Food and Nutrition Security
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...
Somalia Resilience Program Third Party Monitoring: Midline Assessment
The Somalia Resilience Program (SomReP) is a consortium of seven international non-governmental organisations (INGOs). The aim of the consortium is to enhance the resilience of vulnerable households and communities in Southern Somalia against cyclical shocks and stressors. The program’s activities focus on securing livelihoods and increasing adaptive capacities of communities and households in Somalia.
Overall, positive developments from the baseline was noted for most of the indicators analyzed in this report. Most of these positive developments could be attributed to different programme interventions. The attribution was tested through statistical correlation analysis and by synthesizing programme documents and the data collected at various stages throughout the project. The food security status of the respondents had improved, both in terms of food consumption and coping strategies. For example, the proportion of the respondents categorized as having an acceptable level of the Food Consumption Score (FCS) had increased from 48.5% in the baseline to 80.4% in the midline. The income of the respondents had also improved with both a significantly higher average income as well as more diversified income being reported. Those respondents that were part of a savings scheme as well as those that had received cash distributions through Cash for Work (CfW) or Unconditional Cash Transfers (UCT) reported higher FCS than those who had not. Respondents that had received cash distributions were also positively associated with higher incomes. As such, it is recommended that both VSLA and cash programming interventions should be sustained and if possible scaled-up. It is worth noting that livelihoods were still largely climate sensitive, with day labour in agriculture being the most common and important livelihood strategy, especially for male respondents. This implies that most people are still highly vulnerable to climatic shocks, such as drought. Read More...
Overall, positive developments from the baseline was noted for most of the indicators analyzed in this report. Most of these positive developments could be attributed to different programme interventions. The attribution was tested through statistical correlation analysis and by synthesizing programme documents and the data collected at various stages throughout the project. The food security status of the respondents had improved, both in terms of food consumption and coping strategies. For example, the proportion of the respondents categorized as having an acceptable level of the Food Consumption Score (FCS) had increased from 48.5% in the baseline to 80.4% in the midline. The income of the respondents had also improved with both a significantly higher average income as well as more diversified income being reported. Those respondents that were part of a savings scheme as well as those that had received cash distributions through Cash for Work (CfW) or Unconditional Cash Transfers (UCT) reported higher FCS than those who had not. Respondents that had received cash distributions were also positively associated with higher incomes. As such, it is recommended that both VSLA and cash programming interventions should be sustained and if possible scaled-up. It is worth noting that livelihoods were still largely climate sensitive, with day labour in agriculture being the most common and important livelihood strategy, especially for male respondents. This implies that most people are still highly vulnerable to climatic shocks, such as drought. Read More...
Somalia Resilience Program Third Party Monitoring: Baseline Study
The Somalia Resilience Program (SomReP) is a consortium of seven Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), the activities of which aim to enhance the resilience of vulnerable households and communities in Southern Somalia against cyclical shocks and stressors. This report serves as the baseline for the Third Party Monitoring (TPM) of SomReP in two districts in South and Central Somalia: Afgooye and Baidoa. The TPM study is undertaken by Forcier Consulting on behalf of SomReP, with the aim to rigorously monitor the progress and outcomes of the program.
The data indicates that resilience differed among livelihood groups (agro-pastoralist, pastoralists, and peri-urban), between women and men, and across seasons. This means that program approaches should take these differences into account when targeting groups for various interventions. For instance, people in peri-urban areas tended to have less diverse diets, while pastoralists tend to engage in more severe and frequent coping strategies. Out of the different livelihood types, pastoralists were also the most likely to report no access to risk transfer or sharing. Further, women tended to have less diverse incomes than men and incomes tend to be lowest in the dry season of Jilaal, the season in which most agriculture-related work was replaced with unskilled work. These findings indicate that women should be more frequently targeted for income diversity interventions, and pastoralists should be targeted with interventions that aim to increase social safety nets, such as risk sharing.
Capacities to deal with stressors in both the short and long-term were low across the targeted areas. Natural resource management (NRM) was poor in both districts and in and across communities. Sustainable access to natural resources is an important factor in ensuring long-term resilience and should therefore receive more attention across the communities. Response capacities were also absent across the communities. Only 9.7 of all respondents said their community had a community-based early warning system in place. Further, only 5.7% of the respondents said community initiatives existed that aimed to access support from sub-national and national institutions and authorities to respond to and cope with the recurrent shocks and stressors. Hence, moving forward, the program should ensure a focus of combined approaches to achieve improvements in system-wide resilience. Read More...
