There is nothing ‘natural’ about disasters. When a climate hazard, such as a drought or a flood, triggers impacts that are disastrous to people, it is because the systems upon which people depend are fragile.

Action Against Hunger is implementing a regional project called ‘Multisectoral humanitarian response to the deteriorating nutrition situation focusing on severely affected crisis contexts in sub-Saharan Africa’. The project aims to improve the nutritional status of crisis-affected populations in seven countries, and to informs better ways for aid agencies to tackle the impacts of ‘layered crises’, where long-term fragile governance and conflict, compounded by recurring shocks, reduce people’s resilience and food security.

As part of this regional project, Action Against Hunger commissioned ODI to produce rapid assessments on South Sudan, Somalia and Mali, to inform and bolster its humanitarian programming and interventions. The main report strengthens the evidence base around how people are experiencing the impacts of layered crises, and uncover entry points where Action Against Hunger interventions and programmes might be better targeted or modified to meet humanitarian needs and support resilience.

Snapshots of these findings are captured in the accompanying policy briefs, on food and nutrition security in Mali, Somalia and South Sudan.