• Food programmes

Food programmes

This study explores what "dependency" means in a humanitarian context, how it is used and the implications this has for how relief is provided. It looks at the meaning, function and reality of dependency in humanitarian relief and finds that people depend less on relief than is often assumed.

The main conclusions from this research include:

• in situations of acute risks to survival, aid agencies should be aiming as a positive objective to ensure that people are able to reliably depend on receiving assistance
• rather than seeing a risk of dependence as a justification for reducing relief, agencies should aim to provide assistance early and generously, to enable people to maintain their livelihoods and forestall a slide into destitution
• the label "dependency" is often applied in cases where people are exploiting opaque systems. If people better understand what relief is on offer and can participate in its management and delivery, they may be less likely to try to subvert or abuse relief programmes
• there is a need for concern about the potential negative effects of aid and the possible disincentive effects of relief, particularly food aid. But this concern should not be assumed, and it is unhelpful to label this as dependency
• the possibility of disincentive effects for agricultural production should not be seen as an argument for stopping or reducing relief if it is still needed
• there is a strong argument that relief actors should be more concerned with the possible disincentive effects of public works schemes.

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