Lessons Learning Exercise from FAO’s Initiative on Soaring Food Prices (ISFP)
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In 2008, food prices reached their highest level in real terms in thirty years. This provoked social unrest, leading, in many cases, to short-sighted policy responses from governments, which further exacerbated instability in world markets. In response to the food crisis, FAO launched its Initiative on Soaring Food Prices in 2007. In 2008, it assisted member countries to put in place measures to rapidly boost production in the following agricultural seasons and to provide policy support to improve food access and reduce food insecurity in the most affected countries. The food price crisis hit hard the most vulnerable populations and as such required an immediate response. The ISFP focus was on the short term and the nature and the number of activities proposed were determined by this time frame. However, these interventions provided the basis for longer-term sustainable development of the sector. Learning from the support provided by FAO through the ISFP is vitally important, especially now that donors continue to show a special interest in short-term interventions to address food security issues. This new context represents a challenge for FAO and requires reflection on how best to respond quickly but in a sustainable way to underlying causes of food insecurity, as well as how to merge the efforts and different expertise of emergency and technical experts. Nepal was selected among the ISFP beneficiary countries for the first lessons learning exe rcise. The objective of this study was to show how this type of support could be improved and to highlight the strengths and best practices that could be replicated in the future. It looked at how ISFP activities in Nepal were implemented and how the expected outcomes had been achieved or not, rather than at the products/activities itself. The focus was on how ISFP programmes in Nepal were perceived by the different stakeholders involved as well as their experiences. The study’s main a ctivity was field work: direct and personal contact with people in the programme in their own environment.