Data collection and analysis tools for food security and nutrition

Partnership agreements to manage and share digital data 
100
CHAPTER 6. FINAL REFLECTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
101
Create greater demand for data for decision-making among governments, 
policy makers and donors 
103
Optimize and, if needed, repurpose current data-related investments, while increasing 
collaboration between international organizations, governments, civil society, academia and 
the private sector, to harmonize and maximize the sharing of existing FSN data 
104
Increase and sustain investment in the collection of essential data for FSN 
105
Invest in human capital and in the needed infrastructures to ensure the sustainability of data 
processing and analytic capacity 
106
Improve data governance at all levels, promoting inclusiveness to recognize and enhance 
agency among data users and data generators 
107
REFERENCES 
109
GLOSSARY 
124
ANNEXES 
129

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LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
TABLE 1
 FAIR DATA PRINCIPLES 
95
ANNEX TABLE 1
 EXAMPLES OF EXISTING FSN DATA RELATED INITIATIVES (INCLUDING 
DATABASES, REPOSITORIES, DATA SYSTEMS, ANALYSIS TOOLS), ORGANIZED 
BY DIMENSION OF FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION 
129
ANNEX TABLE 2
 SUMMARY OF RISKS, ASSOCIATED DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, 
KEY STAKEHOLDERS AND RISK MITIGATION MEASURES 
130
ANNEX TABLE 3
 LIST OF COUNTRIES GROUPED BY DATE OF LAST AGRICULTURAL 
CENSUS ON RECORD 
134
ANNEX TABLE 4
 CARE PRINCIPLES FOR INDIGENOUS DATA GOVERNANCE 
137
FIGURE 1
 FRAMEWORK FOR A SYSTEMIC VIEW OF FSN TO GUIDE DATA COLLECTION 
AND ANALYSIS 
14
FIGURE 2
 DATA-INFORMED DECISION-MAKING CYCLE 
16
FIGURE 3
 HOW TO STRUCTURE A DATA-INFORMED, DECISION-MAKING PROCESS MATRIX 
19
FIGURE 4
 EXAMPLE OF HOW TO USE THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 
(THEORETICAL GUIDANCE) AND DATA-INFORMED DECISION MAKING CYCLE 
(METHODOLOGICAL GUIDANCE) FOR FSN 
23

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LIST OF BOXES
BOX 1
 FAO STATISTICAL SYSTEM 
26
BOX 2
 THE AGRICULTURAL MARKET INFORMATION SYSTEM (AMIS) 
27
BOX 3
 IMPROVING THE ANALYSIS OF FISH DATA 
29
BOX 4
 GIEWS AND OTHER INFORMATION SYSTEMS 
30
BOX 5
 FAO HAND-IN-HAND INITIATIVE 
31
BOX 6
 THE 50X2030 INITIATIVE TO CLOSE THE AGRICULTURAL DATA GAP 
32
BOX 7
 FAO’S APPROACH TO MAPPING TERRITORIAL MARKETS 
33
BOX 8
 DATA COLLECTION IN CONFLICT SETTINGS 
35
BOX 9
 FSN AND THE SDGS MONITORING FRAMEWORK 
37
BOX 10
 COUNTDOWN TO 2030 
39
BOX 11
 GLOBAL OPEN DATA FOR AGRICULTURE AND NUTRITION (GODAN) 
40
BOX 12
 AN EXAMPLE OF AN AFFORDABLE, GLOBAL, DATA MANAGEMENT PLATFORM: REDCAP 
42
BOX 13
 THE INTEGRATED FOOD SECURITY PHASE CLASSIFICATION (IPC) INITIATIVE 
44
BOX 14
 EXEMPLARS IN GLOBAL HEALTH 
45
BOX 15
 THE FOOD SYSTEMS DASHBOARD 
46
BOX 16
 THE POSHAN NETWORK 
47
BOX 17
 THE HIGH COST OF FSN-RELEVANT SURVEYS 
51
BOX 18
 THE COMPLEXITY OF NUTRITION ASSESSMENTS 
53
BOX 19
 ON FOOD SAFETY DATA 
53
BOX 20 
THE WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN AGRICULTURE INDEX 
54
BOX 21
 SATELLITE TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVED DROUGHT ASSESSMENT (SATIDA) 
54

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DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS TOOLS FOR FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION
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BOX 22
 OPPORTUNITIES AND RISKS IN THE USE OF AUTOMATED DATA ANALYSIS 
56
BOX 23
 A CRITICAL VIEW OF FAO STATISTICAL SUPPORT TO MEMBER NATIONS 
59
BOX 24
 SATIDA COLLECT 
61
BOX 25
 TACKLING CONSTRAINTS IN FOOD COMPOSITION DATA AVAILABILITY AND QUALITY 
61
BOX 26
 DEFINITIONS OF NEW AND EMERGING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES 
64
BOX 27
 EXAMPLES OF EFFORTS THAT SUPPORT DATA CONSOLIDATION 
68
BOX 28
 EXAMPLES OF THE APPLICATION OF BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY TO FSN DATA 
70
BOX 29
 CHALLENGES WITH DIGITALIZING SERVICES AND ACCESS: THE CASE OF 
INDIA’S AADHAAR IDENTIFICATION NUMBER 
77
BOX 30
 PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION AND THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY 
88
BOX 31
 THE EAF-NANSEN PROGRAM 
97
BOX 32
 NEPAL’S NUTRITION SENSITIVE LIVESTOCK INTRODUCTION PROGRAMME 
97
BOX 33
 THE GLOBAL AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY PROGRAM (GAFSP) 
98

