Conflict, violence and insecurity

Context

Conflict, violence and insecurity remain key drivers of food crises and food insecurity. 70% of the world's hungry people live in areas afflicted with war and violence. Food insecurity can both be a consequence and a cause of conflict, particularly in contexts marked by unstable political regimes, slow economic growth, and high inequality – of which women and girls, marginalised people, pastoralists and indigenous communities are often the first impacted. Switzerland calls the full respect of the International Humanitarian Law, in particular related food and water security, and the access for humanitarian assistance. Switzerland advocates for a comprehensive long-term food system vision with a strengthened humanitarian-development-peace nexus approach, and for a transformation of food systems by assessing and addressing structural drivers of vulnerabilities. This entails supporting the WFP in its role as a dual-mandated agency to pursue programmes which bridge the H-D-P Nexus with interventions which present durable solutions to humanitarian needs and chart pathways to development. It is necessary to consider more systematically the interlinkages between conflict, migration, climate change, food security and malnutrition, while addressing legitimate - and recognising customary - governance notably over natural resources (land, water, seeds, etc.).

• The HDP nexus and Resilience

  The recent increase of needs in emergencies and crises has led to a situation in which funding for humanitarian assistance has far outstripped funding for development. However, while roughly one-third of humanitarian aid targets food security in some form, the specific share devoted to agriculture and livelihood support is around 3 % of total humanitarian funding as of 2024. A major challenge is to bring the food systems approach into humanitarian and fragile contexts, introducing the holistic and longer-term endeavour of improving food systems taking into account the very immediate objectives of emergency assistance and the need to protect and transform the contextual structures fundamental to development. Particularly in protracted crisis situations, this means considering how the long-term structures for food security can be improved, often without having the legal and financial regulatory framework that stronger States have.

  One avenue to address that challenge is that of resilience. Here, emergency assistance and longer-term planning can meet, and food systems thinking can be applied. This also entails a change of mindset, adapting how assistance is administered, and with it, the need to advance beyond scattered, siloed, short-term, and small-scale interventions:

  • Convergence, not scattered activities --> Integrated packages and concentrated interventions which are tailored to the context
  • Scale, not small projects --> Seek “high-impact interventions” to be complemented by partners
  • Community owned, not externally motivated --> government and/or community participation in the design, implementation and monitoring of programmes
  • Partnership focussed, not siloed, uncoordinated actions --> early engagement with dedicated resources for multiple years
  • Resilient food systems to reduce future humanitarian needs --> identify priority actions that can support communities today while building the enablers of future food security

Key Resources

Learning Lab: Resilience Thinking
organized by the SDC Networks Agriculture & Food Systems, RésEAU and Climate, DRR & Environment

Knowledge platform on Emergencies and Resilience
FAO

Conflict and hunger
World Food Programme

Pathways for market-oriented development on the Humanitarian-Development-Peace nexus
Food & Business Knowledge Platform, 2020

Peace and Food Security - Investing in resilience to sustain rural livelihoods amid conflict
FAO, 2016

News related to conflict, violence and insecurity