Technical Guidance for the Joint Approach to Nutrition and Food Security Assessment (JANFSA)

This Joint Approach for Nutrition and Food Security Assessment (JANFSA) guidance is designed for professionals and organizations intending to carry out integrated nutrition and food security assessments. It sets out the steps required and the standards for such assessments. 

Developed by WFP Regional Bureaux for East and Central Africa and Southern Africa, and the UNICEF Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa, the guidance is based on initial work done by a Technical Working Group (TAG)1 in 2011/12, in line with a regional memorandum of understanding for WFP and UNICEF and has benefited from peer review by technical specialists across UNICEF and WFP. The guidance brings to life the UNICEF conceptual framework on the causes of malnutrition, adapted by WFP to include determinants of food security. Information on both food security and nutrition is collected for the same population, which allows for a joint analysis of the relationship between the two, as well as of the underlying causes of food and nutrition insecurity to better inform policy and programme decision-making.

The JANFSA guidance also helps to define appropriate programme responses and supports the design of existing food or non-food based interventions in the study area. This is done by determining their type (social protection, safety nets, preventive or curative nutrition interventions), targets (areas, households or individuals) and implementation (independently or jointly) in order to efficiently address the food security and/or nutrition-related issues.