FEWS NET

FEWS NET, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, is a leading provider of information and analysis on food insecurity. Created in 1985 by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the US Department of State, after devastating famines in East and West Africa, FEWS NET today is a valuable resource to a vast community of governments, international relief agencies, NGOs, journalists, and researchers planning for, responding to, and reporting on humanitarian crises. With support from a technical team in Washington, D.C., FEWS NET staff based in more than 20 country offices collaborate with US government agencies, national government ministries and international partners to collect data and produce objective, forward-looking analysis on the world’s most food-insecure countries. Using an integrated approach that considers climate, agriculture production, prices, trade, nutrition, and other factors, together with an understanding of local livelihoods, FEWS NET forecasts most likely outcomes and anticipates change six to twelve months in advance. To help decision-makers and relief agencies plan for food emergencies, FEWS NET publishes monthly reports (available on its web site) on current and projected food insecurity, up-to-the-minute alerts on emerging or likely crises, and specialized reports on weather hazards, crops, market prices, and food assistance.

In 2010, to mark its 25th anniversary, produced a video to document its work.

FEWS NET reporting focuses on acute food insecurity—sudden and/or short-term household food deficits caused by shocks—rather than chronic food insecurity, ongoing or cyclical food deficits related to persistent poverty and a lack of assets. In general, food insecurity is rarely the result of one causal factor. The strength and reliability of FEWS NET forecasting lies in its integrated consideration of the diversity of factors that lead to risk. Along with agricultural production, climate and weather, FEWS NET places analytical importance on markets and trade, livelihoods and sociopolitical issues such as conflict and humanitarian response. Key elements of FEWS NET's methodology include:

Along with USAID, other US agencies make integral analytical contributions to FEWS NET reports. They include:

Chemonics, an international development company, supports FEWS NET's home office in Washington DC, as well as some 80 field-based staff, most of whom are nationals of the countries in which they work.

FEWS NET works closely with partners in the food security community, including international organizations such as the World Food Program and Food and Agriculture Organization and national ministries of agriculture and trade and national weather services. In certain countries, partnerships may involve joint reporting, joint field assessments and/or collaborative analysis. Examples of these partners include Comité permanent Inter-Etats de Lutte contre la Sécheresse dans le Sahel in West Africa and the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit in Somalia.

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