COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL THE EU APPROACH TO RESILIENCE: LEARNING FROM FOOD SECURITY CRISES
Date: 2012-10-03
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Horn of Africa, agricultural disaster, humanitarian aid, hunger

EUROPEAN 
COMMISSION 

Brussels, 3.10.2012  
COM(2012) 586 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL 

THE EU APPROACH TO RESILIENCE: 
LEARNING FROM FOOD SECURITY CRISES 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL 

THE EU APPROACH TO RESILIENCE: 
LEARNING FROM FOOD SECURITY CRISES 

1. 

THE NEED TO ADDRESS CHRONIC VULNERABILITY 

Recent and recurrent food crises in the Sahel region and in the Horn of Africa, where more 
than  30  million  people  are  suffering  from  hunger,  have  underscored  the  need  to  work  on  a 
long-term  and  systematic  approach  to  building  the  resilience  of  vulnerable  countries  and 
populations. 

The  effects  of  economic  shocks,  rising  and  fluctuating  food  prices,  demographic  pressure, 
climate  change,  desertification,  environmental  degradation,  pressure  on  natural  resources, 
inappropriate land tenure systems, insufficient investment in agriculture, have, in many parts 
of the world, resulted in greater exposure to risk, notably from natural hazards. The impact of 
these  global  trends  is  manifested  in  the  increasing  number  and  intensity  of  natural  disasters 
and  crises.  The  poorest  households  are  the  most  vulnerable  and  in  many  instances  this 
vulnerability  is  compounded  by  political  instability  and  conflict.  In  the  case  of  food 
insecurity,  despite  some  progress,  one  billion  people  are  still  suffering  from  hunger  and  the 
issue  is  particularly  acute  in  drought-prone  areas  where  most  of  the  population  depends 
directly on agriculture and pastoralism.  

The EU is one of the world's largest donors providing life-saving assistance to people affected 
by  various  crises.  Over  recent  years  the  demands  for  such  assistance  have  increased 
substantially – far outstripping the resources available. Such assistance is vital, but it is aimed 
mainly  at  coping  with  emergency  situations  and  needs  to  be  supplemented  by  support  to 
populations at risk to withstand, cope with and adapt to repeated adverse events and long-term 
stress. 

Building resilience is a long-term effort that needs to be firmly embedded in national policies 
and planning. It is a part of the development process, and genuinely sustainable development 
will  need  to  tackle  the  root  causes  of  recurrent  crises  rather  than  just  their  consequences. 
Working  with  vulnerable  populations  to  build  their  resilience  is  also  a  fundamental  part  of 
poverty reduction which is the ultimate aim of EU development policy, as has been reaffirmed 
by the EU in the Agenda for Change1.  

Resilience  strategies  should  contribute  to  different  policies,  in  particular  Food  Security2, 
Climate Change Adaptation3 and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)4. In this context, the EU has 
consistently supported prevention and preparedness for crises in the most vulnerable countries 

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COM(2011)637, as endorsed by May 14 2012 Council Conclusions 
COM(2010)127 final 
COM(2009) 147 final. White Paper "Adapting to climate change: Towards a European framework for 
action 
EU  Strategy  for  supporting  disaster  risk  reduction  in  developing  countries  COM  (2009)  84  of 
23.02.2009. Towards an EU response to situations of fragility: engaging in difficult environments for 
sustainable development, stability and peace COM (2007) 643 of 25.10.2007. 

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and identified the need to integrate DRR and Adaptation to Climate Change, notably into both 
development cooperation and the humanitarian response. 

Investing in resilience is cost effective. Addressing the root causes of recurrent crises is not 
only better, especially for the people concerned, than only responding to the consequences of 
crises, it is also much cheaper. When the world is experiencing an economic and budgetary 
downturn,  the  budgets  of  both  partner  countries  and  donors  are  coming  under  increased 
pressure to show that they deliver the maximum impact for the funds that are made available.  

In  response  to  the  massive  food  crises  in  Africa,  the  Commission  has  recently  taken  two 
initiatives:  Supporting  Horn  of  African  Resilience  (SHARE)5  and  l'"Alliance  Globale  pour 
l'Initiative  Résilience  Sahel"  (AGIR)6.These  set  out  a  new  approach  to  building  up  the 
resilience of vulnerable populations.  

