Before intervening in a country, the first priority for WFP is to analyse the food security situation of the population. WFP's food security analysis work is commonly known as VAM (Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping) and is carried out by 120 analysts around the world.
Be it an emergency or otherwise, WFP needs to answer some critical questions before it designs an operation. Who is hungry? How many of them are there? Where do they live? Why are they hungry? Who is vulnerable and could become hungry if there is a natural disaster or crisis?
Only when they have these answers can WFP experts decide on the scale of intervention, the type of intervention and the most appropriate responses required to save people's lives and livelihoods.
Specialists around the world
WFP has a unique network of about 120 specialists all around the world whose job it is to answer these fundamental questions. In this section you can consult our Food Security Analysis Reports which present food security, nutrition, markets, health and education findings. Our analysts work closely with national governments, UN partners and NGOs.
Some of WFP's other highly visible and valued outputs are maps. VAM develops maps identifying food insecurity but also emerging vulnerability. To do this we use the latest technologies such satellite imagery, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) or Personal Digital Assistants (PDA). Learn more
Another important part of our VAM work are guidelines and references, which provide the humanitarian community with up-to-date guidance, tools and tips to assess needs in different contexts. WFP is constantly researching new fields to understand how economic, social and ecological trends affect poor and vulnerable families.
Along with partners, WFP is also working on developing a standardised scale to classify food security situations by severity. The IPC scale starts from a generally food secure situation and extends to a humanitarian catastrophe. Learn more about the IPC
