Food and Nutrition Security
Evaluation finale du projet: Résilience et Cohésion Sociale des communautés transfrontalières du Liptako – Gourma (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger)
Le projet « Résilience et Cohésion Sociale des communautés transfrontalières du Liptako-Gourma (RECOLG) au Burkina Faso, Mali et Niger », a pour objectif global « Améliorer les conditions de vie, la résilience à l’insécurité alimentaire et nutritionnelle et face aux conflits et la cohésion sociale des populations vulnérables dans 13 communes de Liptako-Gourma dont 5 au Burkina Faso, 3 au Mali et 5 au Niger. Sa mise en œuvre est assurée par un consortium composé de huit organisations nationales et internationales dont Save the Children (lead), CARE, DRC, CRUS, AREN, RBM, Tassaght et Karkara, pour une durée de 48 mois et couvre la période décembre 2019 à décembre 2023.
En fin de mise en œuvre, le dispositif de suivi-évaluation-apprentissage du projet a prévu une évaluation finale (endline), axée sur le suivi des indicateurs basée sur le cadre de mesure de performance du projet sur les quatre années d’intervention du projet afin de générer des évidences permettant de comprendre dans quelle mesure les stratégies, approches et actions mises en œuvre ont contribué ou pas à l’obtention des effets attendus et inattendus à la lumière des éléments de contexte de la zone d’intervention des trois pays.
Pour mener à bien cette évaluation finale (endline), le cabinet Ingénierie Internationale en Décentralisation et Développement local (2ID) a adopté une démarche méthodologique participative en quatre phases : (i) la phase préparatoire qui a consisté d’abord à l’élaboration du rapport de démarrage (échantillonnage, outils de collecte de données et chronogramme), ensuite à la prise en compte des feedbacks et la validation du rapport de démarrage à travers des échanges par mail. En fin une réunion de cadrage de la mission s’est tenue le 25 octobre 2023 en présentiel dans les locaux de 2ID pour repréciser les attentes du commanditaire et prendre en compte les besoins du cabinet notamment la documentation et l’établissement d’une lettre d’accréditation pour l’équipe de collecte de données sur le terrain ; (ii) la phase de collecte de données sur le terrain, faite de quatre (4) principales étapes : la mobilisation des ressources humaines, la formation des enquêteurs, la collecte des données et la supervision de la collecte des données ; (iii) la phase de traitement et analyse des données collectées et (iv) la phase de rapportage et restitution.
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En fin de mise en œuvre, le dispositif de suivi-évaluation-apprentissage du projet a prévu une évaluation finale (endline), axée sur le suivi des indicateurs basée sur le cadre de mesure de performance du projet sur les quatre années d’intervention du projet afin de générer des évidences permettant de comprendre dans quelle mesure les stratégies, approches et actions mises en œuvre ont contribué ou pas à l’obtention des effets attendus et inattendus à la lumière des éléments de contexte de la zone d’intervention des trois pays.
Pour mener à bien cette évaluation finale (endline), le cabinet Ingénierie Internationale en Décentralisation et Développement local (2ID) a adopté une démarche méthodologique participative en quatre phases : (i) la phase préparatoire qui a consisté d’abord à l’élaboration du rapport de démarrage (échantillonnage, outils de collecte de données et chronogramme), ensuite à la prise en compte des feedbacks et la validation du rapport de démarrage à travers des échanges par mail. En fin une réunion de cadrage de la mission s’est tenue le 25 octobre 2023 en présentiel dans les locaux de 2ID pour repréciser les attentes du commanditaire et prendre en compte les besoins du cabinet notamment la documentation et l’établissement d’une lettre d’accréditation pour l’équipe de collecte de données sur le terrain ; (ii) la phase de collecte de données sur le terrain, faite de quatre (4) principales étapes : la mobilisation des ressources humaines, la formation des enquêteurs, la collecte des données et la supervision de la collecte des données ; (iii) la phase de traitement et analyse des données collectées et (iv) la phase de rapportage et restitution.
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Savings and Credit Groups for Food Security and Ecosystem Sustainability in Tanzania: Endline Evaluation
The "Savings and Credit Group for Food Security and Ecosystem Sustainability (SGFSES) in Tanzania" was a CARE-WWF Alliance’s project implemented in Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT), focusing on the Great Ruaha River region. The initiative aimed to address climate vulnerabilities, improve livelihoods, and enhance ecosystem services. Among other interventions, the project promoted sustainable production of Irish potatoes and common beans, crucial for community livelihoods, but vulnerable to climate shocks. Challenges such as water and land shortages, deforestation, and weak governance had affected productivity and adaptation options.
Implemented from June 2021 to December 2023 in Iringa and Mufindi Districts, the project targeted 21 villages. Its primary goal was to enhance the household income of 5,000 farming families, particularly empowering women, directly impacting 22,500 individuals and indirectly benefiting at least 50,000 individuals within the Great Ruaha watershed.
The project employed traditional approaches like Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA), Farmer Field and Business Schools (FFBS), and Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM), along with Integrated Land and Water Resource Management (ILWM) integrating income-generating and market-engagement strategies with natural resource management and sustainable agriculture practices so that both communities and ecosystems thrive.
The endline evaluation utilizing OECD criteria to assess the relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability of the project. It measured the achievements of this integrated conservation and development compared to the baseline three years earlier.
The endline evaluation found that the project surpassed its targets, reaching 7,029 households (51% female-headed) with a total of 10,961 direct beneficiaries (55% women, 34% youth) across all 21 project villages. In another words, the project impacted directly 33,739 individuals from 7,029 households. This represents 141% of the target set by the project at its beginning. Findings from FGDs and KIIs, showed that the project improved well-being of these communities by enhancing equal opportunities for men, women, and youth. The project enhanced meeting of basic needs such as food, housing, clothing, health services, and education expenses.
They participants increased productivity of staple crops like maize, common beans, sunflower, and Irish potatoes which notably contributed to reliable food sources and increased income for the communities. These crops served for both food and income. The endline survey found that the average productivity of the common bean increased from 331.3 kg acre-1 to 633 kg acre-1 which is an increase of 91% compared to the baseline. This achievement surpasses the LOP target of 30% increment by 61%. Furthermore, the average productivity of Irish potato increased from 1,435.5 kg acre-1 to 7,500 kg acre-1, which is 423% of the baseline or 393% of the LOP target of 30% increase.
The average number of months that surveyed households were able to provide sufficient food to their families was 7.4 at endline, up from 4.0 months at baseline. This is an increase of 85% from the baseline. The achievement surpasses the Life of Project goal of a 20% increase by 65%. On average, 83% of households experience adequate food provisioning during the crop-harvesting period (May to November), 42% experience hunger during the planting and crop growing season (December to April). 83% of the surveyed households report consuming three meals a day for most of the year, 86% of respondents were not worried about facing food shortages throughout the year. For those households that do not have adequate food provisions throughout the year, they tend to reduce their meals to two a day between December and April. Communities regard having two meals a day during the lean period as an improvement, as food was sometimes insufficient for one meal among some families in the past.
The endline evaluation drawn lessons learned that emerged from the data are:
- The implementation of VSLAs have helped the village land use committee, village environmental committee members and village council leaders to get into engagement with conservation activities.
- The Alliance-promoted VSLA-based AMCOS model has several benefits: in addition to attracting farmers with its core collective marketing promise, the requirement that all AMCOS members should also be VSLA members both accelerated VSLA group formation and enhances trust in leaders, a critical component of successful AMCOS.
- The planting to avocado trees, being one of potential trees for income generation and conservation of natural resources comes with a number of challenges. The first is it high water usage especially at the early stages of growth. The fruit tree have attracted large investors, who have been seen to open up large farms in forested lands. This has the risk of causing deforestation and drought in the near future, as the virgin land is turned into production land.
- The Alliance-piloted CSI model holds significant promise: Collective Investment trainings have not only supported VSLA groups in investing together but also have supported the individual members in starting their enterprises.
- VSLA members are confident to speak out on the enterprises which are destructive to environment in front of other members compared to period before the CSI training.
