Behind the scenes

Making Food Security and Nutrition Information More Useful for Decision-Making

May 2008

Paulo Cordeiro, Manuel Sahal and Carlos Fonseca are Focal Points of the Technical Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition (SETSAN) in the Provinces of Zambézia, Cabo Delgado and Nampula, respectively. SETSAN operates across several ministries and is coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture of Mozambique.

Rachele Santini is a communication specialist working with FAO.

Paulo, Manuel and Carlos participated in a training course “Producing Food Security Information Products that Result in Action” jointly organized by SETSAN and FAO in December 2006. The course aimed at reinforcing SETSAN’s capacity to produce food security and nutrition information products that are more relevant for decision-making.

RS:
How useful was the course for your work?

PC: The course was extremely important and useful. We acquired practical knowledge on how to regularly produce food security and nutrition information, keeping our target groups in mind.

MS: It helped improve the structure of our reports. We learned how to prepare information that leads to action and timely decisions.

CF: It helped us improve our work in the provinces – especially in writing reports and producing relevant information at the district level.

RS:
What concrete actions did you take after the training course to improve FSIPs?

CF: After the course, I organized a meeting with my SETSAN colleagues in the Province of Nampula and explained to new members of other institutions the importance of our reports for promoting food security and nutrition and how to improve them.

PC: I also met with colleagues from other institutions in the Province of Zambezia and shared what I had learned. We also revised our products and improved the way we produce food security information.

MS: We revised our instruments for collecting information to obtain better information which contributes to timely decision-making. I met with district administrators, NGO staff and members of provincial governments to explain the importance of using our reports for making decisions.

RS:
Are FSIPs now used more often for decision-making? Can you give some examples?

MS: The provincial government of the Cabo Delgado Province now regularly asks us for our quarterly report. When the situation is abnormal, the report is presented at the Provincial Government Session where institutions concerned with the situation are required to intervene. They take into account the recommendations of the report when preparing their interventions.

For example, during the rainy season, the provincial government relied on the information we provided about road accessibility and our recommendations for assisting the people in affected areas.

CF: Now that we have improved our reporting, provincial institutions use our information more often for making decisions. For example, during cyclone “Jókwe”, we produced a report ,together with other institutions, as well as a plan of action that was adopted by the Provincial Government. They paid particular attention to our recommendations regarding public works, health and agriculture.

PC: Before the course, the information we provided was not often used. Now that its quality improved, decision-makers are more interested and frequently ask for information such as:
- the number of people affected by the crisis who could benefit from food aid assistance;
- information regarding areas where production failed; and
- recommendations on agricultural performance, availability of seeds and production tools.

The District Direction of Health uses the nutritional information we provide to guide nutritional feeding programmes. District Governments also use our reports to define what needs to be done and monitor the food security and nutrition situation.

RS:
How can FAO contribute to further improving the production of FSIPs in Mozambique?

PC: FAO should provide technical and financial assistance to SETSAN Central to improve the communication of information and develop the skills of technicians at national, provincial and district levels.

MS: FAO could continue to support the improvement of our information products by increasing technicians' ability to collect, analyze and process information used for decision-making.

CF: FAO could train other SETSAN members working in other institutions at the district level. I hope that FAO will propose another training course aimed at further improving the reports' writing and content as well as that of other information products.