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[
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FOREWORD
T
he High Level Panel of Experts on Food 
Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) is the 
science-policy interface of the Committee 
on World Food Security (CFS), the foremost 
inclusive and evidence-based international and 
intergovernmental platform for food security 
and nutrition (FSN). The HLPE-FSN provides 
independent, comprehensive and evidence-
based analysis and advice at the request of the 
CFS and elaborates studies through a scientific, 
transparent and inclusive process, ensuring 
legitimacy among stakeholders, involving broad 
consultations and incorporating different forms 
of knowledge and expertise as well as a rigorous 
scientific peer-review process.
The report “Data collection and analysis tools for 
food security and nutrition: towards enhancing 
effective, inclusive, evidence-informed, decision 
making” has been produced by the HLPE-FSN 
following a request from the CFS and focuses on 
the role that data collection and analysis tools 
play in supporting effective evidence-informed 
decisions.
Food is a fundamental human right, and yet, too 
many people in the world do not have secure 
access to the food they need every day. In 2021, 
about one in every 11 people in the world (around 
800 million people) faced hunger and many more 
(around 2.3 billion) were moderately or severely 
food insecure. The world is off track to achieving 
the SDG targets on hunger, food insecurity and 
malnutrition. Different and better actions are 
needed to reverse this trend.
Against this backdrop,
the findings and 
recommendations of this report are an 
important contribution to achieve food security 
and nutrition
. High-quality data and its accurate 
and timely analysis are essential to design, 
monitor and evaluate effective FSN policies. Data 
are also fundamental to ensure accountability 
of government policies and to monitor their 
implementation and impact.
We are also experiencing a data revolution, 
driven by new technologies, which is increasing 
exponentially the volume and types of data 
available. This provides 
great opportunities 
for informing and transforming food systems, 
but also creates 
new risks
and can deepen 
inequalities within or between nations and 
societies.
A major challenge in the elaboration of this 
report has been the
inherent complexity
of 
the different angles and multiple dimensions 
of data collection, analysis and use – including 
economic, social, institutional, political, legal and 
technical – as well as the types of users involved, 
namely public and private, and the numerous 
and diverse purposes data may be used for.
To
determine the scope of the report
, the HLPE-
FSN took into account the following elements: 
1) the points explicitly made by the CFS in their 
request; 2) the results of the e-consultation on 
the scope of the report; and 3) the conclusions of 
the meeting organized by the CFS Secretariat on 
the matter.

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DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS TOOLS FOR FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION
Addressing some points of the CFS request has 
been particularly challenging, due to scarcity 
of information regarding some issues and to 
the fact that data gaps are country-specific 
and cannot be described at a global level. 
Therefore, this report indicates directions for 
future research and suggests policy measures to 
improve this in the future.
Moreover, many of the identified issues are not 
specific for FSN data but apply to all types of 
data. Therefore, it was necessary to seek an 
optimum balance between dealing with general 
data considerations and specific considerations 
related to FSN data
, in order to avoid duplication 
and overlap with other international reports on 
data.
Well aware of the complexity of this report and 
its relevance for improving FSN, the HLPE-FSN 
strived to apply 
maximum precision, rigour 
and professionalism
,
working at all times with 
evidence and academic references and providing 
sound and balanced arguments and conclusions 
regarding controversial issues.
The result is a set of 
practical recommendations 
addressed to the CFS, governments, the United 
Nations and international agencies, as well as 
academia.
It is imperative to achieve the necessary 
transformation of food systems and to embrace 
the data revolution in support of this effort
.
Decisive action now, leveraging current political 
opportunities and public opinion sensitivity 
and awareness, as well as technological 
innovation, can steer the course in the right 
direction. The CFS and its members can take 
great advantage of this report and its actionable 
recommendations. 
On behalf of the HLPE-FSN Steering Committee, 
I would like to commend and thank the 
international experts of the project team led by 
Carlo Cafiero. They provided impressive work, 
solely on a pro bono basis.
The report also benefited greatly from 
suggestions by a large number of experts and 
institutions who commented extensively on 
the scope of the report and on its first version. 
Furthermore, I would like to pay my tribute the 
peer reviewers for their hard work. Finally, I 
want to thank the HLPE-FSN Secretariat for its 
precious support to our work.
The HLPE-FSN has a very noble and important 
mission, to produce
scientific reports
, which 
are 
public goods 
and serve as starting points 
for debates at CFS, between actors having many 
different perspectives and, often, objectives. This 
report can make a real difference on the ground 
and produce significant changes to alleviate the 
perils of hunger and help improve nutrition. I 
hope that policymakers, practitioners, all the 
actors around food, agriculture and nutrition and 
all concerned sectors worldwide will make the 
best use of it.
Yours sincerely,
Bernard Lehmann
Chairperson of the Steering Committee

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xiii 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
T
he CFS HLPE-FSN warmly thanks all the