The purpose of this Communication is to use the lessons from these experiences to improve 
the effectiveness of the EU's support to reducing vulnerability in developing countries, which 
are disaster-prone by including resilience as a central aim.  

In addition, this Communication aims to contribute to the international debate on enhancing 
food  security  and  resilience  in  a  wider  sense,  notably  in  the  context  of  the  G8,  G20,  the 
Committee  on  World  Food  Security,  the  Scaling  Up  Nutrition  (SUN)  initiative,  Rio 
Conventions7' negotiations and the Global Alliance for the Horn of Africa.  

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Commission Staff Working Document SEC (2012) 102 of 11 April 2012. 
Alliance globale pour l'Initiative Résilience (Sahel) –  
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/12/613&format=HTML&aged=0&languag
e=EN& 
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, United Nations Convention on Biological 
Diversity and United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification 

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2. 

THE RESILIENCE PARADIGM 

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Resilience  is  the  ability  of  an  individual,  a  household,  a  community,  a  country  or  a 
region to withstand, to adapt, and to quickly recover from stresses and shocks. 

The  concept  of  resilience  has  two  dimensions:  the  inherent  strength  of  an  entity  –  an 
individual, a household, a community or a larger structure – to better resist stress and shock 
and the capacity of this entity to bounce back rapidly from the impact. 

Increasing  resilience  (and  reducing  vulnerability)  can  therefore  be  achieved  either  by 
enhancing the entity’s strength, or by reducing the intensity of the impact, or both. It requires 
a multifaceted strategy and a broad systems perspective aimed at both reducing the multiple 
risks of a crisis and at the same time improving rapid coping and adaptation mechanisms at 
local,  national  and  regional  level.  Strengthening  resilience  lies  at  the  interface  of 
humanitarian and development assistance.  

Enhancing  resilience  calls  for  a  long-term  approach,  based  on  alleviating  the  underlying 
causes conducive to crises, and enhancing capacities to better manage future uncertainty and 
change.  

3. 

THE  EU'S  EXPERIENCE  IN  DEALING  WITH  RESILIENCE  AND  FOOD 
CRISES IN AFRICA 

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest households, communities and countries have suffered from 
a  diminished  capacity  to  recover  from  the  long-term  effects  of  climate  change,  especially 
frequent and intense droughts, as well as economic crises and internal conflicts. The EU has 
provided support in relation to food crises in Africa for many years through humanitarian and 
development  assistance.  Building  on  this,  the  EU  Agenda  for  Change  will  prioritise 
cooperation in sustainable agriculture, including the safeguarding of ecosystem services and 
food and nutrition security in the EU's future long-term development assistance. 

In line with a focus on resilience, support to the agricultural sector and related national and 
regional  policies,  including  land  use,  should  not  only  strengthen  production  but  ensure 
notably  the  better  functioning  of  food  markets  and  support  empowerment  of  vulnerable 
groups and civil society.  

Against this background, the EU is developing and implementing innovative responses to the 
crises in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, which should provide valuable lessons for a more 
systematic  and  long-term  approach  to  building  the  resilience  of  affected  populations.  It  is 
important  here  to  recognise  the  role  of  women  in  building  resilience  in  households  and  in 
communities  affected  by  crises.  In  unstable  and  fragile  countries,  where  resilience  is  often 
weakest,  it  is  also  important  to  ensure  that  policy  initiatives  take  into  account  the  security-
development nexus, thereby encouraging an approach that can promote policy coherence and 
complementarity.  

3.1. 

Supporting the Horn of Africa's Resilience (SHARE)  

A  number  of  factors  underlie  the  long-standing  vulnerability  of  livelihoods  in  the  Horn  of 
Africa. These include population growth and increased pressure on resources, rural poverty, 
low  productivity,  weakened  terms-of-trade,  insecure  access  to  land  and  water,  weak 
governance,  insecurity  and  prolonged  geo-political  instability.  The  EU  has  considerable 
experience in cooperating with development partners in the Horn of Africa on agriculture and 

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food  security  and  has  gained  valuable  understanding  of  which  approaches  hold  the  greatest 
potential.  

The  2011  drought  that  hit  the  region  was  the  worst  in  60  years.  It  constituted  a  shock  that 
turned a precarious situation into a crisis (and in Somalia it resulted in famine conditions).  

Informed by the alerts from the food security early warning systems, the EU and its Member 
States worked to develop a response that could match the scale of the crisis:  

– 

– 

– 

A  joint  humanitarian-development  analytical  framework  was  elaborated  which 
allowed  humanitarian  and  development  actors 
to  work  from  a  common 
understanding and define joint priorities.  

