Food and Nutrition Security
UBALE: United in Building and Advancing Life Expectations – PARTICIPATORY GENDER ANALYSIS FINAL REPORT
United in Building and Advancing Life Expectations (UBALE), is a five-year (2015-2019) Food for Peace program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by a consortium led by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in partnership with the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE), Save the Children, and the Catholic Development Commission in Malawi (CADECOM). The program aims to reduce chronic malnutrition and food insecurity and build resilience among vulnerable populations in three districts in Malawi, Blantyre Rural, Chikwawa and Nsanje.
This report describes the process and findings specific to the UBALE program. Read More...
This report describes the process and findings specific to the UBALE program. Read More...
ATSABE RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT FOR IMPROVEMENT OF LIVELIHOOD IN ERMERA DISTRICT (HAFORSA PROJECT) THE END OF PROJECT EVALUATION
The HAFORSA project in Timor-Leste – 2016 to 2019 – sought to address two of the most challenging issues facing many of the world’s poorest countries; namely, development of subsistence-based agricultural livelihoods and women’s empowerment. The main targets of the intervention were, very appropriately, 430 prospective members of farmer groups (including women-only farmer groups) in some of the most inaccessible and impoverished parts of the country, namely, in Atsabe sub-district of Ermera District. Particular challenges in the project-targeted areas included: lack of irrigation system and limited public investment in agriculture, the high levels of illiteracy, and longstanding perceptions (prejudices) regarding the traditional roles of women.
This document describes the results of the end of project evaluation – conducted during June and July of 2019 - based upon: the results of a review of project-related documents, a survey of 109 respondents, 10 key informant interviews, 10 semi-structured interviews, and two focus group discussion meetings. Read More...
This document describes the results of the end of project evaluation – conducted during June and July of 2019 - based upon: the results of a review of project-related documents, a survey of 109 respondents, 10 key informant interviews, 10 semi-structured interviews, and two focus group discussion meetings. Read More...
Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) of the SHOUHARDO III Program
ARE commissioned a Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) of the SHOUHARDO III Program to formulate recommendations for the remaining life of the program to increase effectiveness in achieving sustainable impact and increase efficiency in use of resources. The MTE was planned and implemented over the period from late October 2017, through mid-June, 2018, with information gathering and preliminary analysis undertaken in Bangladesh from February 12 through March 12. Read More...
SHOUHARDO III Longitudinal Study (RMS) Report
The overarching program goal is to improve gender equitable food and nutrition security and resilience of the vulnerable people living in the Char and Haor regions in Bangladesh by 2020. To achieve its goal, SHOUHARDO III focuses on three principal purposes and two cross- cutting purposes: 1) Increased equitable access to income for both women and men, and nutritious food for men, women, boys, and girls; 2); Improved nutritional status of children under five years-of-age, pregnant and lactating women, and adolescent girls; 3) Strengthened gender equitable ability of people, households, communities and systems to mitigate, adapt to and recover from man-made and natural shocks; 4) Increased women’s empowerment and gender equity at both the family and community levels; and 5) Increased provision and utilization of public services (e.g., local elected bodies and nation building departments) for communities, especially for poor and extremely poor women. Within its program areas of agriculture and livelihoods; health, hygiene, and nutrition; and disaster and climate risk management, the project delivers an integrated set of services – a holistic framework with an emphasis on women’s empowerment, gender issues, and good governance.
This report is a longitudinal study of Shouhardo III and identifies key impact areas. It reports on survey rounds of project participants, collected every six months throughout the project. Read More...
This report is a longitudinal study of Shouhardo III and identifies key impact areas. It reports on survey rounds of project participants, collected every six months throughout the project. Read More...
