Market information and food insecurity response analysis

Donors, governments, NGOs and recipient communities exhibit rapidly growing interest in and experimentation with cash-based alternatives, both in the form of direct cash distribution to food insecure persons, and of local or regional purchase of food using cash provided to operational agencies by donors. But the humanitarian action and social protection communities lack a systematic, field-tested framework for choosing between food- and cash-based responses to food insecurity. This paper outlines the rationale for "response analysis" and introduces a new, field tested, systematic approach to this emergent activity. The Market Information and Food Insecurity Response Analysis (MIFIRA) framework provides a logically sequenced set of questions, and corresponding analytical tools to help operational agencies anticipate the likely impact of alternative (food- or cash-based) responses and thereby identify the response that best fits a given food insecurity context. (Author abstract)