When it comes to food security analysis, the “landmark” for the FSC teams is the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) and the Cadre Harmonise (CH). 

The IPC / CH is a common global scale for classifying food insecurity. It is a multi-partner initiative (which includes , WFP and the gFSC) at the global, regional and country levels dedicated to developing, improving and maintaining the highest possible quality in food security analysis and decision-making. 

IPC analyses (or Cadre Harmonise, for West Africa) are available in the majority of FSC operations. You would first need to check whether the IPC/ CH is active in your country response, and if so familiarize yourself with when the latest IPC/CH was conducted, when it will be updated and what were the key metrics and figures reported. 

The IPC/CH is one of the main tools the FSC uses to identify and prioritise food security related needs and caseloads (specifically, the IPC helps identify the sector’s PIN and severity for the HNO). In absence of an IPC/CH, other methodologies can be used to analyse FS indicators and define FSC PiN and severity for the HNO. The main one is WFP Consolidated Approach for Reporting Indicators of Food Security (CARI).

As the responsible party for information held by the Cluster, the IMO has a role to play in supporting the IPC/CH analysis; this has been compiled in the one-pager (Step by Step guidance). 

For Further information on the IPC and Cadre Harmonise, see CC Handbook, chapter 6.7.