been instances where governments have actively taken measures that specifically aim to enhance resilience to natural disasters. For example, the government of Kenya recently


established a National Drought Management Authority to manage its country plan, and in Ethi- opia the government is implementing policies that prioritize early livestock interventions ahead of drought, including commercial destocking and fod-


As food and nutrition insecurity become increasingly concentrated in conflict-affected countries, discussions on the post-2015 agenda need to focus on the questions of how realistic achieving those goals may be for conflict-affected countries and how approaches for achieving those goals may need to differ for those countries.


der interventions.32 Furthermore, food aid programs such as the Employment Generation Schemes and a program of free food distribution in Ethiopia have had a positive impact on welfare and food secu- rity for many households following the drought in 2002.33 Other policies and programs that improve households’ adaptive capacity include measures for establishing price information and disaster early-warning systems, expansion of credit and insurance markets, and promotion of effective (gov- ernment) institutions.


Health shocks: Lessons from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa suggest that early reaction and the implementation of comprehensive strategies to con- tain infectious diseases (health shocks) play a key


58 HOWDOWEBREAKTHE LINKS?


role in abating the risk of civil unrest. Nigeria, for example, seems to have successfully contained the spread of the disease through an effective and timely response in spite of its weak health infrastructure and limited public resources. One factor leading to this success was the establishment, only within days of the first confirmed case of Ebola in the country, of a national coordination system to guide the gov- ernment’s public health response and consolidate decisionmaking.34 A second factor was the ability of Nigerian public health officials to quickly track and monitor people who had been in contact with infected patients.35


Food price shocks: Governments may take several measures in the face of food price shocks. In the short run, public reserves and diversified sources of food can help safeguard against global food price volatility, especially for countries that are heavily dependent on food imports. Evidence from India,36 Kenya,37 and Zambia38 indicate that national reserves can be effective for stabilizing prices over time. Effective social safety nets that can be scaled up in times of crises, such as the Productive Safety Net Programme in Ethiopia or the Hunger Safety Net Programme in Kenya, can help to protect the poor against food price shocks. Such measures can take the form of (conditional) cash transfer and (flexible) food voucher systems, assistance for liveli- hood asset accumulation, and nutrition and health interventions. Policies that improve households’ and communities’ transformative capacity include struc- tural (economic and social) policies and infrastruc- tural investments. Governments should also foster agricultural growth by increasing the productiv- ity and income of smallholder farmers. Tis can be achieved, for instance, by facilitating their access to inputs such as seeds and fertilizers, extension ser- vices, and weather-based crop insurance.39


GOING FORWARD


In 2015, much effort will be devoted to negotiations and finalizing the post-2015 agenda. As food and nutrition insecurity become increasingly concen- trated in conflict-affected countries, discussions on the post-2015 agenda need to focus on the questions


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