The data indicates that resilience differed among livelihood groups (agro-pastoralist, pastoralists, and peri-urban), between women and men, and across seasons. This means that program approaches should take these differences into account when targeting groups for various interventions. For instance, people in peri-urban areas tended to have less diverse diets, while pastoralists tend to engage in more severe and frequent coping strategies. Out of the different livelihood types, pastoralists were also the most likely to report no access to risk transfer or sharing. Further, women tended to have less diverse incomes than men and incomes tend to be lowest in the dry season of Jilaal, the season in which most agriculture-related work was replaced with unskilled work. These findings indicate that women should be more frequently targeted for income diversity interventions, and pastoralists should be targeted with interventions that aim to increase social safety nets, such as risk sharing.
Capacities to deal with stressors in both the short and long-term were low across the targeted areas. Natural resource management (NRM) was poor in both districts and in and across communities. Sustainable access to natural resources is an important factor in ensuring long-term resilience and should therefore receive more attention across the communities. Response capacities were also absent across the communities. Only 9.7 of all respondents said their community had a community-based early warning system in place. Further, only 5.7% of the respondents said community initiatives existed that aimed to access support from sub-national and national institutions and authorities to respond to and cope with the recurrent shocks and stressors. Hence, moving forward, the program should ensure a focus of combined approaches to achieve improvements in system-wide resilience. Read More...
Zimbabwe OFDA Baseline 2018
CARE International in Zimbabwe is implementing a 12-month OFDA funded project in Gwanda and
Beitbridge district of Matabeleland South Province. The area is characterized by extensive farming ,where
livestock production is domineering and small grains production is the gateway to maintaining food
security levels. The current funding opportunity through OFDA aims to address the immediate agricultural
and financial needs of the most vulnerable households to recover from: the impact of successive drought
years, erratic rainfalls, mid-season dry spells, and prevent potential food insecurity. The declining
macroeconomic conditions and lack of development at the national level have compounded the impact
of the droughts and hindered recovery resulting in negative coping strategies as the majority of vulnerable
households are selling productive assets (mainly livestock) through the previous season and consequently
ad libitum before the coming farming season. Read More...
Beitbridge district of Matabeleland South Province. The area is characterized by extensive farming ,where
livestock production is domineering and small grains production is the gateway to maintaining food
security levels. The current funding opportunity through OFDA aims to address the immediate agricultural
and financial needs of the most vulnerable households to recover from: the impact of successive drought
years, erratic rainfalls, mid-season dry spells, and prevent potential food insecurity. The declining
macroeconomic conditions and lack of development at the national level have compounded the impact
of the droughts and hindered recovery resulting in negative coping strategies as the majority of vulnerable
households are selling productive assets (mainly livestock) through the previous season and consequently
ad libitum before the coming farming season. Read More...
Inter-agency Response to Tropical Cyclone Gita Tonga
In response to the damage and the immediate needs of the affected population, taking in to account the expertise of the agencies, MORDI Trust Tonga (MORDI), Live & Learn Environmental Education (LLEE) and CARE Australia (CARE) formed a partnership to deliver humanitarian assistance on the islands of Tongatapu and ‘Eua.
The response program included assistance provided in the areas of shelter, WASH, food security and livelihoods, with an underlying focus on gender and social inclusion. Donor funding for the response program through CARE Australia included DFAT funding through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership, ECHO and the START Network. Additional grants directly to MORDI from Oxfam and Rotary/MFAT also formed part of the overall response program.
This report will aim to test the effectiveness and efficiency of the overall response program. Read More...
The response program included assistance provided in the areas of shelter, WASH, food security and livelihoods, with an underlying focus on gender and social inclusion. Donor funding for the response program through CARE Australia included DFAT funding through the Australian Humanitarian Partnership, ECHO and the START Network. Additional grants directly to MORDI from Oxfam and Rotary/MFAT also formed part of the overall response program.
This report will aim to test the effectiveness and efficiency of the overall response program. Read More...
Tropical Cyclone Gita Response Program Evaluation
Tropical Cyclone (TC) Gita, a Category 4 cyclone, struck Tonga in February 2018. CARE, Live and Learn, and MORDI (‘the partnership’) responded to the immediate needs of communities on Tongatapu and ‘Eua islands, delivering emergency shelter and hygiene kits. In the recovery phase the partnership supported communities with shelter, repairs to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure, and food security and livelihood recovery efforts, including a specific project focused on the recovery priorities of seven women’s groups on ‘Eua island.
CARE commissioned this evaluation to assess the assistance provided through the response and recovery program in the first six months (February – August 2018). The evaluation focused on four main areas of enquiry: the partnership, the response, gender and inclusion, and localisation.
This report documents the findings from the evaluation and provides forward-looking recommendations for the partnership and for preparedness and future emergency response in Tonga. Read More...
CARE commissioned this evaluation to assess the assistance provided through the response and recovery program in the first six months (February – August 2018). The evaluation focused on four main areas of enquiry: the partnership, the response, gender and inclusion, and localisation.
This report documents the findings from the evaluation and provides forward-looking recommendations for the partnership and for preparedness and future emergency response in Tonga. Read More...