This review aims to gather insights into the lived meaning of food insecurity, by collecting highlights from existing participatory assessments. The source materials include the published outputs and some of the original field reports from the World Banks 1999 Consultations with the Poor exercise. In addition the review covers a varied selection of participatory work on poverty and food insecurity, from a range of institutions, geographical regions, and socio-economic contexts. Common patterns and themes are identified, which recur across countries and groups:
À Hunger, in its various dimensions
À Insecurity as a material fact and a psychological element
À The day to day search for food
À Seasonality and cycles of hunger
À Social dimensions of food insecurity
À Chains of causality which link hunger, work and livelihoods
À The role of assets in food security
À Poverty trap - all income and energy spent on food
Cutting across these themes are a number of dimensions of diversity: Gender, age, rural/urban location, livelihood characteristics and geographical region
Two major policy points arise from the work:
À Hunger and anxiety about food are central to the reality of poverty, but can only be fully understood within the complex web of factors and processes which constitute that reality
À Food security emerges as above all a livelihoods issue. Improving livelihoods is therefore the most effective way of improving food security