Action - Feed the Future: The U.S. Government’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative - Infant feeding in the context of HIV - HIV cases|Pregnant/lactating women with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA)

Programme: Feed the Future: The U.S. Government’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative

Programme description

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 Tanzania, Feed the Future aims to help an estimated 834,000 vulnerable Tanzanian women, children and family members—mostly smallholder farmers—escape hunger and poverty. More than 430,000 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.

Feed the Future Tanzania also aims to:

  • Increase yields of target crops by at least 50 percent
  • Increase area under irrigation in Tanzania by 15.5 percent through the development of seven smallholder irrigation schemes in Morogoro and Zanzibar
  • Increase market access by rehabilitating at least 3,000 kilometers of rural roads, thus reducing post-harvest losses for maize and rice from 20 percent to 10 percent
  • Increase trade in the target value chain by at least 25 percent through improved rural infrastructure and improved value chain efficiency 

To help meet its objectives Feed the Future Tanzania is making core investments in four key areas:

  1. Systems transformation for the rice, maize and horticulture value chains through agricultural production and processing, and market access and natural resource management 
  2. Nutrition, with major interventions targeting children under five and pregnant women
  3. Agricultural support services and capacity building including research and development and financial services
  4. Addressing major constraints to an enabling policy environment

Programme type

Multi-national

References

Status: 
On-going

Start date:

January
2011

End date:

January
2015
Area: 
Rural
Peri-urban
Place: 
Mara region
Target group: 
HIV cases
Pregnant/lactating women with HIV/AIDS
Delivery: 
Community-based
Hospital/clinic
Kindergarten/school
Primary health care center
Implementation details : 
  • USAID HIV/AIDS FTF wraparound: Community Nutrition and Economic Strengthening of Vulnerable Households with OVCs and PHIV: PEPFAR/Tanzania, through community based partners working with orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) will integrate community nutrition interventions into HIV/AIDS community programs. Also, PEPFAR will develop a new nutrition and economic strengthening wraparound, and will align nutrition and economic strengthening activities with FTF interventions in regions of overlap. This activity aims to address the nutrition and economic needs of vulnerable households with OVCs and PLHIV, and will maximize synergies and impact by linking with FTF.
  • USAID and USDA School Feeding and Food for Education: USAID/Tanzania is supporting school feeding programs through WFP which provide a social safety net for school age children. Given that the evidence suggests that transfers are most effective in reducing malnutrition when they reach children early in life, other food aid and cash transfer projects supported by USAID will also be explored. The Food for Education program serves as an important social safety net for young school-age children in the Mara region. These programs also include nutrition education, and school gardens are part of the program design in some schools. USDA launched a new call for applications in July 2011 for new support that will align with and further support FTF efforts and objectives in Tanzania.
Outcome indicator(s): 
  • Strengthened local institutions and community-based structures for delivering nutrition services
  • Stabilized income and consumption in vulnerable households Recovered, protected and increased key household assets
  • Increased use of community micro-insurance and savings mechanisms among vulnerable households
  • Expanded household income and consumption among vulnerable households with OVCs or PLHA
  • Improved nutritional status and resilience of vulnerable households with OVCs and PLHIV
M&E system: 

Overview
A participatory approach, which calls for active participation of all stakeholders, will be used to monitor and evaluate (M&E) FTF Tanzania. The design of the M&E system will be based on the usefulness of the data and information which is collected and processed at the different levels and intervals of program implementation and operationalization. M&E for FTF will involve on-going monitoring of program activities in the participating districts, annual evaluations, annual review workshops, beneficiary assessments, mid-term review and terminal evaluation.

Evaluations will be carried out using an independent entity to assess annual program performance. In addition, FTF Tanzania will organize annual review workshops for the duration of the program to enable implementing partners to share information on program implementation performance. FTF will also draw lessons and experiences from these workshops that can be taken into account when planning activities for subsequent years of implementation.
A matrix for the selected FTF indicators is attached as Annex A. FTF Tanzania has received assistance from USAID‘s Bureau for Food Security to provide M&E technical assistance. A preliminary M&E plan has been developed for FTF Tanzania which will be completed in September 2011 once the FTF M&E implementing partner, The Mitchell Group (TMG), has arrived in Tanzania and is fully operational.

Performance Evaluations
Performance evaluations will be carried out for selected FTF Tanzania projects to ascertain the trends in achieving project results of the FTF interventions, to document the overall progress toward objectives, and to assess what is working and what is not and why. One evaluation will be done in project year one (PY 1), another in PY 3 and the last one in PY 5. A mid-term review is planned for the end of PY 2 to assess overall progress and impact of FTF implementation, to provide for corrective actions to enhance performance of FTF, and to provide recommendations for future program designs. These recommendations will be confirmed in the terminal evaluation to be carried out in PY 5.

Qualitative and participatory methods will be utilized for the performance evaluations. Evaluators will utilize methods such as observation, focus groups, key informant interviews, stakeholder interviews and rapid survey techniques to assess progress. These techniques often provide critical insights into beneficiaries‘ perspectives on the value of programs to them, the processes that may have affected outcomes, and a deeper interpretation of results observed. Specific targets for the indicators at the outcome and output levels will be developed once FTF Tanzania has carried out the baseline survey in the FTF target areas along with the preparation of Performance Monitoring Plans.

