Background and Purpose
The global Food Security Cluster (gFSC) requires a clearer articulation of the linkages between preparedness and resilience in order to support more consistent responses by partners engaged in food security through country clusters. Indeed, the ToR of the Preparedness and Resilience Working Group (PRWG) of the gFSC include the following: Develop a common simple and shared understanding or principles for members to use and follow, on the role of the gFSC on preparedness and resilience for disaster prone countries and areas, taking into account context, scenarios and timing/strategy of entry and exit.
This assignment is a step towards meeting this need. A rapid (10-day) exercise has been undertaken to provide the gFSC with ideas and options on how to proceed in ‘embedding’ preparedness and resilience in its work. It is anticipated that an initial discussion of these options amongst the PRWG will inform how the gFSC takes the work forward at the global cluster meeting and the Cluster Coordinators’ Retreat, in June 2016. Annexes 1 and 2 provide details of the individuals interviewed and the documents reviewed, respectively.
Existing Guidance Relevant to the gFSC
There are a number of documents that offer normative or programming guidance of direct relevance to the gFSC’s work on preparedness and resilience. They have been chosen for a number of reasons: they are multi-agency products (e.g. IASC, RBA) and thus may engender shared ownership amongst gFSC partners; they are especially relevant to humanitarian coordination (e.g. OCHA) and thus would service the work of country clusters; or they are examples of the expertise that exists amongst gFSC partners that could be harnessed for the collective.
The most salient elements of these documents are presented in this section in order to clarify what already exists, and to ease access to these resources by gFSC members. This foundation will then be explored to determine what additional guidance the gFSC could provide to its members and the country Cluster Coordinators (CCs).
This section has four parts, covering: definitions of preparedness and resilience; principles relevant to resilience and preparedness for the gFSC; policy guidance; and programming guidance.