RESOURCES

The 2014-2018 IPC Global Strategic Programme achieved a significant expansion of the IPC initiative.  The number of protocols was expanded from one (Acute Food Insecurity) to three (with the addition of Acute Malnutrition and Chronic Food Insecurity).  The number of countries in which IPC was applied rose to 35, with multiple countries implementing more than one protocol over time, and routine cycles of analysis established in a range of countries (see annex II).  Important new partnerships were developed, including with UNICEF, the Global Nutrition Cluster and with three regional entities (Sistema de Integración Centroamericana (SICA), the Horn of Africa’s Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC)) thereby deepening the stakeholder base of IPC participating institutions.   IPC analysis played a major role in drawing attention to some of the worst food crises in the world, including Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Drawing attention to protracted crises and persistent food insecurity, the IPC Chronic Food Insecurity (CFI) scale was rolled out in 17 countries between 2014 and 2018.  With support from the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom (DFID), the IPC Global Support Unit (GSU) conducted three applied consultative case studies (in Bangladesh, Philippines and Uganda) thereby testing the ability of the IPC CFI to provide actionable information to enable better policy, programming and investment decisions that are aimed at addressing the root causes of chronic food insecurity.  On the nutrition front, the Acute Malnutrition (AMN) protocol was successfully introduced in 13 countries.

The IPC Certification Programme was launched in July 2013 to certify Acute Food Insecurity Analysis (AFI) practitioners. This process continues, and expansion to include AMN and CFI protocols is underway. IPC certified trainers and facilitators now include a total of 900 IPC AFI Level 1 Certified Analysts and 115 Certified Level 2 Trainers. All of the 26 countries that regularly undertake IPC AFI analysis have at least two IPC Level 2 Trainers in situ. Given the nature and frequency of acute crises, maintaining high numbers of IPC Level 2 certified trainers and facilitators in IPC Acute Food Insecurity and IPC Acute Malnutrition analysis is of importance for IPC sustainability at country level. For Chronic Food Insecurity analysis, certification efforts will be more focused on building capacities at the global and regional level. 

The 2014-2018 IPC Global Strategic Programme (GSP) culminated with the drafting of the IPC Technical Manual Version 3.0, a collaboratively developed publication which provides the procedures and tools necessary to undertake all three IPC scales.  The 2019-2022 IPC GSP will promote and support the roll-out and consolidation of the revised protocols contained in Manual 3.0, creating an opportunity to diversify the training and capacity development portfolio harmonized across all scales.  For instance, all IPC e-learning materials will be brought together into one platform, encompassing the three IPC scales. 

The 2019-2022 GSP is the product of a series of strategic reflections that took place over the past few years.  In late 2016, the external Mid-Term Review of the IPC GSP provided strategic recommendations for IPC across the board.   In mid- 2017, a review of the FAO-EU Partnership Programmes FIRST and INFORMED, of which IPC is a major component, was conducted to assess the relevance of these initiatives for key stakeholders, identifying gaps and possible areas of improvement to ensure new priorities and demand for actionable evidence are addressed .   In October 2017, the IPC GSU convened a series of strategic planning discussions in Rome with IPC personnel from across the world, with an eye towards crafting the next strategic phase. Finally, in late 2018, the final evaluation of the IPC GSP 2014-2018, which placed use of the IPC at the centre-stage of the exercise provided recommendations for the next phase of the GSP (2019-2022).

Based on the above, as well as lessons learned from implementation, the IPC Partnership has identified important strengths of the IPC as a whole, but also some challenges.  These have served to inform the development of the 2019-2022 GSP.