Impact Evaluation
In addition to performance evaluations, FTF Tanzania will design an impact evaluation to test a selected development hypothesis for FTF. Ideally the impact evaluation will utilize Experimental Methodology to design and conduct the impact evaluation. This methodology will incorporate a rigorously defined counterfactual and will utilize experimental design to test the development hypothesis. At a minimum, quasi-experimental methods will be utilized to test the selected hypothesis and to determine the attribution of FTF project impacts. The Impact Evaluation will be carried out under the guidance of TMG.

Program Monitoring
All programs receiving resources under FTF Tanzania will be expected to use rigorous M&E systems that will feed into the broader FTF and GOT M&E frameworks. To the extent possible, examples of participatory methodologies built into program implementation to engage program beneficiaries in knowledge sharing, learning, and potential behavior change opportunities will be encouraged. In addition to the standard reporting requirements, the M&E program will develop and undertake baseline and other survey/assessment work (e.g. household, facility, market) to contribute to the larger M&E framework under FTF. Selected programs will designate a full-time M&E Specialist to appropriately monitor progress and engage in reporting systems for FTF as they are developed. These M&E Specialists will work to ensure that program results are jointly monitored with the ASDP and contribute to their reporting systems. The M&E Specialists will participate in annual meetings that include all implementing partners for FTF Tanzania, the FTF working group, and GOT representatives from relevant ministries.

Baselines
Baseline surveys will be required for several of the indicators listed in the annex. During 2011, a comprehensive baseline survey will be carried out by the Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics under the guidance of TMG. This baseline data will assist FTF Tanzania to set targets, monitor progress toward those targets and to initiate mid-course corrections for its programs and activities. The baseline will inform FTF Tanzania with data to determine whether or not selected activities are likely to achieve their targets.

Links to Government Monitoring Systems
The GOT will conduct rigorous M&E of their CAADP plan and supporting strategies such as the ASDP. To the extent possible, the FTF M&E framework is intended to utilize information that GOT already collects, especially at the national level. The M&E program will provide direct support to the GOT‘s National Bureau of Statistics. FTF investments in M&E will also be linked with the GOT monitoring mechanisms to build host country capacity and ability to analyze and report on results. A monitoring conceptual framework will set the stage for ensuring progress against targets, provide opportunities for learning, and employ participatory methods. Monitoring activities will support GOT analytical capacity building.

Baseline: 
IR 4: Increased resilience of vulnerable communities and householdsNumber of jobs attributed to FTF implementation Value chain in agricultural products (Maize and Rice) defined and developed; Number of new commercial food processors specialized in fortified and blended foods.IR 5: Improved access to diverse and quality foodsPrevalence of households with moderate or severe hunger (Average score of household hunger index); Percentage of households with adequate food consumption; Number of vulnerable households benefiting directly from USG interventions; Number of USG social assistance beneficiaries participating in productive safety nets; Number of vulnerable households benefiting directly from USG assistance.IR 6: Improved nutrition-related behaviors Prevalence of children 6-23 months receiving a minimum acceptable diet; Dietary Diversity: Mean number of food groups consumed by women of reproductive age; Number of households with access to a home, community, school garden; percent households adopting improved food preservation and processing technologies.IR 7: Improved utilization of maternal and child health and nutrition servicesPrevalence of exclusive breastfeeding of children under six months; Increase prevalence of appropriate infant and young child feeding practices from 6-23 months; Number of community workers trained on nutrition behavior change.
Post-intervention: 

IR 4: Increased resilience of vulnerable communities and householdsNumber of jobs attributed to FTF implementation Value chain in agricultural products (Maize and Rice) defined and developed; Number of new commercial food processors specialized in fortified and blended foods.IR 5: Improved access to diverse and quality foodsPrevalence of households with moderate or severe hunger (Average score of household hunger index); Percentage of households with adequate food consumption; Number of vulnerable households benefiting directly from USG interventions; Number of USG social assistance beneficiaries participating in productive safety nets; Number of vulnerable households benefiting directly from USG assistance.IR 6: Improved nutrition-related behaviors Prevalence of children 6-23 months receiving a minimum acceptable diet; Dietary Diversity: Mean number of food groups consumed by women of reproductive age; Number of households with access to a home, community, school garden; percent households adopting improved food preservation and processing technologies.IR 7: Improved utilization of maternal and child health and nutrition servicesPrevalence of exclusive breastfeeding of children under six months; Increase prevalence of appropriate infant and young child feeding practices from 6-23 months; Number of community workers trained on nutrition behavior change.

Outcome reported by social determinants: 
Vulnerable groups

Revision log

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Tue, 03/11/2014 - 17:27engesveenkEdited by william_nkoom.published
Wed, 03/27/2013 - 16:16bloessnermEdited by william_nkoom.published
Mon, 03/18/2013 - 13:43william_nkoomEdited by william_nkoom.draft
Mon, 03/18/2013 - 13:42AnnaLarteyEdited by william_nkoom.draft
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