The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with World Food Programme (WFP) Tuesday launched Integrated Context Analysis (ICA) on 'Vulnerability to Food Insecurity and Natural Hazards' in Pakistan to ensure food security during disasters.
Speaking on the occasion, Chairman NDMA Lieutenant General Omar Mahmood Hayat said that ensuring food security during disasters is essential for sustaining life. He added that based on "our past experience, the government has formally launched Integrated Context Analysis (ICA) report."
The chairman NDMA stated that food was basic human need and essential for sustaining life under all circumstances. While ensuring appropriate nourishment remains a challenge in itself, it gets extremely demanding during natural disasters, he continued. 'Integrated Context Analysis is a globally adopted and proven programmatic tool of immense value to the decision makers to support strategic planning of safety net, disaster risk reduction (DRR), early warning and preparedness, Hayat said.
He assured that NDMA was poised for endeavoring to foster resilience in identified areas in cooperation with all stakeholders and implementation partners. He further added, "DRR and ICA are a living process. They can be repeated with fresh data and more relevant inputs in future. I am sure, NDMA and WFP as long term partners in humanitarian efforts will continue to cooperate towards ICA+ in near future."
Country Director WFP, Finbarr Curran speaking on the occasion said WFP designed ICA programme was used in over 20 countries around the globe. It provides evidence to support strategic placement and combination of four broad programmatic themes: safety net, disaster risk reduction (DRR), early warning and disaster preparedness.
Curran said WFP in collaboration with NDMA planned ICA for Pakistan during November-December 2016 based on recommendations of a Stakeholder Sensitization Workshop (October 2016) and implemented during January-October 2017 under the leadership of NDMA, involving relevant line ministries, WFP, FAO and various technical institutions.
The ICA aims to: i) categorize districts by the level of recurrence of vulnerability to food insecurity, natural hazards, core lenses and relevant contextual factors; ii) provide information for more effective medium and long-term food security interventions related to resilience building and disaster risk reduction and; iii) provide a set of relevant products and materials for advocacy, capacity building, future replication or update.
To oversee the whole process, steering committee as well as technical committees were formed having representatives from Planning Commission of Pakistan, Ministry of National Food Security and Research, Ministry of Climate Change, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, SUPARCO and other agencies.
The report identifies and ranks all 156 districts of four provinces and three regions of Pakistan by the level of recurrence of two main natural hazards (flood, drought) and additional contextual information (population density, land cover). Districts are categorized in 5 main categories indicating different levels of vulnerability.
Based on technical findings, programmatic part of the ICA report was also developed through a consultative process and seeking input from provincial line departments. This report provides a solid foundation for effective planning, targeting and decision making for medium and long-term programmatic strategies aimed at reducing food vulnerability. It also helps guide subsequent Seasonal Livelihood Programming at the district level and Community-based Participatory Planning at the community level.
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