Background. The unconstitutional state of things related to the forcibly displaced population’s effective enjoyment of their rights affects food sustainability and requires their participation in constructing public policy. Objective. Describing and developing a methodology for defining and ranking action for ensuring food sustainability in homes where forcibly displaced people are living in the metropolitan area of Bucaramanga, Colombia. Materials and methods. Thomas Saaty’s analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used; three expert workshops were run, representing the interests of communities which had been subjected to forced displacement. The panel consisted of 32 community leaders, 6 researchers and 10 nongovernmental organisations. The methodology essentially involved hierarchical matrix analysis based on the principles of identity, overall objective decomposition and establishing criteria or factors affecting target synthesis and priority formulation. Results. One of the criteria most affected in relation to food sustainability was considered to be housing tenure (0.21 AHP score). Overcoming social conflict and enjoying peace were considered essential (0.18 AHP score). Greater coordination was required to allow individual initiative and competitiveness without social exclusion. Taken together, such factors can be definitive for producing income (0.16, λmax = 10.1, agreement index = 0.12, agreement ratio = 0.08). Conclusions. Economic stabilisation programmes promoted by the government need to be rethought concerning food sustainability regarding the forcibly displaced population, especially when situations are forecast which compromise human welfare and the enjoyment of rights. © 2014, Universidad Nacional de Colombia. All rights reserved.

Food security Consumer participation Armed conflicts Vulnerable Populations (MeSH) human rights

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