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This publication is intended to provide guidance on the design of food targeting systems in emergencies. Targeting is defined as directing a particular type or quantity of food, to a defined population group.

Developing targeting systems, which can be operated effectively at reasonable financial and administrative cost, has been a focus of work in the humanitarian and development sectors in recent years. While there have been some significant developments in food security assessment techniques and in targeting practice, notably a growing body of experience of community based and managed targeting, many practical difficulties remain. Food aid donors sometimes impose their own targeting objectives, e.g. that food should be given only to children under a particular malnutrition threshold or to female headed households. Existing, sometimes weak, administrative structures may be the only practical method of targeting food to large populations.