- VSLA members can see the benefits of individual and group investments that are made.
- Women have been in front line in undertaking collective investments activities at a group and individual level, which has resulted into family stability and reduced GBV issues as they also have something to contribute to their families. Read More...
Implemented from June 2021 to December 2023 in Iringa and Mufindi Districts, the project targeted 21 villages. Its primary goal was to enhance the household income of 5,000 farming families, particularly empowering women, directly impacting 22,500 individuals and indirectly benefiting at least 50,000 individuals within the Great Ruaha watershed.
The project employed traditional approaches like Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLA), Farmer Field and Business Schools (FFBS), and Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM), along with Integrated Land and Water Resource Management (ILWM) integrating income-generating and market-engagement strategies with natural resource management and sustainable agriculture practices so that both communities and ecosystems thrive.
The endline evaluation utilizing OECD criteria to assess the relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability of the project. It measured the achievements of this integrated conservation and development compared to the baseline three years earlier.
The endline evaluation found that the project surpassed its targets, reaching 7,029 households (51% female-headed) with a total of 10,961 direct beneficiaries (55% women, 34% youth) across all 21 project villages. In another words, the project impacted directly 33,739 individuals from 7,029 households. This represents 141% of the target set by the project at its beginning. Findings from FGDs and KIIs, showed that the project improved well-being of these communities by enhancing equal opportunities for men, women, and youth. The project enhanced meeting of basic needs such as food, housing, clothing, health services, and education expenses.
They participants increased productivity of staple crops like maize, common beans, sunflower, and Irish potatoes which notably contributed to reliable food sources and increased income for the communities. These crops served for both food and income. The endline survey found that the average productivity of the common bean increased from 331.3 kg acre-1 to 633 kg acre-1 which is an increase of 91% compared to the baseline. This achievement surpasses the LOP target of 30% increment by 61%. Furthermore, the average productivity of Irish potato increased from 1,435.5 kg acre-1 to 7,500 kg acre-1, which is 423% of the baseline or 393% of the LOP target of 30% increase.
The average number of months that surveyed households were able to provide sufficient food to their families was 7.4 at endline, up from 4.0 months at baseline. This is an increase of 85% from the baseline. The achievement surpasses the Life of Project goal of a 20% increase by 65%. On average, 83% of households experience adequate food provisioning during the crop-harvesting period (May to November), 42% experience hunger during the planting and crop growing season (December to April). 83% of the surveyed households report consuming three meals a day for most of the year, 86% of respondents were not worried about facing food shortages throughout the year. For those households that do not have adequate food provisions throughout the year, they tend to reduce their meals to two a day between December and April. Communities regard having two meals a day during the lean period as an improvement, as food was sometimes insufficient for one meal among some families in the past.
The endline evaluation drawn lessons learned that emerged from the data are:
- The implementation of VSLAs have helped the village land use committee, village environmental committee members and village council leaders to get into engagement with conservation activities.
- The Alliance-promoted VSLA-based AMCOS model has several benefits: in addition to attracting farmers with its core collective marketing promise, the requirement that all AMCOS members should also be VSLA members both accelerated VSLA group formation and enhances trust in leaders, a critical component of successful AMCOS.
- The planting to avocado trees, being one of potential trees for income generation and conservation of natural resources comes with a number of challenges. The first is it high water usage especially at the early stages of growth. The fruit tree have attracted large investors, who have been seen to open up large farms in forested lands. This has the risk of causing deforestation and drought in the near future, as the virgin land is turned into production land.
- The Alliance-piloted CSI model holds significant promise: Collective Investment trainings have not only supported VSLA groups in investing together but also have supported the individual members in starting their enterprises.
- VSLA members are confident to speak out on the enterprises which are destructive to environment in front of other members compared to period before the CSI training.
- VSLA members can see the benefits of individual and group investments that are made.
- Women have been in front line in undertaking collective investments activities at a group and individual level, which has resulted into family stability and reduced GBV issues as they also have something to contribute to their families. Read More...
