"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" "6039","Chispitas program","English","National","","BOL","Bolivia (Plurinational State of)","Bolivia (Plurinational State of)","Urban|Rural|Peri-urban","on-going","01-2006","","
Ferrous sulfate syrup has been the major source of iron supplementation until 2006 for the Bolivian children. Although not documented in a systematic fashion, it was generally accepted in the country that acceptance of the syrup was low due to taste and frequently reported side effects. This and the persistently high prevalence of anemia provided the case for seeking alternative approaches to micronutrient supplementation. Stressing the importance of anemia prevention and control among children 6-59 months of age in Bolivia, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Micronutrient Initiative (MI) proposed to the Ministry of Health and Sports (MSD) to replace syrup with Micronutrient powder (MNP) at the national level. The free distribution of MNP in Bolivia was integrated into the Desnutricion Cero (Zero Malnutrition) program, an integrated strategy to combat malnutrition in Bolivia, launched by the Morales government in 2006. The Centro de Abastecimiento de Suministros de Salud (CEASS), a national procurement agency for the MSD managed the distribution of the sachets to all 9 departments on behalf of the MSD.
","","","","Health","Ministry of Health and Sport/ Nutrition unit","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","Municipalities purchase directly from the manufacturers at prices ranging from 14.50Bs (US$2.07) to 15Bs (US$ 2.15) for a box of 60 sachets.","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","6038","Iron and/or folic acid","Iron supplementation","","","","Infants and young children","6-23 months","N/A","Commercial|Primary health care center","Free distribution through the government’s universal health care program, Seguro Universal Materno Infantil (SUMI).","Each child is provided with 60 Chispitas sachets every year. Caregivers are recommended to provide one sachet everyday for 60 days to their children.
","Anemia prevalence
","Both qualitative and quantitative information were collected from three different sources to evaluate diverse aspects of the implementation of the Chispitas program with an objective to:1. Asses efficiency of logistics systems management across different departments and health districts,2. Assess the acceptability of Chispitas by the caregivers across urban and rural areas, and 3. Know the adequacy of Chispitas preparation by caregivers. An external evaluation was done by the Asociacion de Instituciones de Promocion y Educacion (AIPE), a private firm, to achieve the first three objectives using the program monitoring data and external survey data in 2008. In addition, a workshop was conducted in September 2009 by researchers from Cornell University, MI and MSD to review the Chispitas program and provide feedback to further strengthen it. Later in 2010, a study was conducted provide data to develop a communications strategy by a private firm (TICs Communications) contracted by MI, and allow a comparison post-implementation (focus groups were also conducted). All studies/reviews only looked at the program from the public health system distribution point of view. The 2010 TICs study collected data from households and public health centers in both rural and urban municipalities in Bolivia, in each of the 9 departments of the country. The sample sizes are not large enough however to be nationally representative.
","400000 (50%)","N/A","","","","None","","Intermittent iron supplementation in preschool and school-age children>>>Intermittent iron supplementation in preschool and school-age children>>http://www.who.int/elena/titles/iron_infants","Staff skills/training","Demonstration of Chispitas preparation at the health center and explaining the benefits of Chispitas to the caregivers were identified as key strategies that could be implemented to improve acceptance among caregivers. Important factors that affect the demand for Chispitas are the capacity of health personnel, availability of promotional material, incentives and support to staff, and availability of the product itself at the local level.","Staff retention","Demonstration of Chispitas preparation at the health center and explaining the benefits of Chispitas to the caregivers were identified as key strategies that could be implemented to improve acceptance among caregivers. Important factors that affect the demand for Chispitas are the capacity of health personnel, availability of promotional material, incentives and support to staff, and availability of the product itself at the local level.","Adherence","Demonstration of Chispitas preparation at the health center and explaining the benefits of Chispitas to the caregivers were identified as key strategies that could be implemented to improve acceptance among caregivers. Important factors that affect the demand for Chispitas are the capacity of health personnel, availability of promotional material, incentives and support to staff, and availability of the product itself at the local level.","Supplies","Demonstration of Chispitas preparation at the health center and explaining the benefits of Chispitas to the caregivers were identified as key strategies that could be implemented to improve acceptance among caregivers. Important factors that affect the demand for Chispitas are the capacity of health personnel, availability of promotional material, incentives and support to staff, and availability of the product itself at the local level.","","","","","","","","","","","","","","Inclusion of Chispitas in the Desnutricion Cero strategy strengthened nutrition policy and dialogue in Bolivia generally and the Chispitas distribution program took advantage of that for immediate national implementation. Smaller scale implementation initially with good quality monitoring may have facilitated the identification and timely resolution of problems related to supply, knowledge, acceptance and utilization. The decision to immediately implement at scale diverted financial and human resources from these necessary start-up activities and left little room for the in-depth monitoring required for the timely identification and resolution of problems with the program design and barriers to appropriate implementation. Because of the national scale of the program, implications and problems need to be identified and potential solutions explored at large scale, resulting in complexities and delays in the public health systematical ability to do so.The legal framework, i.e., change of the regulation and inclusion of Chispitas in the insurance commodity package was an important step towards national implementation of the program.
