IPC IN BRIEF

• The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification or IPC is a set of tools and procedures to classify the nature and severity of food insecurity.
• It classifies areas with acute food insecurity into five phases (minimal, stressed, crisis, emergency, famine) and with chronic food insecurity into four levels (low chronic, moderate chronic, high chronic, very high chronic). Each of these phases/levels has different implications for response objectives.
• The IPC approach incorporates, and is strengthened by, specific analytical methods and mapping protocol. The IPC focuses on answering questions related to the situation analysis, e.g. where to allocate resources, to whom and to how many people, when and what should be done.
• IPC promotes a common food security analysis language and currency that allows comparability across time and space, and across countries and regions.
• The IPC is not a food security data collection system or methodology for directly measuring food insecurity nor does IPC replace the need for specific methods that collect and analyze various dimensions of food security in any particular way.
  
  

IPC in the Philippines

The IPC was first modeled in the Philippines by the NNC in partnership with the UN World Food Programme through the financial support of the European Commission in late 2009. Through the active participation of Governor Khalid Ali Dimaporo of the Province of Lanao del Norte, IPC version 1 was modeled to classify the four municipalities of the province according to acute food insecurity, using the IPC protocol version 1.

Results of the modeling showed successful use of the IPC protocol to classify municipalities according to food insecurity using locally-generated data, particularly the CBMS, LGU-generated data from the different LGU offices (agriculture, health, nutrition) and results of special surveys, i.e. World Food Programme-World Bank study

Immediately, the results of the IPC were used by the provincial and municipal officials to craft responses to factors limiting access to food insecurity in the four municipalities.

The IPC in Asia Project, bridging the modelling phase to scaling up 

Prior to the Philippines' introduction to IPC, the IPC version 1 has been introduced in over 30 countries spread throughout Africa, Latin America, and parts of Western and Central Asia. The IPC in Asia Project provides resources for piloting the enhanced IPC version 2 in South and South-East Asia with the aim of establishing the IPC process at both the regional and country levels. Initially, with four focus-country: Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan, the project was expanded to include Cambodia and Philippines and with potential expansion to other countries in the region.

Under the project, the Philippines with partners Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and UN World Food Programme (WFP) embarked on organizing the interagency IPC Technical Committee and training the IPC Analysts Group on acute and chronic food security analysis using the IPC protocol version 2.0. The capability-building involved the technical specialists of the following government organizations, local and international non-government  organizations, academe, selected local governments and development partners. 

Department of Health

• National Nutrition Council (NNC)

Department of Agriculture

• Planning Service(DA-PS)
• Bureau of Agricultural Statistics (BAS)

Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR)

• Project Development and Management Staff

Department of Education (DepEd)

• Bureau of Elementary Education

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)

• Policy Development and Planning Bureau

National Economic and Development Authority

• Social Development Staff (SDS)
• Agricultural Staff (AS)
• National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB)
• National Statistics Office (NSO)

Department of Science and Technology

• Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA)
• Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI)

Department of National Defense (DND)

• Office of Civil Defense (OCD)

Department of the Interior and Local Government

• Bureau of Local Government Development (BLGD)

Provincial Government Units of:

• Misamis Oriental
• Davao Oriental
• Compostela Valley
• South Cotabato
• Agusan Del Norte
• Agusan del Sur
• Surigao del Sur
• Maguindanao

University of thePhilippines- Los Baños (UPLB)
Asian NGO Coalition (ANGOC)
Oxfam International
Save the Children International 
World Vision Development Foundation (WDF)
Action Against Hunger (ACF) 
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
World Food Programme (WFP)
Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations (FAO)

The project produced the IPC acute food security classification of the 25 provinces of Mindanao, the initial focus area of the project and an initial attempt on chronic food security analysis, also of Mindanao. The IPC in Asia Project received funding from the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO).

References:

IPC Technical Manual Version 2.0: Evidence and Standards for Better Food Security Decisions, FAO Rome. 2012
www.ipcinfo.org

Contact details:

Hygeia Ceres Catalina B. Gawe
Chief, Nutrition Surveillance Division
National Nutrition Council
Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Taguig City
Phone: (+632) 8435834
Email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.