Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Grandmother Project: A Grandmother-inclusive Approach to Promote Sustained Change in Community Norms and Practice
Presenter: Judi Aubel, President, The Grandmother Project
Community nutrition/health programs should build on the roles of key household actors that influence the well-being of women, children and adolescents across the life cycle. In non-western societies in Africa, Asia and Latin America which are generally organized along multi-generational and hierarchical lines senior women, or grandmothers, are influential actors and they can be an important resource to catalyze positive change. Grandmothers play a culturally-designated and influential role at decisive times in the lives of women and children including: pregnancy; delivery; newborn care; young child illness; and adolescent development.
The presentation included:
• an overview of evidence of GMs’ role and influence on health-related norms and practices at major steps in the life cycle of women, children and adolescents;
• description of key parameters of an assets-based, grandmother-inclusive approach that promotes culturally-grounded and systemic change from within communities;
• examples of successful programs supported by Grandmother Project: Change through Culture using a grandmother-inclusive approach to address: pregnancy and newborn care in Mali; maternal and child nutrition in Senegal; home management of childhood illness in Laos; and teen pregnancy in Senegal;
• lessons learned using a grandmother-inclusive approach in community health/nutrition interventions that can be used in other socio-cultural settings.
Improving seed systems and storage: Opportunies and Services
Presenters: Dr. Dabiré Clémentine Binso, Senior Scientist, INERA Central Laboratory of Agricultural Entomology at Kamboinsé. Permanent Secretary of National Forum for Scientific Research and Technological Innovation; Director,MRSI/IDRC project on Research and Innovation Results Valorization; Eva Weltzien, Principal Scientist, Sorghum Breeding, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT); Moderator: Tom Remington, Agriculture Advisor for Africa, Catholic Relief Services
This session discussed opportunities to strengthen farmer seed systems and explore post-harvest methods. The discussion focused on current activities supported by INERA and ICRISAT to improve farmers’ access to new technologies, varieties, and storage, and related business opportunities for resource-poor farmers. This included key developments in sorghum and pearl millet farmer managed seed initiatives, and an effective storage solution used for cowpea in the region.
Eva Weltzien focused on using seeds as an innovation tool. She explained that the best way to support producers in seed capacity is increasing access to new varieties and robust methods of testing seeds.
Participants brought up questions about the ability of hybrid seeds to reproduce, which is minimal, and the potential for smuggling seeds to get around certification.
Next, Dr. Dabire Clementine Binso talked about Purdue Improved Cowpea Storage (PICS) bags, which are ideal for storage of cowpeas after harvest because they keep out insects and moisture. There are challenges, however, with quality control and price.
Using Technology for Beneficiary Registration and Tracking
Presenters: Laura Buback, Health & Nutrition Monitoring Advisor, Liberia Agriculture Upgrading Nutrition and Child Health (LAUNCH) Program, John Snow, Inc., Liberia; Job Milapo, Commodity Operations Manager, Liberia Agriculture Upgrading Nutrition and Child Health (LAUNCH) Program, ACDI/VOCA, Liberia; Alto Oumarou, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, Catholic Relief Services, Niger
The Liberian Agricultural Upgrading Nutrition and Child Health (LAUNCH) program has been implementing a Preventing Malnutrition in Under Twos Approach (PM2A) Multi-Year Assistance Program (MYAP) since 2010 in two counties of Liberia, aiming to improve food security and nutrition with a focus on the first 1,000 days. The Liberian context provided initial challenges for registering beneficiaries and entering them into the LAUNCH commodity database for distribution in a timely matter. By transitioning to a mobile phone based registration process, LAUNCH’s beneficiary tracking system was greatly enhanced and improved overall program management.
Participants learned how this model strengthened the delivery and targeting of supplementary food by streamlining data flow. The LAUNCH model has potential to be adapted by other Food for Peace (FFP) programs in order to ultimately improve nutrition and food security.
