FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION MONITORING SYSTEMS IN AFRICA - A REVIEW OF COUNTRY EXPERIENCES AND LESSONS LEARNED

This paper describes the food security and nutrition monitoring system s which are being operated in countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The pap er looks at the evolution of such information systems as well as what purposes they serve. Operational aspects are also covered including ty pes of data used, sources and data analysis. A major lesson learned in this review is that more effort needs to go into evaluating past effo rts in food and nutrition monitoring since the impact of these systems on decision making appears weak. To improve the utility of these syst ems for decision making more attention needs to be given to defining t he uses and users of food security and nutrition monitoring systems fr om the onset, in addition to identifying the factors within the politi cal economy of a country which may affect the way in which decisions a re made on food security and nutrition issues.