","","English" "8816","Developing Village-based Advisors to improve food Security ","English","National","","KEN","Kenya","Siaya, Kenya|Busia, Kenya|Embu, Kenya|Kitui, Kenya|Machakos, Kenya|Makueni, Kenya","Rural","on-going","01-2012","01-2017","The Village-based Advisors Food Security project is improving productivity by promoting good farming practices among smallholder farmers, with the larger goal of increasing their food security and resilience to environmental shocks. The project identifies keen, hard-working farmers at the village level and develops them into モagro-entrepreneursヤ, called Village-based Advisors who provide inputs (such as improved seed), services (such as livestock vaccination) and advice on good farming practices to their community. These micro-businesses offer the double benefit of creating rural employment opportunities and building a sustainable system for delivering agricultural technologies.
The project is part of the U.S. Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative, also known as モFeed the Futureヤ, which seeks to address the root causes of hunger and poverty and create conditions where food assistance is no longer necessary. ᅠ
","http://kenya.usaid.gov/programs/economic-growth/1272
","","","Other","Farm Input Promotions Africa (FIPS-Africa)","","","","","US Agency for International Development (USAID)","U.S. Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative, also known as モFeed the Futureヤ","","","","","","","","","","","USD 2,000,000.00","Bilateral and donor agencies and lenders","US Agency for International Development (USAID)","The project is working to mitigate the negative effects of climate change on Kenyaメs smallholder farmers by increasing their use of improved varieties of crops and inputs like fertilizer; building their understanding of and ability to implement good soil and water management techniques, and providing better access to poultry vaccination.
The model relies on the use of モVillage-based Advisorsヤ (VBAs) who earn an income through the provision of improved inputs, advice and services to their fellow farmers. Unlike traditional group-based approaches, VBAs have a target to work with every farmer in their community, meaning thousands of farmers can be reached quickly and cost-effectively. The project builds on the entrepreneurialism and community spirit common among smallholder farmers.
FIPS-Africa is a pioneer of the ムsmall packメ approach ヨ where inputs such as seed are distributed to farmers in small quantities. This allows farmers to experiment on their own farm at a low cost and with minimal risk. Farmers are more likely to adopt if they have seen something work first.
","xx
","By June 2012, the project had trained over 100 VBAs who distributed over 34,000 small packs of seed of improved varieties of key staple crops to farmers and established nearly 4,000 multiplication sites for drought tolerant root tuber crops.","ByMarch 2013, the following additional achievements are expected: 1,800 demonstration plots for improved soil and water management or seed priming established 9,000 households growing improved varieties of root tuber crops; 56,000 more small p","Period","Local food production and consumption levelsFood import and export ratesRates of undernutitionRates of people living &lt; $1/day","Local food production and consumption levelsFood import and export ratesRates of undernutitionRates of people living < $1/day","Socio-economic status","","","Staff skills/training","","Infrastructure","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","The long drought of 2009 hit both people and ecosystems hard, putting millions of Kenyans on food relief and killing large numbers of animals. However, this environmental stress also dramatically highlighted the payoffs of improved natural-resource management. Over 750,000 hectares of semi-arid woodland and rangeland - brought under improved management thanks to USAID and partners - showed no decline in ecological condition despite the drought. The condition of some areas even improved
","Dorcas Nyangasi of Emuhaya is 22-years-old and successfully self-employed. Like many young people in rural areas, Dorcas had trouble finding work when she finished school: モMy mother thought I was depressed because they could not afford my college, or lonely because most of my friends were leaving the village. But the real reason was that I needed something to do.ヤ
Dorcasメs life was transformed when Farm Input Promotions-Africa (FIPS-Africa) trained her to be a Village-based Advisor (VBA), providing agricultural inputs, services and advice on good farming practices to smallholder farmers in her village. ᅠAs well as distributing seed, Dorcas sells vegetable and tree seedlings from her nurseries and vaccinates poultry against Newcastle disease, which used to devastate local flocks. ᅠAfter two-and-a-half years of being her own boss, Dorcas has more than 2,000 farmers buying her inputs and services. She explains, モwithin the first four months I noticed that I could make more money when I approached more farmers, so I expanded my operations to three more villages.ヤ
Dorcasメ hard work is not only improving her own livelihood ヨ it helps the other farmers in her community too. モI am happy because I have helped my village rise above the problem of hunger, there is poultry in abundance, and we have surplus sweet potatoes and cassava to sell,ヤ she says.
","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 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; &amp; 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.
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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: