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Food security can be seen as a subset of a broader household livelihood security strategy which is designed to meet basic needs, including food, potable water, health, education, housing, participation in community activities, and leisure time.

As a programming strategy, food security should be considered an organizing principle or integrating framework that can be used across the continuum of emergency, relief and rehabilitation, and sustainable development. The framework emphasizes the development of strong sector-specific programs with synergistic linkages, such as health, agriculture and natural resources, income generation and small enterprise development, education, and reproductive health and family planning. The advantages of using a common framework are that intervention priorities can be established cross-sectorally, depending upon the major constraints facing households, and sector-specific programs can be targeted to the same regions to obtain a multiplier effect on the beneficiary population.