The executive arm of the state must monitor the status of the right to food, in order to take corrective action and assess the impact of such action. In addition, the Voluntary Guidelines recommend that states establish human rights institutions independent of the government to perform rights-based monitoring of policies and programmes.

  Partnerships between government and civil society are also taking on increased importance in monitoring. Civil society organizations often have developed and applied methodologies that are more participatory and better adapted to measuring underlying causes of food insecurity at local levels. Such partnerships may thus enhance monitoring in respect of both technical and human rights expertise.