Guidelines on emergency supplementary feeding programmes (SFPs) have generally been written with the classical refugee camp situation in mind, yet an increasing number of emergencies involve non-refugee populations. This review is based on an evaluation of 14 emergency SFPs implemented in Eastern and Southern Africa between 1989-93. These programmes served different non-refugee populations, including refugee-impacted communities in Malawi and conflict-affected groups in southern Somalia. It examines the appropriateness of current guidelines for different emergency contexts and proposes situation specific approaches to programme design and implementation