The EU together provided EUR 790 million in humanitarian assistance in 2011/12. 
The  Commission  alone  allocated  EUR  181  million.  In  addition  to  life-saving 
activities,  this  assistance  also  provided  for  first  steps  in  the  recovery  process,  for 
instance through the provision of seeds and tools, improved water management, and 
restocking of herds.  

An increase in short-term development financing was quickly provided to support the 
immediate recovery phase. The Commission engagement for the period 2012-13 was 
EUR 250 million to support agricultural and livestock production, nutrition, livestock 
health, water supply and natural resource management. 

In  addition  to  the  short-term  response,  the  EU  has  put  in  place  a  long-term  and  structured 
approach  to  assist  the  affected  countries  and  communities  to  recover  after  the  drought  and 
build up their ability to cope with future droughts. This involves:  

– 

– 

A  commitment  to  work  with  and  through  regional  partners.  The  EU  and  other 
bilateral  donors,  are  assisting  the  secretariat  of  the  Intergovernmental  Authority  on 
Development (IGAD) to strengthen its capacity and to coordinate and promote cross-
border  initiatives  in  areas  such  as  livestock  development  and  natural  resource 
management.  

A  commitment  to  work  closely  with  other  donors  active  in  the  region.  The  donor 
community  has  initiated  a  light  coordination  platform,  the  "Global  Alliance  for 
Action  for  Resilience  and  Growth8".  Working  closely  with  IGAD,  the  Global 
Alliance  has  provided  a  forum  to  bring  together  country  partners  and  those  donors 
active in supporting drought resilience.  

A  long-term  commitment  to  address  structural  issues  and  to  build  long-term  resilience. 
Depending  on  the  specific  national  and  local  context,  several  themes  and  sectors  will  be 
treated as priorities for EU funding over the period 2014-2020. These could include: livestock 
health  and  development,  natural  resource  management,  DRR,  national  and  regional  trade, 
nutrition, governance, research and technology transfer, and population flows.  

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The scope of the Alliance covers the greater Horn: Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Djibouti as well 
as Sudan and South Sudan. The Secretariat is provided by USAID. 

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3.2. 

AGIR Sahel: the EU Global Alliance for Resilience Initiative (Alliance Globale 
pour l’Initiative Résilience-Sahel) 

Over the past nine agricultural seasons, the Sahel has faced six distinct food crises. The region 
has  suffered  from  undernutrition  with  indicators  well  above  alarm  levels.  Twelve  million 
people are currently at risk which represents 20% of the population. Women and children are 
the most vulnerable to food and economic stresses, especially during the lean period between 
harvest cycles. 

Progress  has  been  made  over  the  past  years  in  West  Africa,  thanks  to  the  work  of  existing 
institutions  and  platforms  -  such  as  the  "Réseau  de  Prévention  des  Crises  Alimentaires" 
(RPCA)  and  the  "Comité  permanent  Inter-Etats  de  Lutte  contre  la  Sécheresse  au  Sahel" 
(CILSS). Building upon lessons learned approaches have been developed to better face food 
crises. The improved functioning of early warning systems has helped countries and donors to 
better anticipate the ongoing crisis.  

The EU action plan responding to the 2012 Sahel crisis amounts to approximately EUR 500 
million (EUR 123 million for humanitarian response and EUR 372 million for development 
programmes).  

A three-phased approach has been designed in close coordination between EU humanitarian 
and  development  assistance.  The  plan  covers  a  wide  range  of  activities  ranging  from 
improving  access  to  food  to  supporting  country  partners’  early  warning  systems,  market 
functioning  and  ecosystem  protection.  It  links  emergency  and  development  programmes, 
mixing  short  term  and  medium-to-long  term  funding  towards  enhancing  resilience  in  an 
integrated  approach.  Addressing  emergencies  while  investing  in  resilience  calls  for 
coordinated assistance efforts - aligned with regional organisations – both to ensure coherence 
and complementarity and to reduce vulnerability of the poorest households to shocks and to 
tackle the underlying causes of food and nutrition insecurity.  

The  "Alliance  Globale  pour  l'Initiative  Résilience"  (AGIR)  Partnership,  launched  by  the 
Commission  on  18  June  2012,  provides  a  resilience  roadmap  building  on  and  reinforcing 
existing regional strategies - such as the joint regional strategy of the Economic Community 
of  West  African  State  (ECOWAS),  the  Union  Economique  et  Monétaire  Ouest  Africaine 
(UEMOA) and the Comité permanent Inter-Etats de Lutte contre la Sécheresse dans le Sahel 
(CILSS)  with  the  support  of  the  Sahel  and  West  Africa  Club  (SWAC).  A  regional  Plan  of 
Action to strengthen resilience in a permanent and sustainable way in the Sahel, drawn up by 
the  West  African  regional  organisations  with  the  support  of  the  donor  community,  will  be 
presented  to  a  high-level  meeting  of  all  the  states  concerned  in  Ouagadougou  in  early 
December 2012. 

4. 

LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE 

The  SHARE  and  AGIR  initiatives  represent  an  improvement  in  the  way  humanitarian  and 
development assistance interact, boosting the levels of assistance in the short-term, facilitating 
the link between relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD), as well as demonstrating the 
commitment of the EU to address the root causes of food insecurity in the longer-term.  

They focus on food security in sub-Saharan Africa, but this approach can equally be applied 
to other regions and other types of vulnerability (for example, regions threatened by floods, 
cyclones,  earthquakes,  droughts,  storm  surges  and  tsunamis,  climate  change,  or  food  price 

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increase). The approach developed has a number of common elements that the EU will look 
to replicate in the most vulnerable developing countries. There are three key components to 
this approach, which are further elaborated below:  

• 

• 

• 

Anticipating crises by assessing risks 

Focusing on prevention and preparedness 

Enhancing crisis response 

4.1. 

Anticipating crises by assessing risks 

Both in the Horn of Africa and in the Sahel, early warning systems pointed to looming crises. 
Early  warning  systems  for  food  security  (such  as  the  Integrated  Phase  Classification 
approach) have been improved, allowing partner countries and regional institutions to prepare 
an appropriate response in advance of crises. Similarly, early warning systems for other risks 
like tsunamis, or for other regions, are also now functioning better. 

These Information Systems also need to be interconnected with relevant global initiatives like 
the Agricultural Market Information System establish in the context of the G20. 

There also needs to be a more systematic link between the information provided and policy 
and decision making at national and regional levels. For instance, data such as (child) under-
nutrition,  agricultural  production  (including  stocks)  and  markets  (including  food  prices) 
should better feed into food security and sustainable agriculture policies.  

This  should  be  reflected  in  particular  in  country-owned  policies  and  processes  such  as  the 
Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). CAADP investment 
plans  not  only  address  the  current  constraints  but  also  anticipate  future  shocks  and  stresses 
and assist countries to mitigate, respond to and build resilience. 

The  regional  early  warning  system  (CILSS/ECOWAS/UEMOA):  The  Food  Crisis 
Prevention  Network  (RCPA)  is  a  platform  where  partner  countries,  donors,  UN,  and  civil 
society organisations pool information in order to come to a joint analysis of food insecurity 
in West Africa. It was instrumental in ringing the alarm bells in the early phases of the current 
2012 crisis.  

In the same vein, the EU established the Global Climate Change Alliance to enhance policy 
dialogue  and  cooperation  with  countries  most  affected  by  climate  change.  Early  Warning 
Information systems and Disaster Management are important elements in this context. 

Early Warning Systems in Nepal: In August 2010 flood levels on the Rapt River breached 
the  warning  level  in  Chitwan  district.  The  early  warning  system  along  the  river,  through  a 
radio  and  telephone  network,  allowed  the  Disaster  Management  Committees  of  the 
communities  at  risk  to  shift  their  essential  and  movable  assets  to  higher  and  safer  places. 
When  the  flood  reached  the  villages,  people  had  already  reached  safety.  The  early  warning 
thus minimised losses of life and property.  

Bangladesh: Funding for the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, focussing on the management 
of  mass  casualty  situations  including  contingency  planning,  medical  equipment,  medicine 
stocks  and  trainings.  Consequently,  in  June  2010,  following  a  fire  causing  120  deaths,  the 
hospital was able to save the life of over 250 patients 

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ASEAN: at a regional level the Commission is supporting AADMER (ASEAN Agreement on 
Disaster  Management  and  Emergency  Response),  whose  objective  is  to  increase  resilience 
and  reduce  vulnerability  in  local  communities  and  institutions  through  support  to  strategies 
that enable them to better prepare for, mitigate and respond to natural disasters. 

