The 2011 Horn of Africa food crisis reinforced the need for governments and international organizations to be able to react quickly to ongoing humanitarian crises such as drought and famine. In particular, emergency food supplies are critical to mitigate the effects of negative weather events and price shocks. Such supplies must be maintained and used effectively, however, to prevent further disruption and volatility in both global and local food markets.
The Pre-Positioning for Predictable Access and Resilience (PREPARE) system is a pilot program designed to give poor food-deficit countries rapid access to sufficient physical food for distribution in times of food crisis due to high and volatile prices and other shocks. The proposed pilot would take place in the ECOWAS region of West Africa and would provide small, targeted emergency humanitarian food reserves. These reserves would complement existing social safety net programs by providing temporary support to the region's most vulnerable populations. The pilot program supports the WFP call for a emergency reserves system based on objective trigger criteria, which is supplied through IFPRI's Excessive Food Price Variability Early Warning System .
Download the PREPARE feasibility proposal .
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