"programme_id","programme_title","programme_language","programme_type","other_program","iso3code","country_name","program_location","area","status","start_date","end_date","brief_description","references","related_policy","new_policy","partner_gov","partner_government_details","partner_un","partner_un_details","partner_ngo","partner_ngo_details","partner_donors","partner_donors_details","partner_intergov","partner_intgov_details","partner_national_ngo","partner_nat_ngo_details","partner_research","partner_research_details","partner_private","partner_private_details","partner_other","partner_other_details","cost","fsector_0","fpartner_0","fdetails_0","fsector_1","fpartner_1","fdetails_1","fsector_2","fpartner_2","fdetails_2","fsector_3","fpartner_3","fdetails_3","fsector_4","fpartner_4","fdetails_4","fsector_5","fpartner_5","fdetails_5","fsector_6","fpartner_6","fdetails_6","fsector_7","fpartner_7","fdetails_7","fsector_8","fpartner_8","fdetails_8","fsector_9","fpartner_9","fdetails_9","fsector_10","fpartner_10","fdetails_10","fsector_11","fpartner_11","fdetails_11","fsector_12","fpartner_12","fdetails_12","fsector_13","fpartner_13","fdetails_13","fsector_14","fpartner_14","fdetails_14","fsector_15","fpartner_15","fdetails_15","fsector_16","fpartner_16","fdetails_16","fsector_17","fpartner_17","fdetails_17","fsector_18","fpartner_18","fdetails_18","fsector_19","fpartner_19","fdetails_19","fsector_20","fpartner_20","fdetails_20","fsector_21","fpartner_21","fdetails_21","fsector_22","fpartner_22","fdetails_22","fsector_23","fpartner_23","fdetails_23","fsector_24","fpartner_24","fdetails_24","fsector_25","fpartner_25","fdetails_25","fsector_26","fpartner_26","fdetails_26","fsector_27","fpartner_27","fdetails_27","fsector_28","fpartner_28","fdetails_28","fsector_29","fpartner_29","fdetails_29","fsector_30","fpartner_30","fdetails_30","fsector_31","fpartner_31","fdetails_31","fsector_32","fpartner_32","fdetails_32","fsector_33","fpartner_33","fdetails_33","fsector_34","fpartner_34","fdetails_34","fsector_35","fpartner_35","fdetails_35","fsector_36","fpartner_36","fdetails_36","fsector_37","fpartner_37","fdetails_37","fsector_38","fpartner_38","fdetails_38","fsector_39","fpartner_39","fdetails_39","fsector_40","fpartner_40","fdetails_40","fsector_41","fpartner_41","fdetails_41","fsector_42","fpartner_42","fdetails_42","fsector_43","fpartner_43","fdetails_43","fsector_44","fpartner_44","fdetails_44","fsector_45","fpartner_45","fdetails_45","fsector_46","fpartner_46","fdetails_46","fsector_47","fpartner_47","fdetails_47","fsector_48","fpartner_48","fdetails_48","fsector_49","fpartner_49","fdetails_49","action_id","theme","topic","new_topic","micronutrient","micronutrient_compound","target_group","age_group","place","delivery","other_delivery","dose_frequency","impact_indicators","me_system","target_pop","coverage_percent","coverage_type","baseline","post_intervention","social_det","social_other","elena_link","problem_0","solution_0","problem_1","solution_1","problem_2","solution_2","problem_3","solution_3","problem_4","solution_4","problem_5","solution_5","problem_6","solution_6","problem_7","solution_7","problem_8","solution_8","problem_9","solution_9","other_problems","other_lessons","personal_story","language" "11523","Feed the Future: The U.S. Government’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative","English","Multi-national","","LBR","Liberia","Bong County, Liberia|Lofa County, Liberia| Nimba County, Liberia|Grand Bassa County, Liberia|Montserrado County, Liberia|Margibi, Liberia","Rural|Peri-urban","on-going","01-2011","01-2015","
Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, is establishing a foundation for lasting progress against global hunger. With a focus on smallholder farmers, particularly women, Feed the Future supports partner countries in developing their agriculture sectors to spur economic growth that increases incomes and reduces hunger, poverty, and undernutrition. Feed the Future efforts are driven by country-led priorities and rooted in partnership with governments, donor organizations, the private sector, and civil society to enable long-term success. Feed the Future aims to assist millions of vulnerable women, children, and family members to escape hunger and poverty, while reaching significant numbers of children with highly effective nutrition interventions to prevent stunting and child mortality.
Over the next five years in Liberia, Feed the Future aims to help an estimated 332,000 vulnerable Liberian women, children and family members—mostly smallholder farmers—escape hunger and poverty. More than 96,000 children will be reached with services to improve their nutrition and prevent stunting and child mortality. Significant numbers of additional rural populations will achieve improved income and nutritional status from strategic policy engagement and institutional investments.
To meet its objectives, Feed the Future Liberia is making core investments in three key areas:
1. Transforming Staples’ Value Chains
2. Developing Income and Diet Diversification Value Chains
Target region
The Feed the Future Strategy is focusing on counties with the highest populations, the most farmers, the largest numbers living in poverty, and the greatest potential for agriculture development: Bong, Lofa, Nimba, Grand Bassa, Montserrado, and Margibi. These counties are located along Liberia’s main economic development corridors and collectively include around 75 percent of all Liberian households. Nutrition activities are focused in Bong, Lofa and Nimba counties.
","FTF interventions will encourage employment of women extension agents in the public sector and ensure that they are well represented in extension-related training activities in the public and private sectors. Women typically have more limited access to seeds, tools, credit, and marketing information than men. Liberia FTF MYS activities will give explicit attention to issues of equity in access in order to increase women‘s access and FTF will also provide support for women to participate in producer/marketing groups and associations.
