The Southern Province HFS Programme in Zambia offers an excellent case study for the integrated approach taken by IFAD to improve HFS and nutrition for drought-affected households. It is one of several recently launched projects in southern and eastern Africa that address the particular problem of transitory food insecurity induced by recurrent droughts. The project explicitly uses HFS as a guiding principle for the selection of project activities to promote sustainable household food access in low and medium rainfall areas. Semi-subsistence farmers and communities that so far have been left out of development because of their remoteness, poor resource base or poverty are now being assisted. As a first step in targeting the most vulnerable areas, maps were drawn up that identified potentially food-insecure districts. The project aims to meet the needs of the intended beneficiaries according to their own priorities through participatory research and extension. The programme also features strong support for a unified national food security monitoring system, integration into a broader agricultural sector programme and inter-agency collaboration with UNICEF and WFP.

Food insecurity is addressed in three ways, through (i) improving the long-term resilience of households to food security risks; (ii) stabilizing household food access in deficit periods; and (iii) strengthening household food security monitoring.

More stable access to food and enhanced resilience to natural risks would result from improved research and extension, particularly in soil and water conservation techniques and diversification towards drought-tolerant crops, with particular attention to the natural basis for, and effect on, the local food base and diet patterns. An improvement in accessibility of remote areas, upgrading of potable water supplies, and diversification of income sources would complement agriculture goals. Household food access in food deficit periods would be stabilized by better storage practices, distribution of insecticides and improved market access. Parallel programmes by WFP would help to maintain a social safety net of food supplies through food for work and other measures to the most vulnerable groups and during times of general food shortages. A number of NGOs would be called upon to play an active role in implementing the programme. UNICEF would provide technical and financial support for (i) needs assessment surveys and M&E activities, (ii) training of staff, and (iii) health education.

The project highlights the need for a national perspective and a set of policies and mechanisms through which the Government of Zambia could consistently address the food insecurity problem. Continuous food and nutrition monitoring and the capacity at the national, provincial and district levels to react to food crises are at the core of an integrated approach. A national capacity is being pioneered, in form of an HFS, Nutrition and Health Monitoring System (FHANIS). The system will have the capacity to collect and analyse food-security-relevant data at the household and regional levels by preparing risk maps and profiles of food insecurity and of vulnerable groups and by monitoring the effects of policy changes. FHANIS would be co-financed with UNICEF and bilateral donors, and would include technical advisers from FAO. The IFAD project was prepared in the wider context of the Government's Agricultural Sector Investment Programme (ASIP), of which it forms part. Led by the World Bank and with support of other donors, the ASIP would ensure consistent policy formulation and develop unified services and mechanisms for the implementation, monitoring and management of funds. Adequate multi-sectoral linkages between Health, Education and Community Development and the Agricultural Sectors would he maintained to achieve not only HFS but also nutrition security.