Building food system resilience in protracted crises
FNS-REPRO is a four-year plan addressing the cause-effect relationship between conflict and food insecurity in Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.
FNS-REPRO is the first programme in Eastern Africa specifically designed to foster peace and food security at scale. The programme will employ a livelihood and resilience-based approach in some of the least stable regions, where interventions are normally exclusively of a humanitarian nature. Its design will allow FAO and partners to set good examples of how to build food system resilience in protracted crises and strengthen cooperation across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus towards this end.
What is unique about FNS-REPRO?
FNS-REPRO is the first programme in Eastern Africa specifically designed to foster peace and food security at scale. The programme employs a livelihood and resilience-based approach in some of the least stable regions, where interventions are normally exclusively of a humanitarian nature. Its design allows FAO and partners to set good examples of how to build food system resilience in protracted crises and strengthen cooperation across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus toward this end.
The main premise of the programme is that agricultural livelihoods are people’s best defence against hunger and malnutrition: People with resilient livelihoods are better prepared and can better cope with shocks and crises. FNS-REPRO promotes coordination with relevant stakeholders involved in targeted areas to reach collective outcomes across multisector interventions. The programme incorporates a robust learning agenda that will inform policy and practice for improved food system resilience and target local communities and institutions as active participants in designing and implementing interventions. This learning and knowledge agenda is implemented under the leadership of the Wageningen University & Research (WUR), who have links to the Global Network Against Food Crises.
The Global Network Against Food Crises was launched by the European Union, FAO and the World Food Programme (WFP) during the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit to improve the coordination of partners in preventing, responding and implementing lasting solutions to food crises across the spectrum of humanitarian and development interventions. It supports efforts under the collective outcome related to the Sustainable Development Goal of achieving Zero Hunger by 2030.
FNS-REPRO InfoSheetFNS REPRO contributes directly to United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2417 on conflict-induced food insecurity. The Netherlands played a key role in the unanimous adoption of UNSCR-2417, which establishes a direct link between armed conflict and conflict-induced famine conditions and strongly condemns starving of civilians and unlawfully denying humanitarian access as warfare tactics.
Partnerships
The programme is being implemented through a strong partnership between FAO, WUR, and international and national non-governmental organizations. The programme is being implemented through a strong partnership between FAO, WUR, and international and national non-governmental organizations. The Government of the Netherlands as well as the respective governments in target countries are also closely involved.
The programme’s overall outcome will be resilient livelihoods and food systems and contribute to sustainable localized peace. This will be achieved through improved inclusive access to and management of natural resources, greater livelihood and income opportunities along selected value chains, enhanced knowledge, skills and capacity of communities in nutrition-sensitive livelihood support, established and implemented learning mechanisms that reinforce field activities and facilitate improved policy and practice on food system resilience.
Programme Implementation
At the country level, FNS-REPRO will focus on selected value chains that have been chosen because they play a central role in agropastoral and farming livelihoods. This ranges from the survival of people and animals during humanitarian crises to improved resource management and livelihood diversification. The value chains selected are animal feed and fodder in Somalia, seed systems in South Sudan, and gum arabic in the Sudan
At the regional level, the FNS-REPRO learning agenda and knowledge management will strengthen evidence-based strategic programming and build awareness and capacity around food system resilience. Regional activities will also strengthen animal feed data and information as well as reporting and communication systems and tools. The ultimate goal is to address the links between food security, conflict, natural resource management and increasing climate variability.