Through private and public sector extension, USAID will provide lead farmers and producer organizations identified as change agents with specialized skills. Change agents will also receive support to acquire planting material and inputs through public and private sector channels. Availability of improved planting materials is facilitated through investments in CARI, private sector players, and CORAF. USAID will promote suppliers of seeds, fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, tools, and livestock by developing their technical knowledge and skills and through support for increased agricultural credit. These entrepreneurs will provide services to others in their respective value chains. Over the five years of the FTF program, both the public and private provision of extension services will reinforce and expand the skill sets of change agents to increase productivity and coordinate with county and local health service providers to extend the reach of nutrition-related behavior change in order both to raise incomes and to improve health outcomes.
Small-scale rice and cassava processors will be a central focus of FTF interventions. Those interventions will help processors to build a supplier base, acquire equipment, access finance, and implement appropriate business practices. It is expected that they will then provide farmers with technical assistance to assure themselves of sufficient supplies of quality commodities to process. The program will work with and support both processors and traders to invest in processing equipment, storage facilities, and transport. It will work with farmers on improving post-harvest handling practices and on producing a consistent and predictable flow of goods. Over the five years, USAID direct beneficiaries will develop the skills, knowledge, and attitudes - plus have the capital, equipment, clients, and market linkages - to continue to expand their production, processing, and/or marketing businesses.
Given the paucity of reliable data, a significant initial activity in the primary implementation mechanism for the Liberia FTF MYS – USAID‘s Food and Enterprise Development program - will be directed to a series of baseline surveys to collect production, labor, and market information and to facilitate MOA data collection and analysis, especially related to the focus counties. Based on the prioritized constraints that are identified, targeted and sequenced support will be directed to specific steps on the value chain, including to:
Nutritional benefits will accrue from both increased availability of and access to Liberia‘s primary food staples (rice and cassava). Increased commercialization will provide smallholders the increased incomes needed to obtain more and better food and improved processing will promote fortification to enhance the nutritional value of cassava and to improve the quality of rice. Public and private extension change agents will be trained to engage farmers, communities and farmer organizations across the range of behavioral change needed to promote essential nutrition actions.
","The Feed the Future MYS and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) activities will have the following four overarching objectives:
The FTF M&E system is designed flexibly to take into account the systems and indicators being implemented by aligned USG activities, as well as those which the GOL is developing under LASIP reflecting the Government‘s CAADP commitments. The Mission‘s newly-awarded M&E program will facilitate the coordination and collaboration work to build the FTF M&E system with appropriate linkages reflecting WOG activities that impact on the FTF Results Framework.
Collecting, managing, and reporting data to track indicators is a critical component of Liberia‘s FTF M&E activities. There are three basic levels at which data will be collected: at the national, target-county, and project-levels; the latter two being the zones of influence‘ of Liberia‘s FTF program. In general, national-level data will be collected every five or every two years, depending on data source. Typically, target-county level data will be collected every two years or mid-way through the FTF program, depending on data source. Project-level data will be collected annually. Given that much of the data will be for agriculture, data collection will reflect systems, which span growing seasons across more than a single year. The centrally-funded M&E contractor, recently awarded by the Mission, will work with USAID Implementing Partners (IP), GOL, and other entities as appropriate in data collection, management, and reporting as well as in conducting baselines. These will be collective efforts reflecting the importance of data collection and baselines not only for USG priorities but also to partners and other stakeholders in the private sector and GOL.
Ensuring baseline data are available to measure changes resulting from FTF interventions and to contextually monitor the situation in Liberia is essential to the FTF program. For the eight higher-level indicators, USAID/Liberia will coordinate with the centrally-funded contractor to confirm available national-level baseline data for the poverty and agriculture sector GDP indicators. The centrally-funded contractor will lead efforts to obtain baseline data on per capita income at the target county level. Reliable data on underweight, stunted, and wasted children, as well as on underweight women, are available from Liberia‘s Comprehensive Food Security and Nutrition Survey (CFSNS), a bi-annual survey endorsed and led by GOL with World Food Program oversight. These baseline data are given in Annex C. As the indicator on women‘s empowerment is being developed, USAID/Liberia will address baseline needs for it as further information on requirements becomes available.
There are an additional six indicators which require baselines to measure project-level activity. In collaboration with the MOA, USAID/Liberia IPs will lead baseline data collection on crop and animal production improvements (indicators 9 and 10 in the results framework), on the value of incremental sales (indicator 16 in the results framework), and on the application of improved technologies and practices by individuals and organizations receiving USG assistance (indicators 13 and 15 in the results framework).
Prior to initiation of FTF MYS activities under the FED program, the Mission will initiate a pre- and post-impact evaluation process to articulate the relevant analytical framework for evaluating program impact in the target counties. Current expectations are to utilize a quasi-experimental design for the impact evaluation. However, a final determination has not been made and plans are to further discuss with the Mission‘s M&E program and others. In addition, Liberia is a non-presence, monitored member of the West Africa regional Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET). The FTF M&E activities will utilize these data on food prices, regional trade flows, market development in data frameworks for on-going assessment and monitoring of both impacts and risks.