Hunga Tonga- Hunga Ha’apai Disaster Response Program End of Program Evaluation Evaluation Report
This Evaluation Report presents the end of program evaluation (the evaluation) of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Disaster Response Program (the program), implemented in partnership by CARE Australia, MORDI TT and Talitha Project (the partnership). The evaluation was conducted between July- November 2023 by Iris Low and Leaine Robinson (Collaborate Consulting Pte. Ltd (CoLAB)); Katrina Fatiaki (Tapuaki Mei Langi Consultancy) and Dr. Rev. 'Ungatea Kata and Ofa Pakalani (Tupou Tertiary Institute). The evaluation focused on evaluating the merit and worth of the program implemented by the partners by identifying the achievements of the program, strengths of the partnership modality to build on, and lessons to inform and improve future humanitarian programming.
Based on what stakeholders define as high quality humanitarian response, the evaluation finds that majority of communities, staff, and stakeholders interviewed stated that the assistance provided by CARE, MORDI TT and Talitha Project represents a high-quality humanitarian response as it met affected communities immediate needs (water, agriculture, hygiene kits), reached those in the community who needed assistance the most, was led by local organisations who coordinated and worked with existing national processes and systems in Tonga and who will continue to remain engaged in communities post-disaster to support communities to recover.
Impact: What difference did the program make?
The program has made an impact and positive difference to affected communities in helping to address their immediate needs and quality of living and recovery in the aftermath of the volcano and tsunami disaster. The targeted assistance has contributed to communities improved access to clean drinking water and their knowledge and skills on how to maintain Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) infrastructure; enhanced food security in communities through more options for healthy eating from the community gardens, helping communities to recover quickly, and increased livelihoods for women who sell the surplus produce; motivated communities to work together so that they are better prepared for future disasters and supported different groups (women, young people, adolescent girls, elderly and persons with disabilities) in the community. The program reached 20,182 people (5,593 women; 4,524 girls; 5,149 men and 4,916 boys) across the affected areas of Tongatapu, ‘Eua and Ha’apai, with material and technical support to restore community rainwater collection systems, a significant impact in the aftermath of the disaster which left communities without access to clean drinking water. Read More...
Based on what stakeholders define as high quality humanitarian response, the evaluation finds that majority of communities, staff, and stakeholders interviewed stated that the assistance provided by CARE, MORDI TT and Talitha Project represents a high-quality humanitarian response as it met affected communities immediate needs (water, agriculture, hygiene kits), reached those in the community who needed assistance the most, was led by local organisations who coordinated and worked with existing national processes and systems in Tonga and who will continue to remain engaged in communities post-disaster to support communities to recover.
Impact: What difference did the program make?
The program has made an impact and positive difference to affected communities in helping to address their immediate needs and quality of living and recovery in the aftermath of the volcano and tsunami disaster. The targeted assistance has contributed to communities improved access to clean drinking water and their knowledge and skills on how to maintain Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) infrastructure; enhanced food security in communities through more options for healthy eating from the community gardens, helping communities to recover quickly, and increased livelihoods for women who sell the surplus produce; motivated communities to work together so that they are better prepared for future disasters and supported different groups (women, young people, adolescent girls, elderly and persons with disabilities) in the community. The program reached 20,182 people (5,593 women; 4,524 girls; 5,149 men and 4,916 boys) across the affected areas of Tongatapu, ‘Eua and Ha’apai, with material and technical support to restore community rainwater collection systems, a significant impact in the aftermath of the disaster which left communities without access to clean drinking water. Read More...
Breaking the Cycle: Food Insecurity, Protection and Armed Conflict in Colombia
Conflict. Hunger. Protection risks. In Colombia, these three phenomena have been interconnected in a reinforcing cycle for decades. Efforts to address each component of this negative cycle are vital, but approaches are often disconnected, leading to short-term or incomplete solutions. As a result, communities struggle against growing odds to build resilience or stability.
Using participatory methods, a research team led by CARE, the World Food Programme (WFP), and InterAction interviewed 16 focus groups in 2 departments of Colombia to learn directly from diverse perspectives what threats, vulnerabilities, capacities, and risksi affected people faced. Though the negative cycle effect was widespread, differences between and within communities meant that often people experienced armed conflict, hunger, and protection risks in vastly different ways, indicating that one-size-fits-all solutions won’t be enough to bring lasting positive change.