Shouhardo III – BENEFICIARY BASED SAMPLE SURVEY (BBSS) 2018 FINAL REPORT
SHOUHARDO III, implemented by CARE Bangladesh, intends to transform the lives of women and men from 675,000 Poor and Extreme Poor (PEP) households in eight of the poorest and most marginalized districts in Bangladesh. Funded by USAID, the program intervenes in the areas of food security, agriculture, livelihoods, health, water and sanitation, resilience, and women’s empowerment. Supported by a robust Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system, the Beneficiary Based Sample Survey (BBSS) 20181 of CARE SHOUHARDO III was conducted with the PEP households of the Char and Haor regions where the program operates. The BBSS has proved to be a reliable tool to gain insights of the progress and status of the major indicators, which are essential for the overall management of the program.
Given the relative mix of programming activities and the indicators selected to monitor program progress, there were four major sampling frames: i) value chain beneficiaries, ii) other farmers (involved with on- farm IGAs), iii) Comprehensive Homestead Development (CHD), and iv) mothers of under-five (U5) years of age children. These were taken to capture the necessary information to track all annual monitoring indicators for indicators 1-13, and indicators 14-27 were collected from the entire Core Occupational Group (COG) beneficiaries. A total of 1,425 samples were taken this year. Read More...
Final Evaluation: Ah Har Ya (Nourish) Northern Shan State
This report presents the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the Final Evaluation of the project: “Ah Har Ya (Nourish)”. Implemented by CARE International in Myanmar, launched on April 2017, on its first phase for one year, later extended for a further year ending on 30th of June 2019.
The project, implemented in 12 villages of Lashio Township (Northern Shan State) with a target population of 528 Households (HHs), is funded by Latter-day Saints Charities (LDSC). It aims to contribute to food and nutrition security through sustainable agricultural production, access to water for human consumption and farming, women participation in
decision makings and improvement on hygiene and nutrition behaviour.
Read More...
The project, implemented in 12 villages of Lashio Township (Northern Shan State) with a target population of 528 Households (HHs), is funded by Latter-day Saints Charities (LDSC). It aims to contribute to food and nutrition security through sustainable agricultural production, access to water for human consumption and farming, women participation in
decision makings and improvement on hygiene and nutrition behaviour.
Read More...
Assisting vulnerable food insecure household recovery from mid-season drought and erratic rainfall project for CARE international Zimbabwe – Final Evaluation Report
CARE International in Zimbabwe (CIZ) implemented a twelve months emergency intervention programme titled ‘Assisting vulnerable food insecure household recovery from mid-season drought and erratic rainfall’ in Gwanda and Beitbridge districts of Matabeleland South province. The programme that targeted 30 000 individuals (23% of the total population) went on to implement interventions under cropping, livestock and economic recovery activities and assisted the most vulnerable households (15% of total beneficiaries) with small livestock and small grains. These vulnerable households were targeted to recover from the impact of previous drought years, erratic rainfalls and mid-season dry spells aiming to prevent a potential decline into severe food insecurity. Read More...
STUDY ON PROMISING SECTORS AND VALUE CHAINS IN THE REGIONS OF GBEKE, PORO, TONKPI AND THE DISTRICT OF ABIDJAN
Crop production in Côte d'Ivoire is "mainly" provided by women and represents about 70% of agricultural value added. In business activity, women outnumber men. Despite all this, women derive lower resources from all their efforts than men do.
To reduce this vulnerability, CARE has initiated the "Women's Empowerment and Business Development" project.
The project intend to focus its efforts on a limited number of promising sectors to which it will provide more targeted and in-depth support to facilitate sustainable change among women and enable them to move from a development category to a higher level.
The study of sectors or activities is an exhaustive analysis of six (6) main agricultural and non-agricultural sectors in the project area. With the help of precise arguments and supported by an economic analysis, it is necessary to propose the list of promising sectors and relevant information likely to help the effective management of the project.
All eight (8) areas identified with CARE are in the administrative regions of Poro, Gbêkê, Tonkpi and Abidjan District and cover the commune or in some cases the sub-prefecture of Korhogo, Sinématiali, Bouaké, Brobo, Man, Sipilou, Abobo and Songon Read More...
To reduce this vulnerability, CARE has initiated the "Women's Empowerment and Business Development" project.
