The framework has been developed, tested and validated.
It was endorsed by the Executive Council of the AOAD. It is now essential to promote its adoption by all countries of the Arab Region. ESCWA and AOAD have initiated training workshops to provide clear instructions on the purpose of the framework as a policy guidance tool. AOAD in cooperation with ESCWA can also support implementation measures and follow-up discussions with national parties.
It is expected that this monitoring framework will be used in different programmes and ministries and at different stages and periods of time. These national institutions must be involved in further adaptation of the tool to meet specific
local conditions. Finally, it is recommended to hold regular interregional meetings on Arab food security monitoring in which outcomes of the framework usage can be compared and evaluated, and appropriate policies and strategies adopted to address potential emerging issues.
This publication as well as the accompanying training manual and country analysis have been designed for use by stakeholders who have food security-related involvements and responsibilities. This makes it possible for stakeholders to focus on the areas that are relevant to their needs. It is further recommended that a single national institution compile the data, feed it into the framework and put together an annual or biannual report. This report would provide the information on the different aspects of food security and would link them to policies and programmes, thereby identifying policy gaps and providing guidance for new policies. The multidimensionality of the framework is bound to improve collaboration between the different institutions, ministries and State agencies. The importance of data collection and availability must be stressed again at this point to allow for proper performance tracking.
Attention must be paid to achieving this monitoring framework’s objectives through a realistic and effective implementation process that moves responsibly towards achieving food security.
Endnotes
1. According to the Committee on World Food Security, food security exists
“when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. The four pillars of food security are availability, access, utilization and stability.” (FAO, 2009, p. 3).
2. In this publication, “dimension” will be used to refer to what are usually known as the four “pillars” of food security, namely availability, access, utilization and stability, while “pillar” will be used for the newly introduced
“core” composed of ex post indicators.
3. In this publication, the term “food security” is synonymous to “food and nutrition security,” as nutritional security is an integral part of food security.
4. The SDGs cover the complex issues of poverty, hunger, growth, inequality, education, health, life on land and in the water as well as the issues of peace, climate change, the environment and the need for strong institutions and partnerships, among others, which are covered through 17 goals and 169 targets and means of implementation.
5. Arab Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction; Arab Transportation Agreements (http://www.lasportal.org/ar/councils/ministerialcouncil/
Pages/MCouncilDocuments.aspx?RID=3); Pan-Arab Renewable Energy Strategy; Arab Health and Environment Strategy; Arab Regional Strategy for Sustainable Consumption and Production; Strategy for Sustainable Arab Agricultural Development for the Upcoming two Decades (2005-2025); Arab Strategy for Water Security in the Arab Region; Emergency Programme for Arab Food Security (http://www.aoad.org/Arab-Food-Emergency-Program.asp); Arab Fisheries Strategy (http://www.aoad.org/
FishStratgy.asp); United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification 2018-2030 Strategic Framework; Arab Framework Action Plan on Climate
Change Issues (AFAPCC) ( ).
6. Tier 3 indicators are indicators selected for SDG monitoring for which there is no methodology or databank available yet.
7. As a convention in this publication, “pillar” will be used to denote the group of three core indicators at the center of the framework while
“dimension” will be referring the four usual dimensions of food security, namely availability, access, utilization and stability.
8. 2010 was chosen as the base year for this report as it had the most data for a majority of indicators.
9. Each indicator slice consists of an overlay of three slices representing respectively the year 2010, the latest year and scores of 0 or no data.
The overlay is achieved using the “VLookup” function in Excel. When 2010 data is available it is on top (solid and dark colours) and if not available then latest year data would appear (shaded and light colour) while if both are not available or the score is 0, the slice would have a light grey colour.
10. Subregional averages are provided in annex 3.
11. The world figure is for 2018 and the Arab region is an average over multiple years for countries.
12. Note: Red shaded cells show indicators for which data is not available.
AC2 (expenditure on food consumption) and ST2 (food price anomalies) lack data for most countries. Despite of the stated aim of including indicators with data for 50 per cent of countries and covering 50 per cent of the Arab population, they had to be included given their importance to food security, for example AC2 would help account for periods like the 2007-2008 food price crises.