4.2. 

Focusing on prevention and preparedness 

The response of the international community and affected countries to the crises in the Horn 
and the Sahel has shown significant progress in the capacity to address the consequences of 
the  crises.  However  they  have  also  underlined  the  primordial  importance  of  prevention 
(stopping  a  crisis  from  happening)  and  preparedness  (ensuring  that  an  individual,  a 
household, a country, or a region is ready to manage the effects of an adverse event).  

It is therefore crucial that: 

– 

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– 

– 

Over the long-term, national and regional programmes address the underlying causes 
of  vulnerability.  Reduced  vulnerability  to  shocks  is  only  possible  if  it  is  embedded 
within  partner  countries'  development  policies.  To  develop  these  processes  it  is 
necessary  that  risk  analysis,  including  disaster  risk  management  and  food  crisis 
management, are integrated in national/regional policies. In a similar way, adaption 
to climate change and policy frameworks like the National Adaptation Programmes 
of Action (NAPAs) should also be integrated in national policies. 

Experience  gained  from  initiatives  like  SHARE  and  AGIR  or  successful  pilot 
projects  on  DRM  such  as  those  supported  by  the  Commission's  Disaster 
Preparedness  Programme  (DIPECHO)  should  be  better  disseminated.  One  of  the 
challenges is to see how successful community-based, bottom-up projects can better 
feed into national and regional governmental policies.  

Governance  structured  for  disaster  management  need  to  be  enhanced  and 
stakeholders’  capacity  needs  to  be  strengthened  at  local  and  national  levels. 
Strong  local  structures  are  essential  in  order  to  mitigate  risks  and  to  ensure  the 
effectiveness  of  prevention  and  preparedness  efforts  as  well  as  initial  response 
operations.  

Public private partnerships should fully be used in appropriate contexts such as the 
recent G8 "New Alliance for Food and Nutrition Security" initiative,  

In  the  case  of  food  crises,  there  needs  to  be  an  integrated  approach  to  tackling  the  root 
causes  of  food  insecurity.  In  terms  of  food  availability,  this  covers  the  diversification  of 
food  production,  which  may  be  constrained  by  environmental  degradation  and  climate 
change.  Access  to  food  products  requires  functional  markets  and  safety  nets,  noting  the 
importance  of  reserves,  insurances  schemes,  storage  instruments,  farmers'  access  to  market 
and  financial  services,  and  emergency  stocks.  It  also  includes  investments  in  rural 
infrastructure and in research and technology transfer. From a long-term perspective, support 
to sustainable agriculture is paramount to build up resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa where the 
sector provides employment to 60% of the population, notably the most vulnerable.  

The Ethiopia Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) provides valuable lessons. It provides 
transfers  in  the  form  of  food  or  cash  to  the  most  vulnerable  households  in  the  country  in 
return for participation in public works.  

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The  PSNP  is  the  largest  social  transfer  scheme  in  sub-Saharan  Africa  and  is  cost-effective 
(about one third the cost) in comparison to humanitarian interventions.  

Tackling  the  hidden  crisis  of  child  under-nutrition  to  reduce  tomorrow's  adults' 
vulnerability:  Hunger  and  under-nutrition  kill  nearly  2.6  million  children  per  year.  Under-
nutrition affects one in three children in developing countries. Often the problem starts before 
birth  due  to  undernourishment  of  the  mother.  Under-nutrition  is  a  root  cause  of 
vulnerability,  especially  for  children  up  to  the  age  of  2.  It  lowers  intellectual  and 
physical development, thereby reducing the capacity of tomorrow’s adults to cope with 
adverse events. Moreover it costs many developing countries up to 2-3 percent of their Gross 
Domestic Product each year extending the cycle of poverty and impeding economic growth. 
The  EU  supports  partners’  efforts  to  reduce  under-nutrition  in  short  and  long-term. 
Approaches are required across multiple sectors such as health, agriculture, water, sanitation, 
economic  growth,  and  education.  The  EU  supports  the  SUN  (Scaling  Up  Nutrition) 
movement, which provides a framework for country partners' leadership.  

