Emergency Food Security Assessment (EFSA)

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The EFSA guidance provides comprehensive support for planning, conducting, and reporting on emergency food security assessments. It is designed to help WFP teams and partners generate rapid, reliable, and actionable information to inform humanitarian response and decision-making in crisis contexts.

Purpose of the EFSA Guidance

  • Standardize the assessment process for rapid and comparable results

  • Ensure assessments are methodologically sound and contextually relevant

  • Support evidence-based programming and resource allocation

Key Components of the EFSA Guidance

  • Assessment Planning: Guidance on defining objectives, selecting methodologies, and preparing assessment tools

  • Data Collection: Best practices for questionnaire design, enumerator training, field protocols, and data quality assurance

  • Data Analysis: Step-by-step instructions for quantitative and qualitative analysis, including calculation of key food security indicators

  • Reporting and Dissemination: Templates and recommendations for clear, actionable reporting and effective sharing of results

Best Practices

  • Follow standardized procedures to ensure data quality and comparability

  • Engage with partners and stakeholders throughout the assessment cycle

  • Document all steps and decisions for transparency and learning

  • Use the guidance as a living resource, adapting tools and approaches to the specific context

Resources

A shorter version for rapid initial EFSAs can be found here.

For more information, please contact the Assessments and Targeting Unit in HQ VAM at global.assessmentandtargeting@wfp.org.