The IPC GSU has been developing tools for the classification of chronic food insecurity since autumn 2012. Considerable progress has been achieved within this past year, including initial development of draft tools and the first round of piloting in six countries. On the basis of the feedback received and lessons learned, the IPC Working Group on Classifying Chronic Food Insecurity did further, intensive work on the draft tools and procedures for chronic classification.

The work conducted is now culminating in the second round of piloting, which started in Kenya the last week of September, and has continued with the pilots in Bangladesh (3 - 7 Nov – the attached pilot map is a draft and subject to a review by the Bangladesh IPC working group), Guatemala (4 - 7 Nov), and the pilot on Malawi (18 – 22 Nov). The experiences gathered from the pilots will be reviewed by the Working Group in November and December, and further revisions of the tools and procedures are expected before the finalisation and release of the IPC Chronic Food Insecurity Classification in early 2014.

The roll-out of the Chronic Food Insecurity Classification is planned to start in February 2014. The IPC Chronic Food Insecurity Analysis and Classification is expected to be conducted in 12 countries around the world within 2014 (6 countries in Africa, 3 in Asia, and 3 in Central and Latin America).