The paper concludes that a monitoring system which is simple, user-driven, based on existing institutional structu res which increases the capacity for analysis and interpretation and h as the commitment of relevant decision makers for using the informatio n in policy design is more likely to be sustainable and successful.