Job Milapo and Laura Buback presented how ACDI/VOCA and JSI use mobile phone technology with the LAUNCH program in Liberia to register and track beneficiaries. Their consortium uses an internet-based, mobile phone technology called Magpie for which all of the data is stored online. Once the form is created online, it can be downloaded from the mobile phone using regular cellular technology (GPRS). This mobile beneficiary software reduced the amount of time that it takes to get beneficiaries into the system from about 10 weeks to about 5 weeks. Implementing the technology required several steps, including setting up the technology, training field-staff in how to use the technology, and conducting on-going supervision of field staff in how to use it. Often staff collect the data on their phones without having an internet or mobile-phone connection, then they return to their office to get access to the network and send the data stored on their phones to the cloud. Then ACDI/VOCA downloads this information into a database that they have built on their system to collect and process the data. They are able to use the software to produce documents that list selected beneficiaries with detailed data. They also produce ration card documents for beneficiaries. The data only has to be entered one time to produce all the various documents they use, which speeds up the process and reduces error.
Alto Oumarou presented the way that CRS in Niger uses mobile phone technology to register beneficiaries. CRS uses iPod software with iPhone builder for registration and commodity distribution. They use a unique code for each beneficiary in their mobile technology and individual barcodes for each woman who is registered. The field staff merely scan the barcode and all the information about the individual beneficiary comes up on their device. So, for example, when an existing beneficiary gets involved in a new activity, field staff can scan that beneficiary’s barcode, then update their status in the system.
CRS also uses Data Winner—a cellular phone technology—for some of their data gathering. The Data Winner software allows community volunteers to use their own cellular phones to send information to a central database—such as the number of pregnant women in a village, or when a new baby is born and needs to be registered in the system.
Using Food Aid in New Ways to Enhance Resiliency
Presenters: Christian Dovonou, Country Representative, Veterinarians Without Borders, Burkina Faso; Yuvé Guluma, Nutrition and Food Security Officer, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Burkina Faso; Alexandra Rutishauser-Perera, Roving East Africa Nutrition Advisor, International Medical Corps; Moderators: Joan Jennings, Nutrition & Food Technology Specialist, TOPS; Circe Trevant, Independent Consultant
This session included several presentations on innovative strategies which respond to emergency needs in a way that enhances the resiliency of women and children and the communities in which they live. The session included presentations on the Milk Kitchen Project, in conjunction with the Advancing Animal Assets Project that is soon to initiate in Burkina Faso, and on the recent use of Ready-to-Use-Supplementary-Foods (RUSF) in Chad.
This session featured two presentations and some time for discussion. The first presentation focused on ways how one UNHCR project leverages the milk value chain to strengthen resilience at the household level. The second presenter shared her experience in using a product called Nutributter, a lipid-based nutrient supplement, to improve nutrition outcomes with infants from 6 to 12 months (but also up to 24 months) of age.
Strategies for Achieving Environmental Safeguards to Enhance Community-Level Food Security in the African Context
Presenters: Erika Clesceri, Environmental Officer, Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA), USAID; Emily Kunen, Post-Crisis Environmental Advisor, DCHA, USAID; Moderator: Tom Remington, Agriculture Advisor for Africa, Catholic Relief Services
Climate variability and change, environmental degradation and natural disasters pose increasing challenges to achieving food security and sustainable development goals, particularly in resource-poor environments like the Sahel. With the systematic integration of environmental safeguards into food security projects, overall resilience of natural systems and communities can be enhanced and disaster risk reduced. In this interactive session, we exchanged ideas on safeguarding and sustaining environmental resources and health through discussion of (1) field-level strategies and tools for improved environmental monitoring and (2) sustaining environmental safeguards beyond a project time frame. This session drew on participants’ rich experiences in existing USAID Food Assistance projects to identify successful management and social-behavioral approaches as well as specific best practices in environmental management.
