What do we know about the future of food assistance?

Food assistance has evolved to address both immediate needs and long-term resilience, reflecting the broader scope of interventions beyond traditional food aid. Localized and cash-based assistance is growing in importance, but externally sourced, in-kind assistance remains crucial in areas where ma...

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Main Author: Omamo, Steven Were
Format: Book Chapter
Language:Inglés
Published: International Food Policy Research Institute 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175409
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author Omamo, Steven Were
author_browse Omamo, Steven Were
author_facet Omamo, Steven Were
author_sort Omamo, Steven Were
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Food assistance has evolved to address both immediate needs and long-term resilience, reflecting the broader scope of interventions beyond traditional food aid. Localized and cash-based assistance is growing in importance, but externally sourced, in-kind assistance remains crucial in areas where markets and food systems are disrupted and thus unable to ensure timely and stable access to nutritious food. Future food assistance needs will increasingly reflect changing geographies, growing urban food insecurity, and heightened market volatility, requiring adaptive, anticipatory, and multilayered strategies. Significant gaps remain in understanding how to sustainably transition from international food assistance to locally driven, resilient food systems that address long-term nutritional adequacy and adapt to compounding crises. Foresight research can help highlight the intersection of climate change, conflict, and economic volatility as key drivers of future food assistance needs, and the nature of innovations to boost efficiency and impact. Expanded use of digital tools and integration of food assistance into social protection systems offer promising pathways toward enhanced efficiency and impact. Further research is needed to ensure that innovations reach the most vulnerable in low-resource settings and that integrated systems are sustainable.
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spelling CGSpace1754092025-11-06T04:10:59Z What do we know about the future of food assistance? Omamo, Steven Were food assistance social protection food aid nutrition markets food security WFP cash transfers digital technology Food assistance has evolved to address both immediate needs and long-term resilience, reflecting the broader scope of interventions beyond traditional food aid. Localized and cash-based assistance is growing in importance, but externally sourced, in-kind assistance remains crucial in areas where markets and food systems are disrupted and thus unable to ensure timely and stable access to nutritious food. Future food assistance needs will increasingly reflect changing geographies, growing urban food insecurity, and heightened market volatility, requiring adaptive, anticipatory, and multilayered strategies. Significant gaps remain in understanding how to sustainably transition from international food assistance to locally driven, resilient food systems that address long-term nutritional adequacy and adapt to compounding crises. Foresight research can help highlight the intersection of climate change, conflict, and economic volatility as key drivers of future food assistance needs, and the nature of innovations to boost efficiency and impact. Expanded use of digital tools and integration of food assistance into social protection systems offer promising pathways toward enhanced efficiency and impact. Further research is needed to ensure that innovations reach the most vulnerable in low-resource settings and that integrated systems are sustainable. 2025-07-21 2025-06-30T20:04:13Z 2025-06-30T20:04:13Z Book Chapter https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175409 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175019 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Omamo, Steven Were. 2025. What do we know about the future of food assistance? In What do we know about the future of food systems? eds. Keith Wiebe and Elisabetta Gotor. Part One: What Do We Know About the Future of Food Systems Drivers and Impacts? Chapter 16, Pp. 91-96. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175409
spellingShingle food assistance
social protection
food aid
nutrition
markets
food security
WFP
cash transfers
digital technology
Omamo, Steven Were
What do we know about the future of food assistance?
title What do we know about the future of food assistance?
title_full What do we know about the future of food assistance?
title_fullStr What do we know about the future of food assistance?
title_full_unstemmed What do we know about the future of food assistance?
title_short What do we know about the future of food assistance?
title_sort what do we know about the future of food assistance
topic food assistance
social protection
food aid
nutrition
markets
food security
WFP
cash transfers
digital technology
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/175409
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