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Research
Targeting in complex emergencies: the cases of
Somalia and Columbia Summary of case studies 1,2 1
Jaspars. S and Maxwell. D (2008). Targeting in complex
The World Food Programme (WFP) recently
commissioned research to investigate the
participation of recipient communities in the
targeting and management of humanitarian
food assistance in complex emergencies. Four
case studies were carried out involving desk
reviews and field visits. The purpose of the
research was to understand the ways in which
participatory or community-based approaches
to targeting (CBTD) have been attempted
within the definition of community-based
targeting suggested by WFP. This definition
includes the notion of working through local or
traditional leaders to target food to the most
vulnerable. Two of the country case studies are
summarised here.
Somalia case study
The Somalia case study looked at CBTD under
the ongoing WFP Protracted Relief and
Rehabilitation Operation (PRRO). The majority
of food aid is targeted to the south-central part
of the country where political stability has been
most problematic. The largest single category of
assistance has been general food distribution
for food insecure rural populations as well as
for internally displaced populations (IDPs).
However there is now a substantial amount of
food assistance going to urban populations as
well.
According to the review, targeting at the
geographic level of district and livelihood is
well informed by analysis but less informed by
adequate assessment at village and household
level. Security considerations, limited staff
numbers and other constraints have long meant
that the actual oversight of what happens to the
delivered food must be left in the hands of local
leaders at the village or IDP camp level. Under
these circumstances, there have been allegations
of widespread diversion of food aid by
militias and other powerful actors before it
reaches the community level, and widespread
practices of the redistribution of food aid
beyond the WFP-targeted recipients at the
community level. The limited access for follow
up and monitoring means that the real impact
of redistribution is not known.
In Somalia, the WFP relies to some extent on
local leadership to oversee and target food aid
within the community. However, there are large
differences in the accountability and legitimacy
of local leadership in different locations. These
range from a reasonable degree of accountability
of leadership in rural communities (where
the presence of clan elders and religious leaders
allowed for some checks and balances and
some redress mechanisms) to populations effectively
kept in check by ‘gate-keepers’ who
control information, access, and resources. The
latter type of local leadership tends to predominate
in IDP camp situations. Although committees
of local leaders exist in both situations, the
degree to which leaders actually represent the
community differs enormously and most of the
evidence about diversion of assistance comes
from situations in which representation is the
lowest.
The practice of redistribution limits the
number of people in any recipient community
who are excluded from food assistance, but also
ends up ensuring that no one receives very
much. Strong views were expressed virtually
everywhere the study team visited that external
assistance in the form of food should be shared
equally within communities.
Much of the process of food aid targeting
remains opaque to recipients. They are often
not aware of their entitlements or the process of
determining who is entitled. Redistribution
rarely takes place in an organised or supervised
way, and is often so ad hoc and disorganised
that it results in fighting or even loss to looting.
The authors of the Somalia case study
conclude that improved targeting would be
promoted by an improved analysis of context,
increasing the capacity of staff and partners to
target at the village level, and a willingness to
work with the reality of sharing and redistribution.
Other means of improving the participation
in targeting include identifying and
bolstering appropriate checks and balances,
involving all stakeholders in planning, improving
transparency through informing the
community of overall food aid being delivered
and making better use of localised complaints
mechanisms.
Columbia case study
Columbia has one of the largest displaced
communities in the world – between 1.8 million
to 3.7 million people. Women and children and
marginalised ethnic minority groups such as
the indigenous and the Afro-Columbian people
are over-represented among the IDP populations.
There are currently 2,000 communities
assisted under nearly 3,000 projects in PRRO
10366. Approximately 499,000 beneficiaries are
served by the PRRO.
The case study involved visits to five very
different geographic regions. In this case,
targeting involves two distinct steps. The first
step involves the use of geographical and
Feinstein Famine Centre, Somalia, April, 2008
An IDP camp in Somalia where the evaluation was undertaken.
administrative targeting methods, based on
geography, population and institutional criteria
using a vast network of informal partners, as
well as a formal agreement with two
Government of Columbia (GoC) institutions.
The second step involves choosing between
seven possible food assistance modalities
(relief, food for work, food for training, nutritional
risk, mother and child, pre-school feeding
and school feeding), each with their own
specific beneficiary profile and food assistance
package delivered by a chosen implementing
partners. Both steps involve various decisionmaking
processes.
There is ample scope for direct community
participation in Columbia because about one
third of WFP implementing partners are
community based organisations. Community
based participation begins after the second step
of targeting and revolves more around
programme implementation than programme
design and setting selection criteria. The study
found that some communities can influence the
implementing partners’ negotiation process
with WFP to implement a food assistance project
and hence can be said to participate successfully
in the targeting strategy through advocacy.
This is much more likely to happen in
communities with strong cohesion and with
leadership styles that encourage good working
relations with outsiders wishing to support that
particular community. In some cases, the beneficiary
community itself approaches WFP to
implement the project – this was seen to be
more likely to be led by women in urban
settings, where perhaps traditional leadership
styles had somewhat broken down.
emergencies. Somalia country case study. Feinstein
International Centre, July 2008.
2
Frize. J (2008). Targeting in complex emergencies.
Columbia country case study. Feinstein International Centre,
July 2008.
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