TOR130: World Food Programme Vulnerability and Analysis Mapping Initiative with Jean-Martin Bauer

What would you do if your job was to figure out, on a global scale, who doesn't have enough to eat? Or, more importantly, who had insecurity in their life specifically because of food scarcity? Just thinking about the scale of the problem blows my mind a little bit. But then, wait for it, what if you then had to also design and execute interventions that would, to a large degree, address those food security issues. Oh, and did I mention that this is a constantly evolving and changing process?

This is exactly what my guest for the 130th episode of the Terms of Reference Podcast does along with the team at the World Food Programme's Vulnerability and Analysis Mapping Initiative. Jean-Martin Bauer is a Senior Analyst at WFP, where he leads the mobile VAM initiative, which involves deploying digital innovations to collect food security data in near real time. He has been on the front lines of understanding food scarcity for years and in this episode he tells us about how VAM has evolved since its paper-survey beginnings and where it will go in the future.