Currently, Liberia‘s capacity to collect, process, and report data is extremely weak. While USAID/Liberia identified some sources of reliable data, notably that reported in the 2010 CFSNS, there is a paucity of agricultural and trade data available. To address this, USAID will work closely with GOL to build Liberian capacity in this area. The GOL has the primary responsibility to collect poverty, rural and agricultural statistics but the FTF M&E system will support and strengthen the GOL‘s activity in cooperation with other development partners. It will also strengthen the MOA‘s Food Security and Nutrition Unit and the Agriculture Coordination Committee to build compatible and consistent M&E systems for food security related activities. The FTF M&E system will support the capacity of critical national institutions especially the Liberian Institute of Statistics and Geo Information Services (LISGIS) and the MOA to improve the reliability, timeliness, and relevance of data for which they are responsible. It will strengthen these institutions to setup management information systems to inform high-level decision-making and will encourage the involvement of these critical institutions in oversight of FTF activities using the M&E system as the focal point. Furthermore, it will carry these activities to the county level and in particular will emphasize MOA M&E capacity in Bong, Lofa, Nimba, and Grand Bassa counties.
","Planned interventions targeted at the key value chain constraints and implemented via the actions of private and public change agents will reach over 92,000 rice and cassava farmers in the six target counties","Bong, Lofa, Nimba, Grand Bassa, Montserrado, and Margibi. These counties are located along Liberia’s main economic development corridors and collectively include around 75 percent of all Liberian households. Nutrition activities are focused in Bong, Lofa ","","Gross margin per unit of land or animal of selected product (crop/animal varies by county);Percent increases in crop yields; Number of farmers and others who have applied new technologies or management practices as a result of USG assistance; Number of private enterprises; producer orgs; water users, trade, business associations; & CBOs that applied new technologies or management practices as a result of USG assistance; Value of incremental sales (collected at farm-level) attributed to FTF implementation; Value of agricultural and rural loans; Prevalence of households with moderate or severe hunger; Prevalence of children 6-23 months receiving a minimum acceptable diet; Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding of children under six months of age; Prevalence of anemia among women of reproductive age","Gross margin per unit of land or animal of selected product (crop/animal varies by country);Percent increases in crop yields; Number of individuals who have received USG supported short-term ag sector productivity or food security training;Number of new additional ha under improved technologies or management practices as a result of USG assistance; Number of farmers and others who have applied new technologies or management practices as a result of USG assistance; Number of private enterprises; producer orgs; water users, trade, business associations; & CBOs receiving USG assistance; Number of private enterprises; producer orgs; water users, trade, business associations; & CBOs that applied new technologies or management practices as a result of USG assistance; Value of incremental sales (collected at farm-level) attributed to FTF implementation; Kilometers of roads improved or constructed; Value of agricultural and rural loans; Value of new private sector investment in the ag sector or food chain leveraged by FTF implementation; Number new laws and policies implemented to support private enterprise growth; Number of jobs attributed to FTF implementation; Prevalence of households with moderate or severe hunger; Prevalence of children 6-23 months receiving a minimum acceptable diet; Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding of children under six months of age; Prevalence of anemia among women of reproductive age","Vulnerable groups","","Biofortification of staple crops>>>Biofortification of staple crops>>http://www.who.int/elena/titles/biofortification","Supplies","Promote high-yield seed and related inputs, including demonstration plots to test the use of improved seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides, and to introduce better land and water practices and farming methods;","Staff skills/training","Build capacity in both public (county-level) and private sector extension, including farmer organizations, traders or other private sector actors to invest in small sized processing mills and storage facilities","Financial resources","Provide access to finance and credit guarantees, directed at lead farmers and small processors","Stakeholder","Implement training to capacitate processors to become key change agents in market and credit transactions","Communication","Improve the transparency of market price information to farmers and strengthen business service providers, as an alternative means to make extension type services","","","","","","","","","","","","","","English" "11523","Feed the Future: The U.S. Government’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative","English","Multi-national","","LBR","Liberia","Bong County, Liberia|Lofa County, Liberia| Nimba County, Liberia|Grand Bassa County, Liberia|Montserrado County, Liberia|Margibi, Liberia","Rural|Peri-urban","on-going","01-2011","01-2015","Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, is establishing a foundation for lasting progress against global hunger. With a focus on smallholder farmers, particularly women, Feed the Future supports partner countries in developing their agriculture sectors to spur economic growth that increases incomes and reduces hunger, poverty, and undernutrition. Feed the Future efforts are driven by country-led priorities and rooted in partnership with governments, donor organizations, the private sector, and civil society to enable long-term success. Feed the Future aims to assist millions of vulnerable women, children, and family members to escape hunger and poverty, while reaching significant numbers of children with highly effective nutrition interventions to prevent stunting and child mortality.
Over the next five years in Liberia, Feed the Future aims to help an estimated 332,000 vulnerable Liberian women, children and family members—mostly smallholder farmers—escape hunger and poverty. More than 96,000 children will be reached with services to improve their nutrition and prevent stunting and child mortality. Significant numbers of additional rural populations will achieve improved income and nutritional status from strategic policy engagement and institutional investments.
To meet its objectives, Feed the Future Liberia is making core investments in three key areas:
1. Transforming Staples’ Value Chains
2. Developing Income and Diet Diversification Value Chains
Target region
The Feed the Future Strategy is focusing on counties with the highest populations, the most farmers, the largest numbers living in poverty, and the greatest potential for agriculture development: Bong, Lofa, Nimba, Grand Bassa, Montserrado, and Margibi. These counties are located along Liberia’s main economic development corridors and collectively include around 75 percent of all Liberian households. Nutrition activities are focused in Bong, Lofa and Nimba counties.