The project intend to focus its efforts on a limited number of promising sectors to which it will provide more targeted and in-depth support to facilitate sustainable change among women and enable them to move from a development category to a higher level.
The study of sectors or activities is an exhaustive analysis of six (6) main agricultural and non-agricultural sectors in the project area. With the help of precise arguments and supported by an economic analysis, it is necessary to propose the list of promising sectors and relevant information likely to help the effective management of the project.
All eight (8) areas identified with CARE are in the administrative regions of Poro, Gbêkê, Tonkpi and Abidjan District and cover the commune or in some cases the sub-prefecture of Korhogo, Sinématiali, Bouaké, Brobo, Man, Sipilou, Abobo and Songon Read More...
CONTEXT AND POLICY ANALYSIS, ACTION & ADVOCACY STRATEGY FOR THE « WOMEN IN ENTERPRISE» PROGRAM
The present study is part of the development of an advocacy strategy that aims to conduct a comprehensive analysis of existing policies that may or may not be favorable to women entrepreneurs, the context and actors of their implementation in Côte d'Ivoire. To guide the design of a national advocacy strategy for the «Women in Enterprise» Program, with a focus on advocacy for the development of women entrepreneurs.
Data collection was carried out in Abidjan and in the regions of TONKPI and GBÊKÊ among actors involved in the issues of women's empowerment, financial inclusion and women's entrepreneurship.
Following data collection and data analysis, it appears that:
- Policy and institutional framework for women's empowerment, financial inclusion and entrepreneurship is provided.
- Government has made efforts to facilitate the creation of businesses through the Single Window CEPICI, but some conditions limit women in their process to start a business.
- Structures and programs have been created for entrepreneurship development and funds have been mobilized and made available to women, but access to these initiatives remains limited due to the conditions of grant and interest for some and lack of information for others.
At the end of the analyzes, barriers to the development of entrepreneurship were identified; these include low women education, limited access to credit, land and information related to entrepreneurial activities and lack of entrepreneurial culture.
Some recommendations for the development of women's entrepreneurship were formulated to the different institutional, technical and financial stakeholders and areas of cooperation for advocacy have been identified. Read More...
Data collection was carried out in Abidjan and in the regions of TONKPI and GBÊKÊ among actors involved in the issues of women's empowerment, financial inclusion and women's entrepreneurship.
Following data collection and data analysis, it appears that:
- Policy and institutional framework for women's empowerment, financial inclusion and entrepreneurship is provided.
- Government has made efforts to facilitate the creation of businesses through the Single Window CEPICI, but some conditions limit women in their process to start a business.
- Structures and programs have been created for entrepreneurship development and funds have been mobilized and made available to women, but access to these initiatives remains limited due to the conditions of grant and interest for some and lack of information for others.
At the end of the analyzes, barriers to the development of entrepreneurship were identified; these include low women education, limited access to credit, land and information related to entrepreneurial activities and lack of entrepreneurial culture.
Some recommendations for the development of women's entrepreneurship were formulated to the different institutional, technical and financial stakeholders and areas of cooperation for advocacy have been identified. Read More...
EMERGENCY FOOD SECURITY PROGRAM: FINAL EVALUATION REPORT
This report provides the results of the final evaluation of the Emergency Food Security Program (EFSP) implemented in twelve districts within the four regions of Sool, Sanaag, Galgaduud and Mudug that was conducted during July and August 2019.
Over and above the program performance parameters, the beneficiaries overwhelmingly indicated that the program had had significant positive impacts. The program was considered timely as it was delivered when beneficiaries were getting into months of food insecurity. When asked whether the cash transfer had improved their livelihoods, 93% of the household survey respondents reported that their livelihoods had improved, mainly in terms of improved purchasing power (93%), ease of meeting their basic needs (78%), better social status (22%), better and more recognition (17%), taking children to school (14%), access to healthcare (9%) and in other (non-described) areas (7%). In the household survey, 94% of the respondents received three cycles of the correct amount, whilst 5% who were targeted under the Rapid Response Fund (RRF) received two cycles enabling households to purchase their preferred foods, at least 25Kg of rice, 25Kg of sugar, 25kg wheat flour, 3kg of cooking oil, 10kg of pasta and some vegetables.