Despite the differences in personal and communal experience of risk, two categories of variables emerged that defined how individuals were affected by conflict, hunger, and protection risks: context-specific conflict dynamics and institutionalized discrimination. Read More...
Using participatory methods, a research team led by CARE, the World Food Programme (WFP), and InterAction interviewed 16 focus groups in 2 departments of Colombia to learn directly from diverse perspectives what threats, vulnerabilities, capacities, and risksi affected people faced. Though the negative cycle effect was widespread, differences between and within communities meant that often people experienced armed conflict, hunger, and protection risks in vastly different ways, indicating that one-size-fits-all solutions won’t be enough to bring lasting positive change.
Despite the differences in personal and communal experience of risk, two categories of variables emerged that defined how individuals were affected by conflict, hunger, and protection risks: context-specific conflict dynamics and institutionalized discrimination. Read More...
SELAM 1 Early Recovery and Socio-Economic Stability in Tigray: FPI MONITORING REPORT
In June 2023, Altai Consulting, the Third-Party Monitor (TPM) for the EU FPI, was tasked by the Nairobi Regional Team (RT) to research and
communicate the progress and impact on the ground of the project NDICI CRISIS FPI/2021/427-921 – “SELAM 1 Early Recovery and Socio-Economic Stability in Tigray”, implemented by CARE and REST.
The project is implemented in Tigray as part of a cluster of projects alongside CST and MdM projects also montiroed by Altai during this visit. These interventions focus on responding to Tigray’s post-war challenges, mostly related to livelihoods support, access to health services, and trauma healing.
The monitoring team looked to capture progress towards the project’s intended objectives at the mid-stage of its implementation. During an earlier monitoring conducted in December 2022, the Altai team found that progress had stalled due to security challenges on the ground but that the projects were gaining momentum due to the peace agreement signed in November 2022. Read More...
communicate the progress and impact on the ground of the project NDICI CRISIS FPI/2021/427-921 – “SELAM 1 Early Recovery and Socio-Economic Stability in Tigray”, implemented by CARE and REST.
The project is implemented in Tigray as part of a cluster of projects alongside CST and MdM projects also montiroed by Altai during this visit. These interventions focus on responding to Tigray’s post-war challenges, mostly related to livelihoods support, access to health services, and trauma healing.
The monitoring team looked to capture progress towards the project’s intended objectives at the mid-stage of its implementation. During an earlier monitoring conducted in December 2022, the Altai team found that progress had stalled due to security challenges on the ground but that the projects were gaining momentum due to the peace agreement signed in November 2022. Read More...
Takunda Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA) Outcome Mapping Baseline report
The main objective of Progress Marker Monitoring/Outcome Mapping is to assess, the extent to which gender transformative changes are taking place in Takunda Program areas among men, women, and youth based on age, life stage, socio-cultural norms, and religious practices. Takunda acknowledges that gender inequality is both a cause and consequence of food insecurity; hence gender equality is at the heart of the Takunda Program. To challenge gender norms that fuel food insecurity, the Program implements Social Analysis and Action (SAA), a key gender transformative approach that triggers shifts in gender norms at the individual, household, community, and policy level. This progress marker assessment specifically measured behaviors and practices at play for the different study participants before Takunda’s Social Analysis and Action (SAA) interventions and it confirmed some of the findings of the Takunda gender Analysis study held in December 2021. The progress marker assessment measured gender outcomes/behaviors as defined by the communities, whereas the gender analysis assessed program-wide challenges experienced by different groups as defined by the program. Read More...