","FTF Core Program 2 will undertake investments in horticulture pilots to encourage smallholders in relevant areas of all focus counties over time, but will initially focus on peri-urban locations near Monrovia which are close to the largest and most lucrative market and minimize constraints related to storage and transport. These activities will build on a change agent model similar to that for the rice and cassava value chains by supporting lead traders and lead farmers to acquire equipment for transport and storage and to acquire business and marketing knowledge. Key FTF horticulture interventions will include formation and strengthening of farmer associations, post-harvest management and logistics support, promoting public-private partnerships, and providing information and training for behavior changes to promote improved family nutrition.
FTF investments to develop the goat value chain will implement pilot activities that are closely coordinated with the substantial USDA Food for Progress goat value chain enhancement program that will be working to re-establish breed stock and infrastructure for processing. The change agent focus of investment will be on community animal health workers and Core Program 2 activities will train and lend support to them so that they can directly assist improved breeding through the provision of services and infrastructure, making commercialization profitable. USAID/Liberia will determine the scope and scale of change agent engagement in pilot sites based on local conditions and in close coordination with the USDA program.
The US Government in Liberia will make an estimated 30 percent of FTF MYS investments in Core Program 2, with roughly 60 percent of these directed to interventions to address vegetable value chain pilot activities and the remaining 40 percent for implementation of goat pilots. Reflecting the phased approach to Liberia FTF value chain interventions, only 10 percent of first-year investment will be in the diet diversification value chains, while 63 percent of MYS vegetable and goat value chain investments will be carried out in years four and five. As with Core Program Area 1, given the lack of reliable data a significant initial activity in the primary implementation mechanism for the Liberia FTF MYS – USAID‘s Food and Enterprise Development program - will be directed to ensure relevant baseline surveys to collect production, employment, and market information and to facilitate data collection and analysis, especially related to the focus counties. These investments will be phased to take advantage of opportunities that already exist in peri-urban areas for vegetables and related to the USDA program for goats. Within the proposed total program level, anticipated investment levels in these value chains will be lower in the first two years of strategy implementation and will ramp.
","","
The Feed the Future MYS and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) activities will have the following four overarching objectives:
The FTF M&E system is designed flexibly to take into account the systems and indicators being implemented by aligned USG activities, as well as those which the GOL is developing under LASIP reflecting the Government‘s CAADP commitments. The Mission‘s newly-awarded M&E program will facilitate the coordination and collaboration work to build the FTF M&E system with appropriate linkages reflecting WOG activities that impact on the FTF Results Framework.
Collecting, managing, and reporting data to track indicators is a critical component of Liberia‘s FTF M&E activities. There are three basic levels at which data will be collected: at the national, target-county, and project-levels; the latter two being the ‗zones of influence‘ of Liberia‘s FTF program. In general, national-level data will be collected every five or every two years, depending on data source. Typically, target-county level data will be collected every two years or mid-way through the FTF program, depending on data source. Project-level data will be collected annually. Given that much of the data will be for agriculture, data collection will reflect systems, which span growing seasons across more than a single year. The centrally-funded M&E contractor, recently awarded by the Mission, will work with USAID Implementing Partners (IP), GOL, and other entities as appropriate in data collection, management, and reporting as well as in conducting baselines. These will be collective efforts reflecting the importance of data collection and baselines not only for USG priorities but also to partners and other stakeholders in the private sector and GOL.
Ensuring baseline data are available to measure changes resulting from FTF interventions and to contextually monitor the situation in Liberia is essential to the FTF program. For the eight higher-level indicators, USAID/Liberia will coordinate with the centrally-funded contractor to confirm available national-level baseline data for the poverty and agriculture sector GDP indicators. The centrally-funded contractor will lead efforts to obtain baseline data on per capita income at the target county level. Reliable data on underweight, stunted, and wasted children, as well as on underweight women, are available from Liberia‘s Comprehensive Food Security and Nutrition Survey (CFSNS), a bi-annual survey endorsed and led by GOL with World Food Program oversight. These baseline data are given in Annex C. As the indicator on women‘s empowerment is being developed, USAID/Liberia will address baseline needs for it as further information on requirements becomes available.
Gender is a cross-cutting issue in the GOL‘s agriculture sector investment plan and is integrated in the US Government‘s Liberia FTF MYS. To measure FTF gender impacts, USAID/Liberia will disaggregate data as appropriate by gendered household type or by sex and will track data for the women‘s empower index being developed as well as for women specific indicators in the RF. Annex C identifies indicators to be disaggregated by gendered household type or by sex (as well as by other characteristics). Data will be disaggregated by gendered household type for the following indicators: prevalence of poverty, per capita income, gross margin per unit of land/animal, increases in crop yields, and prevalence of households with moderate or severe hunger. There are numerous indicators which will be disaggregated by sex. These are identified in Annex C. The Liberia RF also considers women specific indicators including prevalence of underweight women, women‘s dietary diversity, and prevalence of anemia among women. It is expected that a rich picture of the extent to which the FTF program is achieving positive gender impacts will emerge via this disaggregation. And in particular, the tracking will allow USAID/Liberia to make rapid programming adjustments in this regard if necessary.
Prior to initiation of FTF MYS activities under the FED program, the Mission will initiate a pre- and post-impact evaluation process to articulate the relevant analytical framework for evaluating program impact in the target counties. Current expectations are to utilize a quasi-experimental design for the impact evaluation. However, a final determination has not been made and plans are to further discuss with the Mission‘s M&E program and others. In addition, Liberia is a non-presence, monitored member of the West Africa regional Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET). The FTF M&E activities will utilize these data on food prices, regional trade flows, market development in data frameworks for on-going assessment and monitoring of both impacts and risks.
