Action - Feed the Future: The U.S. Government’s Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative - Women's education - Adult men and women

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: 
Sokoine University
Target group: 
Adult men and women
Delivery: 
Commercial
Other
Other delivery: 
University education
Implementation details : 

CORE INVESTMENT AREA 3: CAPACITY BUILDING AND SUPPORT SERVICES
Contributes to IR 1: Improved agricultural productivity, IR 2: Expanding markets and trade, IR 3: Increased private investment in agriculture- and nutrition-related activities, IR 4: Increased resilience of vulnerable communities and households, IR 5: Improved access to diverse and quality foods, IR 6: Improved nutrition-related behaviors, IR 7: Improved utilization of maternal and child health and nutrition services, and IR 8: Improved enabling policy environment for both agriculture and nutrition.

Tanzania‘s food security and overall agricultural performance into the medium-term will be predicated upon the CAADP process and the accompanying Country Investment Plan (CIP). FTF investments will help support the drafting of the CAADP investment plan and also assist with its successful implementation in collaboration with all partners. FTF Tanzania will invest in building government capacity for policy-making, analysis, and interpretation and delivering on Tanzania‘s CAADP investment plan.

The investments will support host-country leadership and strategy planning to develop sustainability through a new generation of leadership. The USG will provide short- and long-term high-level policymaking support to GOT to develop and deliver on a robust, comprehensive CAADP investment plan and to build a formal mechanism for public-private sector dialogue. Investments will increase the capacity of Tanzanians to act as change agents for transforming the sector.

In addition, FTF will invest in research and development to build Tanzania‘s capacity to respond to challenges through innovations. FTF supports collaborative research to enhance Tanzania‘s ability to improve productivity, especially in light of climate change impacts and other constraints, both agronomic and economic.
Finally, one of the important parts of strengthening the capacity of Tanzanian agriculture is through supporting market-based financial services, including through a variety of loan programs. FTF Tanzania is utilizing innovative methods to increasing rural financing opportunities, especially through microfinance.

FTF staff and partners involved in this component will ensure that gender equitable policies are included in the TAFSIP and in its implementation, that women participate in leadership and training programs, and that women are involved in program activities with Sokoine University of Agriculture and the National Agricultural Research System.

Sokoine University of Agriculture Capacity Building
This program will expand and improve the quality of training in agricultural fields and research in support of FTF Tanzania. By supporting Sokoine University of Agriculture through a direct mechanism, FTF Tanzania will build the capacity of this Tanzanian institution to respond to agricultural issues.

This program will strengthen the training and research capacities of Sokoine University of Agriculture and the Tanzanian National Agricultural Research System. The program will support collaborative research, foster leadership in training and research through long-term training in agriculture, strengthen the capacity of Sokoine University of Agriculture, and promote tripartite Sokoine University if Agriculture - U.S. University - South-South University Cooperation.

Outcome indicator(s): 
  • Improved capacity for teaching and research at the Sokoine University of Agriculture
  • A program of faculty exchange developed between Sokoine University of Agriculture and the U.S. Land Grant system to give faculty greater exposure to new approaches to teaching, curricula, research methodologies, student interaction and counseling, and institutional innovation A total of 100 M.A. students and 20 PhD students are trained
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 1: Improved agricultural productivity, IR 2: Expanding markets and trade, IR 3: Increased private investment in agriculture- and nutrition-related activities, IR 4: Increased resilience of vulnerable communities and households, IR 5: Improved access to diverse and quality foods, IR 6: Improved nutrition-related behaviors, IR 7: Improved utilization of maternal and child health and nutrition services, and IR 8: Improved enabling policy environment for both agriculture and nutrition.
Post-intervention: 

IR 1: Improved agricultural productivity, IR 2: Expanding markets and trade, IR 3: Increased private investment in agriculture- and nutrition-related activities, IR 4: Increased resilience of vulnerable communities and households, IR 5: Improved access to diverse and quality foods, IR 6: Improved nutrition-related behaviors, IR 7: Improved utilization of maternal and child health and nutrition services, and IR 8: Improved enabling policy environment for both agriculture and nutrition.

Outcome reported by social determinants: 
Other

Revision log

DateUserLogState
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