Food Insecurity, Intrahousehold Dynamics, and Lifecourse Outcomes in India

Food Insecurity (FI) involves insufficient access to enough safe and nutritious food for a healthy life. The importance of FI will grow in coming decades, driven by factors such as the climate crisis, conflict and unrest, and challenges to the global food supply chain. Evidence on the long-term impacts of FI in Global Majority countries-where many of these pressing phenomena are most acutely felt- is extremely limited, particularly for older children and adolescents.

What evidence does exist in this area frequently does not consider how FI may be experienced differently by various individuals within the same household.

This project is an extension of ongoing work to address these critical gaps in the evidence on FI. In this extension, leading my research team and working in close collaboration with key stakeholders in this space, I will continue to provide research leadership to produce impactful, much-needed evidence on how FI matters early in the lifecourse; evidencing its impacts in an under-researched context; and fundamentally changing the way FI is conceptualised and measured in academic and non-academic practice.

We have already analysed existing survey data for India, Ethiopia, and Peru, and have collected semi-structured interview data with multiple children, adolescents, and adults in 87 households in India. We will soon collect further data from a subset of these same households, and will collect a third round of data in this extension. Analysing these data and collaborating with key stakeholders, this extension will build from the strong foundation of evidence we have been building to achieve the following:

1.Provide new evidence on FI in India: Much of the existing evidence on FI comes from Global Minority countries (the US, UK, and Canada in particular), but sociocultural contexts, social policies, and food systems vary substantially between countries; findings from Global Minority countries are not universally transferable. In this project extension, we will continue to develop a robust raft of evidence on FI in India.

We will focus in particular on the experiences of children and adolescents and on inequalities within households in order to address gaps in existing evidence.

2.Identify how households manage FI: Although FI primarily impacts low-income households, not all low-income households experience FI. Further evidence is needed to understand what actions households take (e.g. seeking financial support from social networks, accessing government programs) help some families to manage or avoid FI. Attention will also be given to who in the household is involved in these decisions, and how different household members are affected by different strategies for managing FI.

3.Conceptualise and measure FI as a multilevel phenomenon: Previous work focused on the measurement of poverty showed that thinking about and measuring poverty as an individual- rather than household-level phenomenon alters our understanding of poverty; household-level measures substantially mask the feminization of poverty (that is, the disproportionate risk of poverty experienced by women) by underestimating poverty among women. Similarly, thinking of and measuring FI as a household level phenomenon misses important inequalities in who experiences FI, and how.

We will work to change the way FI is conceptualised and measured in order to better-understand such intrahousehold dynamics.

This extension will draw on our relationships with stakeholders to ensure our reach extends beyond academia. We will continue to engage stakeholders in knowledge exchange, publish policy briefs, respond to Parliamentary calls for evidence, and provide regular updates through our website and newsletters. Additionally, we will host an online project workshop to discuss findings with our stakeholders, receive critical feedback, draft policy briefs, discuss steps for future research., and answer public questions through live social media engagement.