Currently, Liberia‘s capacity to collect, process, and report data is extremely weak. While USAID/Liberia identified some sources of reliable data, notably that reported in the 2010 CFSNS, there is a paucity of agricultural and trade data available. To address this, USAID will work closely with GOL to build Liberian capacity in this area. The GOL has the primary responsibility to collect poverty, rural and agricultural statistics but the FTF M&E system will support and strengthen the GOL‘s activity in cooperation with other development partners. It will also strengthen the MOA‘s Food Security and Nutrition Unit and the Agriculture Coordination Committee to build compatible and consistent M&E systems for food security related activities. The FTF M&E system will support the capacity of critical national institutions especially the Liberian Institute of Statistics and Geo Information Services (LISGIS) and the MOA to improve the reliability, timeliness, and relevance of data for which they are responsible. It will strengthen these institutions to setup management information systems to inform high-level decision-making and will encourage the involvement of these critical institutions in oversight of FTF activities using the M&E system as the focal point. Furthermore, it will carry these activities to the county level and in particular will emphasize MOA M&E capacity in Bong, Lofa, Nimba, and Grand Bassa counties.
In-line with FTF‘s global knowledge learning agenda, USAID/Liberia will engage in the following activities:
Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, is establishing a foundation for lasting progress against global hunger. With a focus on smallholder farmers, particularly women, Feed the Future supports partner countries in developing their agriculture sectors to spur economic growth that increases incomes and reduces hunger, poverty, and undernutrition. Feed the Future efforts are driven by country-led priorities and rooted in partnership with governments, donor organizations, the private sector, and civil society to enable long-term success. Feed the Future aims to assist millions of vulnerable women, children, and family members to escape hunger and poverty, while reaching significant numbers of children with highly effective nutrition interventions to prevent stunting and child mortality.
Over the next five years in Liberia, Feed the Future aims to help an estimated 332,000 vulnerable Liberian women, children and family members—mostly smallholder farmers—escape hunger and poverty. More than 96,000 children will be reached with services to improve their nutrition and prevent stunting and child mortality. Significant numbers of additional rural populations will achieve improved income and nutritional status from strategic policy engagement and institutional investments.
To meet its objectives, Feed the Future Liberia is making core investments in three key areas:
1. Transforming Staples’ Value Chains
2. Developing Income and Diet Diversification Value Chains
Target region
The Feed the Future Strategy is focusing on counties with the highest populations, the most farmers, the largest numbers living in poverty, and the greatest potential for agriculture development: Bong, Lofa, Nimba, Grand Bassa, Montserrado, and Margibi. These counties are located along Liberia’s main economic development corridors and collectively include around 75 percent of all Liberian households. Nutrition activities are focused in Bong, Lofa and Nimba counties.
","FTF investments in Core Program 3 will address selected aspects of the LASIP program for institutional development to support the value chains that are the focus of Core Program Areas 1 and 2. FTF investments in agriculture policy, advocacy support, and research will fund key institutions to carry out actionable research leading to improved land, soil, and water resource management and use and agronomic practices and more productive animal husbandry. FTF Program Area 3 activities will be integrated in the value chain support in order to expand the capacity of civil society groups to analyze and advocate for policy reforms (e.g., in regard to rice pricing and sanitary and food safety standards for food and meat processing) and to help create a more market-friendly policies and an improved trading environment for Liberian smallholders.
The Liberia FTF MYS will assist the MOA to define and implement its decentralized, demand-driven, participatory, pluralistic (i.e., engaging public, private, civil society actors), and accountable agricultural extension system. The critical role of women extension agents will be emphasized and opportunities for them to develop professionally, both in terms of education and field practice, will be supported. Program Area 3 investments will target partnerships with the public and private sectors and other development partners to: accelerate adoption of modern agronomic technologies and practices at the farm level; create effective knowledge distribution mechanisms; and build capacity of the MOA to provide specialized extension services. Revised agricultural extension curricula will provide more effective training in areas such as land use and techniques to reduce soil fertility losses, water resources management, low-cost and organic fertilizers, post-harvest loss reduction, pest management measures, participatory extension methodologies, women‘s participation in extension activities, farmer organization development, participatory rural appraisal, farmer field school methodology, and farmer-to-farmer extension. These investments will support widespread provision of high quality extension to Liberian smallholders. Core Program 3 interventions on market structure development will create opportunities to establish market information systems to support private and public decision making and invest in alternative profit sharing/contract models between change agents and farmers to ensure equitable market exchanges, based on transparent information and rational decision making behavior. These activities will provide the foundation for fair and transparent markets accessible to all Liberian smallholders.
All FTF MYS investments in Core Program 3 will be integrated to support value chain activities in transforming rice and cassava staples value chains and piloting the income and diet diversification vegetable and goat value chains. Thus, these activities to advance the enabling environment and build capacity will contribute to ensure benefits of the value chain investments reach all 142,375 households the program will work with, including the 91,120 poor households.
","","
The Feed the Future MYS and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) activities will have the following four overarching objectives:
The FTF M&E system is designed flexibly to take into account the systems and indicators being implemented by aligned USG activities, as well as those which the GOL is developing under LASIP reflecting the Government‘s CAADP commitments. The Mission‘s newly-awarded M&E program will facilitate the coordination and collaboration work to build the FTF M&E system with appropriate linkages reflecting WOG activities that impact on the FTF Results Framework.
Collecting, managing, and reporting data to track indicators is a critical component of Liberia‘s FTF M&E activities. There are three basic levels at which data will be collected: at the national, target-county, and project-levels; the latter two being the ‗zones of influence‘ of Liberia‘s FTF program. In general, national-level data will be collected every five or every two years, depending on data source. Typically, target-county level data will be collected every two years or mid-way through the FTF program, depending on data source. Project-level data will be collected annually. Given that much of the data will be for agriculture, data collection will reflect systems, which span growing seasons across more than a single year. The centrally-funded M&E contractor, recently awarded by the Mission, will work with USAID Implementing Partners (IP), GOL, and other entities as appropriate in data collection, management, and reporting as well as in conducting baselines. These will be collective efforts reflecting the importance of data collection and baselines not only for USG priorities but also to partners and other stakeholders in the private sector and GOL.
