The VAM Unit at the WFP: Using Technology and Data to Combat Food Insecurity

Victoria Berg
World Food Programme
Nairobi, Kenya

Hujambo from the United Nations Compound in Nairobi.  I am about halfway through my 11 weeks here at the World Food Programme’s Vulnerability and Mapping (VAM) Unit at the Regional Bureau for East Africa. It is a busy time at the WFP here, as the region is dealing with two countries where the populations are at risk of famine.

In Somalia, approximately 3 million people require urgent humanitarian assistance, and an additional 3.5 million people are food insecure (WFP, 2017).  Furthermore, UNICEF estimates that “the projected number of children who are, or will be, acutely malnourished has increased by 50% since the beginning of the year to 1.4 million, including over 275,000 who have or will suffer life-threatening severe acute malnutrition in 2017”  (UNICEF, 2017).

In South Sudan, the famine situation has decreased but the food situation is still dire, as 6 million people face food insecurity (WFP, 2017). David Beasley, WFP’s new executive director, stated, “It’s a disgrace upon the people of the Earth, and it’s heartbreaking. It’s just not right in the 21st century to be facing all this brokenness, with all the technology and wealth that’s available in the world today” (Devex, 2017).

Beasley visited the WFP here in Nairobi on my first week. He has been very vocal in calling for more humanitarian aid to fight the Four Famines.  During his address to staff, he commented on the need for building peace in regions in order for aid efforts to succeed.  He praised the WFP staff for their innovative approaches to some of the world’s greatest challenges.

So how does the VAM unit help tackle the overwhelming challenge of increasing food security and resilience in East Africa? It provides technical support to country offices through assessments and food security monitoring.  This generates information and factual basis for program design using more traditional assessment methods and advanced and emerging technologies to provide a clear picture and timely data of the situation on the ground.

Examples of VAM data sources include the following:

• Surveys and census data
• mVAM, which uses “mobile technology to track food security trends in real-time, providing high-frequency data that supports humanitarian decision-making” (VAM, 2017)
• GIS
• Climate data
• Market Data
• Partners in government departments/ministries, climate institutions, mapping agencies, agricultural and livestock sector institutions, humanitarian and development institutions

  

The VAM unit and WFP also work with partners to create reports on food security trends.  For example, the Integrated Phase Classifications are compiled by Action Against Hunger, CARE, CLISS, FAO, FEWS NET, FSC, IGAD, European Commission, OXFAM, Save the Children, SICA, UNICEF, & WFP.

In my personal opinion, famine and food insecurity bring about a host of human rights issues.  There are the obvious—not having enough food to sustain one’s family—but there are also the not-so-obvious, that are intricately linked such as those stemming from displacement and the loss of potential.  For example, if a person has been displaced due to drought or conflict and is now in a refugee camp, how does he or she vote?  Or if a person experiences stunted development as a child and now has a loss of cognitive ability and cannot get a job, what are his or her rights? *

VAMs work on food security through highly technical reports and substantive analysis helps reduce the migration and untimely death while contributing information that helps strengthen the nutrition status of communities and to families livelihoods if acted upon.

There is no mass protesting, no petitions being signed, no courts; instead, talented individuals have dedicated their lives to making sure people can access food in order to live a healthy and fulfilling life.

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*Please note that these are my personal opinions and that I am not a UN employee.  These views in no way represent those of the WFP.