Tackling  the  drought  in  North  KENYA.  3.7  million  Kenyans  were  in  immediate  need  of 
food,  clean  water  and  basic  sanitation  during  the  2011  drought.  Under  SHARE,  the  EU  is 
enhancing  its  support  to  boost  recovery  and  resilience  building,  through:  assistance  to 
streamline the Kenyan early warning system; institutional support to the Ministry of Northern 
Kenya;  support  to  the  National  Drought  Management  Authority  (NDMA)  managing  a 
Disaster  and  Drought  Contingency  Fund  (NDDCF);  enhancement  of  local  authorities' 
capacities to manage an early response; and community level livelihoods projects expanding 
economic  opportunities.  Stronger institutions and increased investments in arid lands by the 
Government  of  Kenya  are  expected  to  better  prepare  the  country  to  mitigate  the  impact  of 
similar crisis. 

4.3. 

Enhancing the response to crisis 

Drawing inter alia on the experience gained in the Horn and the Sahel, the following elements 
can help improve the impact of the responses to crises when they strike:  

– 

• 

• 

• 

• 

– 

The preparation of a joint analytical framework prepared by both humanitarian and 
development actors that:  

identifies  the  root  causes  of  the  crisis  as  well  as  the  precise  impact  on  the  most 
affected populations.  

assesses on-going interventions to see if the root causes are being addressed and also 
to see if there are gaps in the assistance that is being provided. 

identifies  the  areas,  both  in  terms  of  sectors  and  geographic  regions,  where  an 
enhanced resilience approach could have the most impact. 

defines strategic priorities for the short-term (early recovery) as well as for the long-
term within a coherent "Resilience Approach" 

There needs to be an increase in short-term financing to support the early recovery 
phase.  Recent  initiatives  highlight  the  need  for  a  higher  degree  of  flexibility  in 
programming 
to  fast  changing  needs,  without  reducing  on-going 
medium/long term activities to address root causes. New modalities of assistance like 

to  react 

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– 

– 

– 

– 

EU  Trust  Funds  should  be  considered  to  tackle  emergency  or  post-emergency 
situations. 

Most  major  crises  span  across  borders.  The  capacity  of  regional  organisations 
needs  to  be  strengthened  so  that  they  can  develop  cross-border  initiatives  and 
promote regional integration.  

For major crises, light structures should be set up to enable donor coordination and 
a  structured  dialogue  established  with  partner  countries  and  regional 
organisations. It is necessary to define and formalise who does what, based on the 
comparative  advantage  of  each  actor  in  a  given  context.  Both  development  and 
humanitarian actors should be actively engaged. 

Finding  short-term  interventions  that  have  a  long  term  impact.  Even  though  short-
term responses, and humanitarian assistance in particular, are mostly focused on life 
saving  and  asset  protection,  such  activities  can  also  have  a  long-term  impact.  For 
example,  shifting  from  food  aid  to  cash  transfers  can  have  a  long-term  effect  in 
stimulating  the  local  market  and  financing  public  works  that  can  reduce  the 
likelihood  of  future  disasters  or  mitigate  their  impact.  These  types  of  intervention 
should be identified and prioritised.  

Where  violent  conflicts  exist  the  resilience  strategy  and  the  wider  EU  political  and 
security  approach  should  be  mutually  supportive  and  consistent,  and  synergies 
should be developed at the levels of instruments notably the Common Security and 
Defence Policy instruments and the Instrument for Stability. 

Flexible funding through the EU's EUR 1 billion Food Facility, AFSI and V-FLEX - The 
food price crisis of 2007/08 led to a response of unprecedented scale from the international 
community. The EU was the first donor to take proactive measures and announced a EUR 1 
billion Food Facility, demonstrating the EU's ability to react on time and on a large scale. One 
year  later,  in  2009,  donors  pledged  US$22  billion  in  support  of  sustainable  agriculture  and 
food  security  (the  L'Aquila  Food  Security  Initiative,  AFSI).  The  EU  stepped  up  further 
support, committing US$3.8 billion. Two other mechanisms exist for African, Caribbean and 
Pacific  (ACP)  countries:  the  FLEX  (Fluctuations  in  Export  Earnings)  assists  governments 
facing  sudden  losses  of  export  earnings  and  the  "Vulnerability  FLEX"  (V-FLEX)  design  to 
help countries most affected by the 2009 economic downturn due to their poor resilience. This 
instrument  worked  pre-emptively,  based  on  forecasts  of  fiscal  losses,  with  adjustments  for 
vulnerability, acting in a counter-cyclical way to capture national financing gaps.  

5. 

1. 