Titukulane Gender Progress Marker Monitoring Report
Titukulane is a five-year, US $75 million Resilience Food Security Activity funded by the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. The project is led by the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE) in partnership with Emmanuel International (EI), the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the National Smallholders Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM), Save the Children (SC), and WaterAid. Implemented in 19 Traditional Authorities (T/As) of two southern districts of Malawi (Zomba and Mangochi), Titukulane directly impacts 510,910 individuals – including adolescent girls and boys aged 10 to 19, and young women and men aged 20 to 29 – who face an uncertain future as farming becomes less viable. Titukulane offers an integrated and gender-responsive package of interventions across the following program elements: maternal and child health; nutrition and water, sanitation, and hygiene, (WASH); agriculture sector capacity; microenterprise productivity; civic participation; and capacity building, preparedness, and planning. The program works across three purpose areas:
Purpose 1: Increased, diversified, sustainable incomes for ultra-poor, chronically vulnerable households (HHs), women and youth.
Purpose 2: Nutritional status among children < 5, adolescent girls, and women of reproductive age improved; and
Purpose 3: Increased institutional and local capacities to reduce risk and increase resilience among very poor and chronically vulnerable households in alignment with the National Resilience Strategy.
Gender integration is a crosscutting component among all activities and project emphasizes the critical importance and benefits of increased voice, participation and leadership of women and youths, including young women. A Gender Analysis was initially conducted for Titukulane in 2020 to identify context specific gender barriers, inequalities, and potential risks that could negatively affect the achievement of the project’s expected outcomes, as well as to assess how these constraints could be addressed in Zomba and Mangochi. Read More...
Purpose 1: Increased, diversified, sustainable incomes for ultra-poor, chronically vulnerable households (HHs), women and youth.
Purpose 2: Nutritional status among children < 5, adolescent girls, and women of reproductive age improved; and
Purpose 3: Increased institutional and local capacities to reduce risk and increase resilience among very poor and chronically vulnerable households in alignment with the National Resilience Strategy.
Gender integration is a crosscutting component among all activities and project emphasizes the critical importance and benefits of increased voice, participation and leadership of women and youths, including young women. A Gender Analysis was initially conducted for Titukulane in 2020 to identify context specific gender barriers, inequalities, and potential risks that could negatively affect the achievement of the project’s expected outcomes, as well as to assess how these constraints could be addressed in Zomba and Mangochi. Read More...
2023 Participant Based Survey: Titukulane Project – PaBS Outcome Report
Despite decades of robust government and donor investments in livelihoods, food security, nutrition, and resilience, over 50% of the population lives below the poverty line. Previous activities have not sufficiently reduced the number of chronically food and nutrition insecure households nor effectively enhanced the capacity of local and government structures to implement resilience focused policies and actions. To address these issues, the Government of Malawi developed a National Resilience Strategy 2018-2030 (NRS) to guide investments in agriculture, reduce impacts and improve recovery from shocks, promote household resilience, strengthen the management of Malawi’s natural resources, and facilitate effective coordination between government institutions, civil society organizations and development partners. CARE and consortium partners designed the Titukulane Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA) which means “let us work together for development” in the local Chichewa language—to support pilot implementation of NRS in Zomba and mangochi districts. The Titukulane RFSA, implemented by CARE International in Malawi (CIM), aims to achieve sustainable, equitable, and resilient food and nutrition security for ultra-poor and chronically vulnerable households. Specifically, Titukulane is designed to increase households’ abilities to deal with shocks without experiencing food insecurity following a three-purpose approach:
1. Increased diversified, sustainable, and equitable incomes for ultra-poor, chronically vulnerable households, women, and youth.
2. Improved nutritional status among children under 5 years of age, adolescent girls, and women of reproductive age.
3. Increased institutional and local capacities to reduce risk and increase resilience among poor and very poor households in alignment with the Malawi NRS.
To meet these three purposes, the Titukulane RFSA provides households with a package of interventions, including: Care Groups with Nutritional Cash Transfers (NCT), Farmer Field Business Schools and crop marketing support, Village Savings and Loan Associations, Adolescent nutrition, Irrigation farming, Youth vocational training including start-up capital and Gender dialogues. Read More...
1. Increased diversified, sustainable, and equitable incomes for ultra-poor, chronically vulnerable households, women, and youth.
2. Improved nutritional status among children under 5 years of age, adolescent girls, and women of reproductive age.
3. Increased institutional and local capacities to reduce risk and increase resilience among poor and very poor households in alignment with the Malawi NRS.
