Mid-term review 2007-2009 of the Food security thematic programme (FSTP)

A mid-term review of the 2007-2010 FSTP was published in the autumn of 2009. It made recommendations for the revision of the thematic strategy for Phase II (2011-2013). There are widespread concerns within the EC about the lack of balance in FSTP. The programme does not address all pillars of food security in particular that it concentrates on food availability at the expense of food access and nutritional issues. There are also reasons for concern about the method of choosing countries, which is insufficiently objective, while the exclusive focus on LRRD does not seem justified in all cases. The Asian and Latin American countries supported are being phased out of FSTP, despite the fact that in some of them the food security situation is in the ‘alarming’ category of the Global Hunger Index.

The review recommends that all of these concerns should be addressed together by:

• merging two of the strategic priorities of the FSTP (No 4 and 5), combining their budgets, renaming it as ‘Improving Food Access and Nutrition for the Poor and Vulnerable in Fragile Situations'.,
• improving food access through social protection programmes.,
• addressing nutritional concerns by forming new partnerships with organisations engaged in micronutrient distribution campaigns.,
• adopting a more objective means of identifying countries for inclusion, using indices of food insecurity, vulnerability to disaster, political instability and gender bias. .

 European Commission - September 2009