2. 

10  STEPS  TO  INCREASE  RESILIENCE  IN  FOOD  INSECURE  AND 
DISASTER PRONE COUNTRIES 

Resilience  can  only  be  built  bottom-up.  The  starting  point  for  the  EU  approach  to 
resilience therefore is a firm recognition of the leading role of partner countries. The 
EU will align its support with the partner's policies and priorities, in accordance with 
established Aid Effectiveness principles.  

Action  to  strengthen  resilience  needs  to  be  based  on  sound  methodologies  for  risk 
and  vulnerability  assessments.  Such  assessments  should  serve  as  the  basis  for 
elaborating  national  resilience  strategies,  as  well  as  for  designing  specific  projects 

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and  programmes.  The  EU  will  support  the  development  of  national  resilience 
strategies as part of wider development strategies. The EU will engage with partner 
countries and key international actors to improve the methodologies for developing 
the assessments underlying such strategies. In order to ensure effectiveness, the EU 
will moreover put in place a framework for measuring the impact and results of its 
support for resilience. 

In countries facing recurrent crises, increasing resilience will be a central aim of EU 
external assistance. EU-funded programmes will be based on a common operational 
assessment  prepared  by  humanitarian  and  development  actors,  covering  medium  to 
long-term  interventions.  They  will  focus  on  addressing  the  underlying  causes  of 
crises,  notably  through  support  for  prevention  and  preparedness  activities.  It  will 
work  closely  with  partner  countries  to  establish  capacities  to  elaborate  and 
implement  strategies  and  Disaster  Reduction  Management  plans  at  national  and 
regional level.  

The  Commission  will  systematically  include  resilience  as  an  element  in  its 
Humanitarian Implementation Plans. The Commission will moreover strive for joint 
programming  of  the  resilience-related  actions  in  its  humanitarian  and  development 
assistance so as to ensure maximum complementarity, and to ensure that short-term 
actions lay the groundwork for medium and long-term interventions. 

Flexibility will be key to responding to the needs of disaster-affected countries. The 
Commission  will  continue  to  ensure  maximum  flexibility  in  implementing  its 
humanitarian  programmes.  For  development  funding,  in  times  of  unforeseen  crises 
and  major  disasters,  the  Commission  will  seek  maximum  flexibility  in  mobilising 
non-programmed funds. Additionally, the Commission will introduce flexibility into 
the programme design to allow quick and timely action. The EU will consider the use 
of Trust Funds to intervene in emergency or post-emergency situations.  

When working to improve resilience in fragile or conflict-affected states, the EU will 
pursue  an  approach  that  also  addresses  security  aspects  and  their  impact  on  the 
vulnerability  of  populations.  This  will  include  an  active  political  dialogue  with 
partner countries and organisations in the region concerned.  

The EU will seek to replicate existing initiatives such as SHARE and AGIR, as well 
as successful projects on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). It will share and exchange 
lessons  with  its  partners  in  order  to  multiply  and  scale  up  successful  approaches  - 
with  the  objective  of  incorporating  them  in  national  resilience  strategies.  The 
Commission will review regularly progress made on the resilience agenda, looking in 
particular at programming, methodologies and results. 

The EU will promote innovative approaches to risk management. Working with the 
insurance  and  re-insurance  industries  is  a  particularly  promising  way  forward.  The 
Commission will bring forward a Green Paper in early 2013 on the role of insurance 
in disaster management. 

For countries facing recurrent crises, the EU will work with host governments, other 
donors,  regional  and  international  organisations  and  other  stakeholders  to  create 
platforms  at  country  level  for  ensuring  timely  exchange  of  information  and 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

9. 

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coordination of short, medium and long term humanitarian and development actions 
to strengthen resilience.  

10. 

The  EU  will  promote  resilience  in  international  fora  including  the  G8,  G20,  the 
Committee  on  World  Food  Security  (CFS),  the  Rio  Conventions,  the  process  for 
revision  of  the  Millennium  Development  Goals,  the  development  of  Sustainable 
Development Goals  and  discussions  on the follow-up to  the Hyogo  Framework  for 
Action of 2005-2015. Resilience will feature as a key theme in its partnerships with 
organisations such as FAO, IFAD and WFP, as well as UNISDR, the World Bank, 
and civil society organisations.  

In the first quarter of the 2013, the Commission will prepare an Action Plan to set out the way 
forward on implementation of these principles. 

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