Abstract:
Chronic food and nutrition insecurity in Africa persists amid high rates of poverty and
malnutrition. The cumulative effect of protracted conflicts, economic decline, extreme
weather events and the erosion of livelihoods and family-based support systems results in
disruptions in food systems. Such disruptions result in systemic problems, depriving
individuals and households of essential nutrition. Overcoming these disruptions requires
purchasing power on the part of consumers and operational markets for supplying
commodities. Both are often lacking in the contexts in which humanitarian agencies operate.
This study investigates the influence World Food Programme (WFP) cash and food transfers
have on the diversity and quality of diets of recipient households in Mozambique, and
discusses the implications of this for the design of systemic food assistance intentions. The
food consumption patterns and precautionary behaviours of cash and food beneficiaries were
compared with a counterfactual group of non-beneficiaries that were drawn from a national
sample. Beneficiaries received either a cash transfer or a food basket of an equivalent local
market value. Beneficiaries’ preferences regarding the transfer modality were also
investigated.
Understanding the context and severity of the food shortfall is crucial in designing the most
suitable food security intervention to mitigate the negative precautionary strategies. Food
transfers led to the adoption of fewer negative precautionary strategies than cash transfers.
The frequency and sequencing of the adoption of precautionary strategies were found to be
context specific.
Food transfers improved dietary diversity, whereas cash transfers led to the inclusion of more
nutrient-dense foods in the diet. Cash was preferred over food transfers. However, the study
showed that providing adequate rations with a cash portion could improve both dietary
diversity and quality. A combination of the two modalities could stimulate demand for
nutritious foods by addressing both income (purchasing power) constraints and stimulating
demand for these foods. This demand could have a pull factor in terms of local food systems,
which stimulates demand not only for food, but also for upstream and downstream food
system services if there is a functioning market. Such insight is essential to inform the design of crisis interventions. It also contributes more
broadly to understanding the systemic food system influences that food assistance
programmes can have in development contexts. This is important because the rapid
evolvement of humanitarian interventions increasingly focuses on the need for rigorous data
on the effectiveness and comparative performance of transfer modalities. Sound impact
evaluations in emergencies are gradually being considered as an integral element of
programmes. This thesis contributes to the generation of data for evidence-based
interventions in emergencies. The study also contributes to reducing the wide gap between
the conceptualisation of food security issues and the development of effective instruments to
address these issues.