Ensuring baseline data are available to measure changes resulting from FTF interventions and to contextually monitor the situation in Liberia is essential to the FTF program. For the eight higher-level indicators, USAID/Liberia will coordinate with the centrally-funded contractor to confirm available national-level baseline data for the poverty and agriculture sector GDP indicators. The centrally-funded contractor will lead efforts to obtain baseline data on per capita income at the target county level. Reliable data on underweight, stunted, and wasted children, as well as on underweight women, are available from Liberia‘s Comprehensive Food Security and Nutrition Survey (CFSNS), a bi-annual survey endorsed and led by GOL with World Food Program oversight. These baseline data are given in Annex C. As the indicator on women‘s empowerment is being developed, USAID/Liberia will address baseline needs for it as further information on requirements becomes available.
Gender is a cross-cutting issue in the GOL‘s agriculture sector investment plan and is integrated in the US Government‘s Liberia FTF MYS. To measure FTF gender impacts, USAID/Liberia will disaggregate data as appropriate by gendered household type or by sex and will track data for the women‘s empower index being developed as well as for women specific indicators in the RF. Annex C identifies indicators to be disaggregated by gendered household type or by sex (as well as by other characteristics). Data will be disaggregated by gendered household type for the following indicators: prevalence of poverty, per capita income, gross margin per unit of land/animal, increases in crop yields, and prevalence of households with moderate or severe hunger. There are numerous indicators which will be disaggregated by sex. These are identified in Annex C. The Liberia RF also considers women specific indicators including prevalence of underweight women, women‘s dietary diversity, and prevalence of anemia among women. It is expected that a rich picture of the extent to which the FTF program is achieving positive gender impacts will emerge via this disaggregation. And in particular, the tracking will allow USAID/Liberia to make rapid programming adjustments in this regard if necessary.
Prior to initiation of FTF MYS activities under the FED program, the Mission will initiate a pre- and post-impact evaluation process to articulate the relevant analytical framework for evaluating program impact in the target counties. Current expectations are to utilize a quasi-experimental design for the impact evaluation. However, a final determination has not been made and plans are to further discuss with the Mission‘s M&E program and others. In addition, Liberia is a non-presence, monitored member of the West Africa regional Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET). The FTF M&E activities will utilize these data on food prices, regional trade flows, market development in data frameworks for on-going assessment and monitoring of both impacts and risks.
Currently, Liberia‘s capacity to collect, process, and report data is extremely weak. While USAID/Liberia identified some sources of reliable data, notably that reported in the 2010 CFSNS, there is a paucity of agricultural and trade data available. To address this, USAID will work closely with GOL to build Liberian capacity in this area. The GOL has the primary responsibility to collect poverty, rural and agricultural statistics but the FTF M&E system will support and strengthen the GOL‘s activity in cooperation with other development partners. It will also strengthen the MOA‘s Food Security and Nutrition Unit and the Agriculture Coordination Committee to build compatible and consistent M&E systems for food security related activities. The FTF M&E system will support the capacity of critical national institutions especially the Liberian Institute of Statistics and Geo Information Services (LISGIS) and the MOA to improve the reliability, timeliness, and relevance of data for which they are responsible. It will strengthen these institutions to setup management information systems to inform high-level decision-making and will encourage the involvement of these critical institutions in oversight of FTF activities using the M&E system as the focal point. Furthermore, it will carry these activities to the county level and in particular will emphasize MOA M&E capacity in Bong, Lofa, Nimba, and Grand Bassa counties.
In-line with FTF‘s global knowledge learning agenda, USAID/Liberia will engage in the following activities:
As the world’s largest humanitarian agency, WFP is a major staple food buyer. In 2012, WFP bought US$1.1 billion worth of food – more than 75 percent of this in developing countries WFP buys locally in developing countries when its criteria of price, quality and quantity can be met. P4P is a logical continuation of this local procurement with the intent to achieve a higher developmental gain with WFP’s procurement footprint by buying increasingly in a smallholder-friendly way.
Through P4P, WFP’s demand provides smallholder farmers in 20 pilot countries with a greater incentive to invest in their production, as they have the possibility to sell to a reliable buyer and receive a fair price for their crops. It is envisioned that in the wake of WFP purchasing in a more smallholder-friendly way, other buyers of staple commodities including Governments and the private sector will also increasingly be able to buy from smallholders.
P4P at the same time invests in capacity building at country level in areas such as post-harvest handling or storage, which will yield sustainable results in boosting national food security over the long term. The five year pilot P4P (2009 - 2013)[1] rests on three pillars:
WFP usually buys food through large competitive tenders. Through P4P, WFP is testing new procurement approaches more suited to smallholder farmers and:
Country approaches to P4P are tailored to suit the opportunities and constraints within each country. Generally, however, each programme has applied one or more of the general approaches:
Approach #1: Farmers’ organisations and capacity building partnerships:
Approach #2: Support to emerging structured trading systems
Approach #3: Small and medium traders
Approach #4: Developing local food processing capacity
.
","M&E system specifies data collection and analysis methods designed to track a number of indicators of programme performance.
