Targeting in emergencies

Targeting is a process that spans the life of a food aid operation, not just the initial phases of identifying beneficiaries. Finding the right balance between inclusion and exclusion errors, opportunity costs and programme costs is a complex task. This paper establishes basic principles to guide decision-making in a range of emergency situations, drawing on the experience of the World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners in targeting food aid during emergency interventions. The principles offered are intended to improve WFP’s ability to find the right balance, bearing in mind that every emergency requires situation-specific analysis and targeting approaches.

The paper is discusses the following:

• definitions of targeting and WFP policies related to targeting in emergencies
• the process of targeting and targeting errors
• recommendations for good targeting practice

Important points made include:

• geographic targeting is necessary to confirm the scope of a food crisis and sometimes is the only feasible level of targeting. In most cases, however, geographic targeting must be complemented with household/individual targeting
• substantial beneficiary participation in defining targeting criteria should be standard practice in responses to slow-onset and recurrent emergencies, and increasingly the practice as sudden-onset crises begin to stabilise
• monitoring systems should regularly re-assess targeting criteria and inform subsequent adjustments
• targeting costs increase in proportion to the level and detail of targeting. WFP needs to analyse benefits and budget for costs associated with different targeting approaches