In the emergency phase immediately following the events of 1999 in Kosovo, FAO and WFP set up a joint unit that has been key to the coordination of their efforts, and those of other agencies, international organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to help the Kosovars recover from the conflict.
The FAO/WFP Food Security Surveillance Unit (FSSU) was funded by the Government of the United States and started work in January 2000. It was set up to establish and monitor thresholds for interventions and designed in accordance with the programmes of the two agencies in Kosovo. It has forged strong links with all the major agencies operating in the area and participated in most initiatives relating to food security and emergency agricultural assistance.
The Unit is staffed by a project manager from FAO, a vulnerability analysis officer from WFP and two national officers in Pristina.
 Seed distribution in Kosovo - FAO/21729/A. Proto |
Food security surveillance is multifaceted; accordingly, the Unit performs several roles. In collaboration with the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Department of Agriculture, it monitors the agricultural season in Kosovo's 30 municipalities. The officer in charge of this activity makes regular trips to the municipalities, talking to farmers and visiting the fields to check the data collected. Together with the UNMIK Department of Agriculture, the Unit has prepared the pre-harvest FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment for Kosovo in order to estimate needs for agricultural relief.
The FSSU also coordinates the collection and analysis of data relating to retail and market prices for a commodity basket with 45 products, both food and non-food. This price monitoring system was started in June 2000 and is currently used by the UNMIK Central Fiscal Authority to calculate a Consumer Price Index. The Unit supervises the data collectors, updates the database and analyses the average prices, as well as producing a monthly bulletin distributed to all partners involved in humanitarian assistance in Kosovo.
The Unit has coordinated the major food needs assessments undertaken in 2000/2001, looking at the food security of the minority enclaves in Kosovo and working on the February 2001 WFP Food Needs Assessment for the revision of the food aid strategy.
The Unit has participated in the World Bank Living Standards Measurement Survey and in the joint Inter-Agency Poverty Assessment, both undertaken in Kosovo in the second half of 2000.
The FSSU has also revised monitoring procedures and databases developed by FAO and WFP and provided all the geographic information system (GIS) materials requested by the programmes in Kosovo.
Food security in Angola FAO, IFAD and WFP have been working together since 1998 in the Angola Food Security Project that assists poor rural communities in the country's Bengo Province. In 2001, the project has worked with the local communities to plan, implement and sustain improvements in food security and income generation - including rainfed and irrigated agricultural production, small livestock and inland fisheries - and to improve social infrastructure and services, especially in the areas of education, health and sanitation. |
The first phase of the project ended in April 2001. A second phase has been covered by several donors and will enable an expansion of the Unit's work in terms of both its activities and geographical coverage. In the summer of 2001, work started in Serbia with a national officer under the supervision of the project manager.
When necessary, the Unit will also assist agencies involved in ad hoc vulnerability and food security assessments in neighbouring countries such as Albania and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Work in Kosovo will continue throughout the second phase of the project.
In Kosovo, the second phase of the project will focus on handing over materials and procedures - agricultural monitoring procedures, the food security GIS, the price monitoring system and the remote-sensing procedures for seasonal agricultural monitoring -to the relevant local authorities.
To ensure continuity in its vital work, the FSSU will also carry on its work with leading agencies, developing tools for the assessment and targeting of vulnerable populations in future humanitarian and development programmes in Kosovo and Serbia.