The M&E system collects data from a number of sources including:
The M&E system also incorporates peer review to identify and validate best practices. At the country level, these include stakeholder meetings, workshops, and annual reviews. At the regional level, WFP is using writeshops and regional workshops to consolidate and validate learning. At the global/programme level, a Technical Review Panel meets annually to review and help interpret results and to guide implementation. Peer review meetings, annual reviews, internal (to WFP) stakeholder groups, and external evaluations also serve to validate results.
Managing the learning process for a programme with the scope and scale of P4P has been challenging and the design and evolution of the M&E system reflect these challenges. In particular:
Economic Research Consortium (AERC) to manage collection and analysis of the quantitative data.
Since P4P's launch in September 2008,
Stories From the Field: Ethiopi
Women farmers face many obstacles that they need to overcome to become successful business women. But the example of Mashuu, from Chefo Umbera, southern Ethiopia, shows that with the right support, female farmers can become independent market players.
When she left school, Mashuu noticed her peers marrying early, sometimes to men who took more than one wife. Mashuu saw her future differently, and together with two sisters and a sister-in-law, formed a women’s group, hoping to empower women through family planning education and HIV/AIDS awareness. They started with four members – today, there are 165.
“As the group started to grow, I realized we needed to become strong and independent economically,” said Mashuu. And that was how Jalela Primary Cooperative was born. Women bring their cereal harvests to Jalela, and the cooperative then sells it to Mira, their local cooperative union. The union sells the aggregated commodities to buyers such as WFP.
The 2011 drought-induced crop failure led to high market prices and a shortage of marketable produce in Ethiopia. This caused most cooperatives to default on their contracts with WFP. But Jalela still sold 30 metric tons of maize to WFP. The net profit of about US$170 was in part kept for the cooperative and in part distributed to the co-op members. Mashuu still has high hopes for the future despite the difficulties with the 2011 drought. She has plans to build a grain mill, start dairy production, and even bring electricity to the Jalela co-op. “We are going to change our lives,” she concludes.
The Experience in Guatemala
In Guatemala, P4P focuses on sales beyond WFP for two reasons: to promote long-term sustainability and to provide alternative outlets for farmers’ surplus production. Since WFP in Guatemala distributes only a few thousand metric tons (mt) of food every year, the quantities it can purchase from smallholder farmers’ organizations is relatively small, as illustrated in the table below.
P4P assisted Farmers’ Organizations (FOs) are located in northern and eastern regions of Guatemala as well as on the Pacific Coastal plain. A market study examined potential alternative buyers for both bulked and processed grain, including regional and national buyers such as the food industry, private traders, exporters, NGOs and the Government of Guatemala. According to information collected between 2008 through 2012, approximately a third of the P4P supported FOs have sold maize or beans to buyers beyond WFP. Of the total of 6,800 mt sold, 70% was maize (4,800 mt) and the rest beans (2,000 mt).
A maize processor in Guatemala that produces tortilla flour purchased 59% of the total tonnage. The second biggest buyer was Wal-Mart, which purchased 918 mt of beans. Sales to other national supermarkets, large traders and exporters represent 11% of the total (750 mt). Some 739 mt of maize and beans were sold on local markets (local grocery stores, municipal markets and traders). Small amounts were also purchased by NGOs, FAO and other P4P supported FOs.
With support from FAO, some FOs have developed the capacity to produce seed as well as grain. This represents 1.3% of the tonnage sold, but 4.2% of the income generated through collective sales beyond WFP. Such a successful focus on higherincome options has motivated the FOs to explore other markets such as retail packaging of beans, production of red beans specific to the El Salvador market, and fresh corn on the cob.
The P4P team works with the FOs to encourage sales beyond WFP. Commercialization committees are formed in the FOs and a roster of identified potential buyers in the market is shared with all. Training on effective negotiation t e c h n i q u e s a n d t h e development of business plans also begins this year.
Potential buyers are invited to the field to see the production of the grains, post-harvest management and quality control. This also allows them to become familiar with the maturity of the organization, increasing the confidence of buyers in the capacity of the FOs to establish commercial relations. This is complemented by demonstrating tools such as the “Blue Box”1, which is both a training tool and a field laboratory, which separates produce that does not meet specifications. Through partnering with P4P, FOs gained the trust of the commercial sector and confidence in their own abilities to reach a broad range of markets.
Farmers organizations’ experience steady progression in Mozambique
In Mozambique, farmers’ organizations (FOs) were created by both national government and nongovernmental organizations to facilitate technical assistance in agricultural production and marketing. This was especially important in the recovery period that followed the 1992 General Peace Agreement.
Most FOs gradually evolved from the village level to linking with other FOs at a district level. The district level is often represented by an ‘umbrella’ association of FOs, the tier with which P4P in Mozambique works directly. There are currently 10 such “umbrella” FOs in Mozambique participating in P4P. As of 2012, WFP has bought almost 10,000 metric tons (mt) of maize, beans and pulses from these FOs, valued at $5.8 million.
Apart from selling to WFP, P4P is helping FOs to identify sustainable and fair markets for sales beyond WFP. Prior to participating in the P4P initiative, many farmers had limited or no experience in selling collectively to markets. In 2009, sales beyond WFP were only 644 mt, tripling by 2012 to 1,800 mt. The table below summarizes crops sold by all 10 FOs under P4P in Mozambique and the income generated from sales per year.
P4P’s support to smallholder farmers in accessing markets for crops such as maize, beans and pulses has had a positive impact. When P4P began in 2009, soybean was the mostsold commodity by P4P supported FOs (2,480 mt). Maize was second at 926 mt, sesame third with 699 mt, followed by pigeon peas at 538 mt of sales. The possible profit margin for growing and selling maize is beginning to compete with the profits available in the soy and sesame trade, although commercial maize value remains low compared to other commodities. Buyers that are purchasing commodities from these FOs are:
The volume of products marketed in relation to the number of buyers demonstrates that the market in Mozambique is neither structured nor stable. There are often a high number of buyers intervening at the same time in more than one crop. Quality issues are often secondary for many buyers, as product availability is often considered more important.
