Co-design a monitoring system and early seasonal hunger alert related to climate variability in Guatemala.
Abstract
In Guatemala, seasonal acute food insecurity related to extended dry periods is a recurrent phenomenon. Public response is often too late and ineffective. One principal obstacle for decision-makers lays in the absence of timely, reliable and relevant information at the right scale. The impact of drought on the ground depends on different socio-economic, agronomic and climatic factors and might differ significantly between communities. The Guatemalan Secretariat for Food and Nutrition Security (SESAN) thus is promoting the development and implementation of a community-based food security monitoring and early warning system to fill this information gap. CCAFS supported SESAN through a participatory co-design process. This report describes the methodology applied, outlines the principal results of the process and describes the information system. The report is aimed at practitioners, policy-decision maker and researchers that want to support similar processes.