The program had a positive impact on the 52,299 households enrolled. The programme resulted in a reduction of distress coping strategies, with an average rCSI of 12.8 reducing from 20.4 at the program baseline. This supports the effectiveness of the program in enabling the beneficiaries to reduce the number of negative coping strategies that they were previously employing in order to meet basic household needs. In addition, as planned, all the households used the cash transfer to meet their basic needs, with 97% of them using the cash transfer to purchase food for the household, indicating that the cash intervention has directly contributed to the enhancement of the household food security during the drought. Trend analysis shows that throughout the program there was a downward trend of the rCSI scores, while there was an increase of household dietary diversity index to 20.4 compared to the baseline of 12.8. Similarly, an analysis of household hunger shows that in general the beneficiaries were experiencing little to no hunger, with only 13% experiencing moderate hunger and 86% of households experiencing little to no hunger. This again indicates that the programme has achieved positive outcomes.
While the evidence suggests that the program generated a number of positive impacts, across many domains, demonstrating effective and efficient implementation, and that the beneficiaries used the cash as per the original objectives of the program, households continue to faces challenges in their capacity to fully recover from the impacts of conflict and drought. Increasing the scale of interventions and developing additional holistic livelihood strategies for the target areas, creating linkages with market-based interventions and improvement in access to water, education and healthcare, experimenting with graduation models combined with local savings (VSLAs) were among some of the areas identified for improving future programming. A more detailed description of these recommendations is provided towards the tail end of the report. Read More...
Over and above the program performance parameters, the beneficiaries overwhelmingly indicated that the program had had significant positive impacts. The program was considered timely as it was delivered when beneficiaries were getting into months of food insecurity. When asked whether the cash transfer had improved their livelihoods, 93% of the household survey respondents reported that their livelihoods had improved, mainly in terms of improved purchasing power (93%), ease of meeting their basic needs (78%), better social status (22%), better and more recognition (17%), taking children to school (14%), access to healthcare (9%) and in other (non-described) areas (7%). In the household survey, 94% of the respondents received three cycles of the correct amount, whilst 5% who were targeted under the Rapid Response Fund (RRF) received two cycles enabling households to purchase their preferred foods, at least 25Kg of rice, 25Kg of sugar, 25kg wheat flour, 3kg of cooking oil, 10kg of pasta and some vegetables.
The program had a positive impact on the 52,299 households enrolled. The programme resulted in a reduction of distress coping strategies, with an average rCSI of 12.8 reducing from 20.4 at the program baseline. This supports the effectiveness of the program in enabling the beneficiaries to reduce the number of negative coping strategies that they were previously employing in order to meet basic household needs. In addition, as planned, all the households used the cash transfer to meet their basic needs, with 97% of them using the cash transfer to purchase food for the household, indicating that the cash intervention has directly contributed to the enhancement of the household food security during the drought. Trend analysis shows that throughout the program there was a downward trend of the rCSI scores, while there was an increase of household dietary diversity index to 20.4 compared to the baseline of 12.8. Similarly, an analysis of household hunger shows that in general the beneficiaries were experiencing little to no hunger, with only 13% experiencing moderate hunger and 86% of households experiencing little to no hunger. This again indicates that the programme has achieved positive outcomes.
While the evidence suggests that the program generated a number of positive impacts, across many domains, demonstrating effective and efficient implementation, and that the beneficiaries used the cash as per the original objectives of the program, households continue to faces challenges in their capacity to fully recover from the impacts of conflict and drought. Increasing the scale of interventions and developing additional holistic livelihood strategies for the target areas, creating linkages with market-based interventions and improvement in access to water, education and healthcare, experimenting with graduation models combined with local savings (VSLAs) were among some of the areas identified for improving future programming. A more detailed description of these recommendations is provided towards the tail end of the report. Read More...