In a group discussion, participants shared the areas in which they think we should plan social and behavioral changes for environmental sustainability:
● Aflatoxin
● Fortification of food analysis
● Reforestation
● Use of good varieties
● Use of different levels of fertilizer
● Use of pesticides
● Integration of project programming and monitoring
● Separate budget for environmental safeguards
● Bio-degradable bags
● Budget for mitigation actions
● Proper monitoring
● Drainage
Using Care Groups to Build Resilience in Food Security and Community Health Programs
Presenter: Alexandra Rutishauser-Perera, Roving East Africa Nutrition Advisor, International Medical Corps (IMC); Moderator: Bonnie Kittle, Independent Consultant, Kittle Consulting
A Care Group is a group of 10-15 volunteer, community-based health educators who regularly meet together with NGO project staff for training and supervision. Each of these volunteers then go out at least monthly to do health/nutrition/food security promotion with a small cohort of mothers of young children. They are different from typical mothers’ groups in that each volunteer is selected by the mothers she serves and is responsible for regularly visiting 10-15 of her neighbors, sharing what she has learned and facilitating behavior change at the household level.
Care Groups have shown remarkable success in achieving sustainable social and behavioral change, decreasing malnutrition and improving food security. During this session, participants were briefly introduced to the Care Group approach and the impact it can achieve, then worked in groups to define sustainability in behavior change and look at a ways of improving the sustainability of the group. There were presentations on concrete examples on how the Care Group model can improve resilience.
Is Gender Only a Woman's Issue? Breaking Stereotypes in the Program Environment
Presenter: Batamaka Somé, Gender Advisor, World Food Programme, Purchase for Progress (P4P); Moderator: Kristi Tabaj, Gender Advisor, TOPS
The word gender – which represents men, women, boys, and girls – is often associated with women and girls. Those providing technical support in programming are mostly women. Gender integration, perhaps, is often thought to be a women’s topic. So what happens when a gender advisor is a man? Initially there is some confusion, but eventually there is a genuine discussion about a man’s role in the gender dialogue. Batamaka Somé, Gender Consultant for WFP’s Purchase For Progress program, shared some of his experiences as well as tips for breaking down stereotypes about gender in programming and the working environment.
Batamaka said people often assume he is a woman, and they question whether he should be working in the gender field. He explained that donors usually want to see women in the gender-related jobs, and people think if women are not in these roles, the organization is not working in gender.
Participants discussed if gender should be a cross-cutting issue or standalone. They also mentioned that gender is not just a women’s issue, and men need to be included in discussions, for example about reproductive health.
Informal Microfinance and Household Resilience
Presenters: Jacques Kaboré, Savings and Internal Lending Communities Coordinator, Catholic Relief Services, Burkina Faso; Rasoa Tiana, Village Savings and Loans Coordinator, Strengthening and Accessing Livelihood Opportunities for Household Impact (SALOHI) Program, CARE International, Madagascar ; Moderator: Tom Remington, Agriculture Advisor for Africa, Catholic Relief Services
Without capital, no enterprise, including smallholder farmers, could fund its operations or build its asset base. Developing more sustainable access to financial services for marginal farmers in rural areas can have a significant impact on income and food security. Formal microfinance is important, but rural or marginal farmers often face challenges associated with access, high transaction costs, unfamiliarity with institution staff and weak incentives to save. Informal microfinance such as Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) and Savings and Internal Lending Communities (SILCS) offer additional opportunities to provide intermediate small amounts of local capital on flexible terms and to transact frequently at very low cost, at the same time significantly impacting household resilience.
This session focused on two programs implemented in Madagascar and Burkina Faso. The discussion highlighted different methods of implementation, VSLAs and SILCs incorporating the Private Service Providers (PSP) model, specifically with a view to sustainability and evidence of enhanced household resilience.
Potential challenges discussed included the weakness of microfinance institutions (MFI) and mistrust between banks and MFIs, regulation of SILCs, and a disconnect between the value chains women want and what is actually promoted.