Households with access to sufficient food (%)
Indicator Name
Indicator ID in PRIME
Definition
This indicator focuses on affected individual households able to access sufficient food. It’s a time bound indicator (consumption period or year) and always looks at sufficient access to food during the crisis period. Intervention’s supporting the achievement of this indicator may include the following:
- Own production
- Own market purchase
- In-kind food transfers (assistance, supplementary/therapeutic/school feeding/asset, work etc.)
- Cash and vouchers.
- Cash based food access programs.
- Support & promotion of school gardens.
- Support & promotion of community gardens with vegetables, drought resistant seed varieties etc.
- National advocacy for Child friendly food policies and market price subsidies.
The affected households are considered to cover survival threshold, when they can meet their minimum food needs based on 2,100 Kcls per person per day (pppd) and cost of basic items in the non-food category, during crisis period.
The survival threshold is the amount of food and cash income required to ensure survival in the short-term, i.e. to cover minimum food and non-food needs. The “non-food” category includes the costs of preparing and consuming food plus any cash expenditure on water for human consumption.
For measuring the indicator, there are several options. One option is using HEA analysis, however the easier option is to use the Food Consumption Score (FCS)
The Food Consumption Score (FCS) is a composite score based on dietary diversity, food frequency, and the relative nutritional importance of different food groups. It is a proxy indicator for food intake. A questionnaire is used to ask respondents about the frequency of their households' consumption of nine food groups over the previous seven days.
To calculate the FCS, the consumption frequencies are summed and multiplied by the standardized food group weight (see table below). Households are then classified into three groups based on their weighted scores—poor, borderline, or acceptable—using the World Food Program recommended cutoff points (or approved, country-specific cutoff points if these have been established).
Country adaptation: The FCS questionnaire module should be adapted for each unique setting so that common, local foods are included in each food category in the questionnaire. The food groups, however, cannot be changed.
Numerator
The total number of households with FCS higher than 35 scores in all times/through out the year
Denominator
Total number of surveyed households
This indicator is measured using individual interviews with a representative sample of the target household representatives assessing how many days in the past 7 days have the household members eaten foods from any of the 9 pre-defined food groups.
- Main staples (weight 2)
- Pulses (weight 3)
- Vegetables (weight 1)
- Fruit (weight 1)
- Meat / fish (weight 4)
- Milk (weight 4)
- Sugar (weight 0.5)
- Oil (weight 0.5)
- Condiments (weight 0)
Indicator Prioritisation
Level of Indicator
Indicator Context Type
Theme
Sub Theme
Common Approach
Total Reach Indicator
Frequency of Data Collection
Unit of Measure
Data Format
Direction of Desired Change
Number of Decimal Points
Indicator is Rounding
Nature
Recommended Disaggregations
General Considerations
To calculate the FCS, the consumption frequencies are summed and multiplied by the standardized food group weight. Households are then classified into three groups based on their weighted scores raw scores of 0-21 are typically classified as “poor;” 21.5-35 as “borderline;” and over 35 as “acceptable.” -using the World Food Program recommended cutoff points (or approved, country-specific cutoff points if these have been established). A household is defined as a person or group of persons that usually live and eat together.
To calculate the FCS, the consumption frequencies are summed and multiplied by the standardized food group weight. Households are then classified into three groups based on their weighted scores—poor, borderline, or acceptable—using the World Food Program recommended cutoff points (or approved, country-specific cutoff points if these have been established). A household is defined as a person or group of persons that usually live and eat together.
To calculate the percentage of households with “acceptable” FCS, divide the number of households with FCS higher than 35 scores by the total number of surveyed households. Multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage. To measure the indicator on % of HHs able to access sufficient food in the consumption period/year, it requires regular data collection on the FCS.
The score should at maximum be collected on bi-monthly basis and at minimum on quarterly or half year period depending on program/project activities at the time of crises combined with seasonality, e.g. (rainfall and dry months, pre- and post-harvest, migratory and festive months, and the lean periods) etc.
When an individual household has an acceptable FCS throughout the consumption period/year, the HHs counts as ‘Yes’ for the indicator. The indicator requires measuring the FCS for the same households over the consumption period/Year. Use panel surveys.
In order to measure the indicator on % of HHs able to access sufficient food in the consumption period/year, it requires regularly collect data on the FCS during the consumption period/year. Score needs to be collected during the year- bi-monthly, Quarterly or half yearly (minimum) depending on program/project activities at the time of crises combined with seasonality. The key times the FCS needs to measured in a program/project are:
- In Lean season (if there are multiple lean seasons, then needs to be collected multiple times)
- In Peak Season
When one household is able to have acceptable FCS (35+) during all the seasons, the HHs counts as ‘Yes’ for the indicator. The indicator requires measuring the FCS for the same households over the consumption period/ Year. Use panel surveys. A panel survey is a research method used to gather information about the eating habits of a group of people over a period. The survey typically involves a series of questions that ask participants about their food intake, including the types of foods they eat, the quantities they consume, and the frequency with which they eat certain foods. To calculate the percentage of households with “acceptable” FCS, divide the number of households with FCS higher than 35 scores in all times/thought the year by the total number of surveyed households.
Other
MPCA PDM Survey: Food Consumption Score (FCS) section: Multipurpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) Toolkit | Save the Children’s Resource Centre
Form Questions
"I would like to ask you about all the different foods that your household members have eaten in the last 7 days, either inside or outside the home. How many days in the past 7 days have most of your household members eaten ..."[name the foods included in the first food group, then continue asking the same question about foods from the following food groups].
Example: "In the past week, approximately how many days has your household eaten cereals and tubers?" (Same questions with other food categories)
To calculate the FCS, the consumption frequencies are summed and multiplied by the standardized food group weight. HHs are then classified into 3 groups based on their weighted scores of 0-21 are classified as poor; 21.5-35 as borderline; and over 35 as “acceptable.”
The indicator requires measuring the FCS for the same households over the consumption period/Year. Use panel surveys to gather information about the eating habits of a group of people over a period.
When one HH is able to have acceptable FCS during all the seasons, the HHs counts as ‘Yes’ for the indicator.
To calculate the percentage of households with “acceptable” FCS, divide the number of households with FCS higher than 35 scores in all times/thought the year, by the total number of surveyed households.
Summarisation Logic
After raw scores are tabulated (per the WFP technical guidance referenced at the end of this PIRS), raw scores are translated into categories using standard (or country-specific) cutoff points: raw scores of 0-21 are typically classified as “poor;” 21.5-35 as “borderline;” and over 35 as “acceptable.” However, in countries where the international humanitarian community, national government, or other widely recognized entity has identified different thresholds for these cutoff points, implementing partners should use those country-specific cutoff points.
The final PIRS should include a specific reference to the cutoff point values (e.g., “raw scores of 0-28 are classified as poor”) as well as any reference materials that indicate where the country-specific thresholds have been identified. This may include, for example, Food Security Cluster country-specific guidance.
Based on the Acceptable FCS score over the consumption period (multiple times in the year), HHs who have acceptable FCS throughout the year (all data points) will be counted as the Numerator.
- World Food Program Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) Unit. Food Consumption Analysis: Calculation and use of the food consumption score in food security analysis. 2008. https://documents.wfp.org/stellent/groups/public/documents/manual_guide_proced/wfp197216. pdf
- The FCS tool and tool summaries are available on the USAID SPRING website https://www.spring- nutrition.org/publications/tool-summaries/food-consumption-analysis