LAUSR

Abstract Increasing numbers of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) declare a move from a needs- to a human rights-based approach (HRBA) in addressing food and nutrition security. Little work, however, has been done to reveal how HRBA to food is realized at a country level. Using a mixed methods approach, we demonstrate main challenges for NGOs’ adoption of HRBA in Armenia and Georgia. A combination of NGO operational and state level factors hamper rights-based food and nutrition work of NGOs. NGOs’ willingness and capacity to engage with HRBA to food and confront the state is influenced by the history of post-Soviet transition, views on the state versus market, and isolation from transnational actors propagating the right to adequate food.