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Food security responses to the protracted crisis context of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year of publication 2006

Author Koen Vlassenroot, Salomé Ntububa et Timothy Raeymaekers;Agriculture and Economic Development Analysis Division

Category Other document

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) This report tests the validity of the hypothesis that there exists a critical paradox between the dynamic features of food insecurity and static policy response in a protracted emergency context. It does so by presenting a review of the food security situation and related stakeholders' responses in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where more than ten years of war have generated one of the most severe humanitarian crises since the Second World War. The paper first conceptualizes the particular links between conflict and food security. It stresses that a better understanding of the institutional shifts caused by conflict and the consequent strategies initiated by households are essential to better understand the dynamic nature of food-related emergencies. It then discusses the effects of conflict on the levels of poverty and on local food systems in the DRC. It then examines the food security responses of international donors, local institutions and associations. From this analysis, a number of lessons and challenges for future interventions are distilled.

Language English

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