While marketing platforms still have a long way to go in Mozambique, participating in P4P has helped with sales to markets beyond WFP. The relative consistency of having WFP as a buyer and the training provided by P4P and partners has helped many FOs meet the demands needed for selling to other buyers of quality.
Malawi – How a farmers’ organization is progressing
Kafulu Smallholder Farmers Organization (FO) was established in 2003. At the time of its establishment, Kafulu had two clear objectives: to achieve food security in the area and to find markets for their surplus. Currently the FO has 1,400 members (of which 500 are women) and with assistance from the National Agricultural Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM), they have been able to build a warehouse. Kafulu had experience of selling maize collectively before P4P started in Malawi, however, since joining P4P they have been given the opportunity to learn the skills needed to achieve better deals with buyers.
A Challenging Beginning
Though Kafulu has progressed in their ability to connect to markets, the process has not been without difficulty. When the FO decided to participate in P4P it obtained credit in the 2008/2009 season, allowing them to expand their inputs loan scheme. In the 2009/2010 season, the organization again had access to credit, but faced severe problems in repayment. Loans were given to individuals and not directly to the FO and as a result, some individuals were unable to meet repayment obligations causing tensions among members. In addition, Kafulu signed a contract with WFP for the sale of 526 metric tons (mt) of maize, but was not able to deliver anything at all due to quality problems. The FO then had to sell the maize to other buyers who were not looking for high quality and they received a lower price.
In spite of these difficulties, Kafulu persevered. They managed to retain most of the membership despite the credit repayment issue, and tried to sell to WFP once again. In the 2010/2011 season, Kafulu delivered 100 mt of maize to WFP, this time with no quality issues.
Towards Graduation
By then, Kafulu farmers saw a clear way ahead: “We want to sell to people like WFP, because they are able to get a lot of money at one time and they offer fair prices for quality produce”,
stated one of the members of the Executive Committee. Although Kafulu farmers did not know then, they were completing the first step towards graduation - they had learnt how to condition their crop for higher quality standards and they had managed to aggregate at least twice. This placed them in a better position to compete with other FOs.
In the 2011/2012 season, Kafulu managed to aggregate 460 mt of maize, which they deposited into the warehouse receipt system (WRS) at the beginning of the season. From this deposit, they managed to get 70 percent of the receipt value as credit, which allowed them to wait until later in the season to sell when better prices were available.
Market Experience Today
In February 2013, Kafulu was awarded a contract for almost 230 mt of maize from WFP. They competed directly with medium and big traders in the Malawi market. By that time, they had already sold half of their maize to other buyers, at prevailing prices of around 90 MWK/kg (USD 0.27), making a good profit and enabling them to repay the credit and fees for the warehouse.
Kafulu FO still has problems with its membership stemming from past individual loan defaults and it is now dealing with the challenges of managing a WRS on its own. However, the FO has more knowledge of markets and is now prepared to engage competitively in them.
","English" "24605","Nutrition International - World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) Nutrition Program","English","Multi-national","","BGD|MDG|PHL|LKA|TZA","Bangladesh|Madagascar|Philippines|Sri Lanka|United Republic of Tanzania","","","","","","WAGGGS is the largest voluntary organization for girls and young women globally, representing 10 million members in 146 countries. WAGGGS is developing a three-phase nutrition program consisting of knowledge-building, advocacy and enabling access to WIFA (Weekly Iron Folic Acid) supplements where needed.
The program will be adapted to the local contexts, yet suitable for global scale up through the Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting movement. The program will be piloted over a 27-month period through the existing Girl Guide networks in member states.
This program is being implemented in Bangladesh, Madagascar, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Tanzania in partnership with the following WAGGGS Member Organisations -The Bangladesh Girl Guides Association, Skotisma Zazavavy Eto Madagasikara, Girl Scouts of the Philippines, The Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association, and The Tanzania Girl Guides Association.
Partners began working on this project in December 2016. Implementation began in June 2017 and will continue until March 2020.
","For more information:
","","","","","","","Nutrition International","","","","","","","","","","Private sector","World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS)","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","25999","","Iron and folic acid supplementation","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","English" "24605","Nutrition International - World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) Nutrition Program","English","Multi-national","","BGD|MDG|PHL|LKA|TZA","Bangladesh|Madagascar|Philippines|Sri Lanka|United Republic of Tanzania","","","","","","WAGGGS is the largest voluntary organization for girls and young women globally, representing 10 million members in 146 countries. WAGGGS is developing a three-phase nutrition program consisting of knowledge-building, advocacy and enabling access to WIFA (Weekly Iron Folic Acid) supplements where needed.
The program will be adapted to the local contexts, yet suitable for global scale up through the Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting movement. The program will be piloted over a 27-month period through the existing Girl Guide networks in member states.
This program is being implemented in Bangladesh, Madagascar, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Tanzania in partnership with the following WAGGGS Member Organisations -The Bangladesh Girl Guides Association, Skotisma Zazavavy Eto Madagasikara, Girl Scouts of the Philippines, The Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association, and The Tanzania Girl Guides Association.
Partners began working on this project in December 2016. Implementation began in June 2017 and will continue until March 2020.
","For more information:
","","","","","","","Nutrition International","","","","","","","","","","Private sector","World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS)","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","26020","","Nutrition education and counselling","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","English"