To meet these three purposes, the Titukulane RFSA provides households with a package of interventions, including: Care Groups with Nutritional Cash Transfers (NCT), Farmer Field Business Schools and crop marketing support, Village Savings and Loan Associations, Adolescent nutrition, Irrigation farming, Youth vocational training including start-up capital and Gender dialogues. Read More...
HATUTAN II Baseline McGovern Dole Food for Education
In this report, we present findings from the baseline assessment of the HATUTAN II (Hahán ne’ebé Atu fó Tulun ho Nutrisaun no Edukasaun or Food to Support Nutrition and Education) program. This program is a five year (2022 – 2027), US$26.5 million initiative that will work in partnership with the Government of Timor-Leste and development stakeholders to address two strategic objectives: improved literacy of school-aged children and increased use of health, nutrition, and dietary practices. The program will operate in 378 schools and communities within four of Timor-Leste’s most deprived municipalities, Ainaro, Ermera, Manatuto, and Oe-cusse, to support an estimated 171,232 target beneficiaries including school-aged children, teacher, school administrators, and community members. Key activities will include support for the government-run School Feeding Program (SFP) and trainings targeting teachers, school administrators, and community members.
The baseline assessment finds that grade 2 students’ literacy abilities are very weak and many students remain unable to read words. The average overall score on the literacy assessment was only 10.9% for intervention students, and only 18.2% of intervention students demonstrated the ability to read and understand the meaning of a grade-level passage. Scores were highest—though still low in absolute terms—for letter recognition, at 21.8% for intervention students. Furthermore, many grade 2 students have no literacy abilities, with 21.8% of intervention students scoring 0% overall on the literacy assessment.
We find moderate use of engaging teaching practices in most intervention municipalities, with relatively more frequent use of these practices in Ermera and less frequent use in Oe-cusse. However, across all municipalities, substantial potential remains to continue improving the use of engaging teaching practices, as well as reducing the use of traditional, unengaging teaching practices including copying from the board and repeating after the teacher. Furthermore, corporal punishment was still observed to be used by some teachers in intervention schools and is likely underreported in our data due to social desirability bias. Read More...
The baseline assessment finds that grade 2 students’ literacy abilities are very weak and many students remain unable to read words. The average overall score on the literacy assessment was only 10.9% for intervention students, and only 18.2% of intervention students demonstrated the ability to read and understand the meaning of a grade-level passage. Scores were highest—though still low in absolute terms—for letter recognition, at 21.8% for intervention students. Furthermore, many grade 2 students have no literacy abilities, with 21.8% of intervention students scoring 0% overall on the literacy assessment.
We find moderate use of engaging teaching practices in most intervention municipalities, with relatively more frequent use of these practices in Ermera and less frequent use in Oe-cusse. However, across all municipalities, substantial potential remains to continue improving the use of engaging teaching practices, as well as reducing the use of traditional, unengaging teaching practices including copying from the board and repeating after the teacher. Furthermore, corporal punishment was still observed to be used by some teachers in intervention schools and is likely underreported in our data due to social desirability bias. Read More...
Qualitative Monitoring Improvement Initiative Pilot for the SHOUHARDO III Program in Bangladesh
Strengthening Household Abilities to Respond to Development Opportunities (SHOUHARDO) III was a five-year multisectoral and integrated program implemented by CARE Bangladesh between 2015 and 2020 and funded by USAID and the Government of Bangladesh. The objective of the program was to improve the lives and livelihoods of 549,000 people living in poor and extreme poor communities in eight districts in the Deep Haor and Remote Char region of northern Bangladesh. The program focused on community-based asset development and women’s empowerment, building the capacity of local government and community-service organizations, increasing resilience to frequent shocks and stressors, and improving nutrition and health outcomes for mothers and children under two-years of age. SHOUHARDO III was extended for two years (2020 to 2022) and a second extension phase (SHOUHARDO III Plus) was funded for an additional two years (2022 to 2024). During this period the program will focus on engaging with and linking local service providers with the government and the private sector. Read More...