COMMUNITY BASED LIVELIHOOD DEVELOPMENT FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN SWAZILAND (CBLD)

QUARTERLY REPORT (JANUARY 1, 2016 – MARCH 31, 2016)

April 2016 This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It was prepared by FHI 360 and TechnoServe Inc.

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD)

QUARTERLY REPORT (OCTOBER 1, 2015 – DECEMBER 31, 2015)

COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT NO. AID 674-A-12-00003

DISCLAIMER This report was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the terms of Cooperative Agreement AID-674-A-12-00003. It was prepared by FHI 360. The contents and opinions expressed herein are the responsibility of the program and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... I ACRONYMS & ABBREVIATIONS ...... 2 PROJECT OVERVIEW ...... 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...... 3 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: ...... 5 1. LIVELIHOODS AND ECONOMIC STRENGTHENING ...... 5 1.1. SAVINGS GROUP DEVELOPMENT ...... 5 1.1.1. HHOHHO (HEREFORDS AND NDZENGNI) SAVINGS GROUPS ...... 6 1.1.1. LUBOMBO (MPOLONJENI, KHUPHUKA, MALINDZA AND KA- LANGA) SAVINGS GROUPS ...... 6 1.2. ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT ...... 7 1.1.2. ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT FUND ...... 9 1.3. HOUSEHOLD GARDEN/PERMAGARDEN...... 9 1.4. FARMING AS A BUSINESS ...... 10 1.1.3. HORTICULTURE: HEREFORDS, NDZINGENI (HHOHHO), KHUPHUKA, MPOLONJENI, MALINDZA AND KALANGA (LUBOMBO) 11 1.1.4. COTTON: MPOLONJENI (LUBOMBO), KHUPHUKA (LUBOMBO/MANZINI), AND NEIGHBORING COMMUNITIES ..... 14 1. PROTECTION, HUMAN RIGHTS AND ACCESS TO LEGAL SERVICES...... 15 1.1. BUILDING COMMUNITY AWARENESS OF RIGHTS AND LAWS AND IMPROVING ACCESS TO LEGAL SERVICES ...... 15 1.1.1. LEGAL EDUCATION CLINIC ...... 15 1.1.2. CHILDREN’S RIGHTS EDUCATION ...... 17 1.1.3. CIVIL REGISTRATION CAMPAIGN ...... 18 1.2. CHILD PROTECTION AND REFERRAL SYSTEMS ...... 18 1.2.1. HIV SERVICES 20 1.3. GENDER NORMS 21 1.4. EDUCATION AND NUTRITIONAL CARE AND SUPPORT ...... 22 1.5. EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION ...... 23 2. CAPACITY BUILDING ...... 24 2.1. CBLD KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND LEARNING STRATEGY 24 2.2. NATIONAL LEVEL CAPACITY BUILDING ...... 24 2.3. ADDRESSING FOOD INSECURITY AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL 25 MONITORING AND EVALUATION ...... 25 PROJECT ADMINISTRATION ...... 26 ANNEX 1: CBLD SUMMARY INDICATOR SHEET ...... 28 SUMMARY TABLE OF INDICATORS...... 29 ANNEX 2: CBLD YEAR 5 TRAVEL SCHEDULE ...... 37 ANNEX 3: IMPLEMENTATION PLAN ...... 38 ANNEX 4: QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PLAN ...... 39 ANNEX 5: SIDLA INHLOKO ...... 42

Community-Based Livelihood Development (C-BLD) for Women and Children in Swaziland i

ACRONYMS & ABBREVIATIONS

CANGO Coordinating Assembly of NGOs CBLD Community-Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland CF Community Facilitators COSPE Cooperazione per lo Sviluppo dei Paesi Emergenti CPWA Child Protection and Welfare Act ECD/E Early Childhood Development/Education EntDev Enterprise Development FAAB Farming as a Business FLAS Family Life Association of Swaziland GAC Gender Advisory Council GBV Gender-Based Violence GM Genetically-Modified HFIAS Household Food Insecurity Access Scale HTS HIV testing services IGA Income Generating Activity LL Lihlombe Lekukhalela/ A Shoulder to Cry On M&E Monitoring and Evaluation M2M Mothers to Mothers MOA Ministry of Agriculture MOET Ministry of Education & Training MOH Ministry of Health MOU Memorandum of Understanding MTAD Ministry of Tinkhundla Administration and Development NAMBoard National Agricultural Marketing Board NCCU National Children’s Coordination Unit NCP Neighborhood Care Point NERCHA National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS NGO Nongovernmental Organization OVC Orphans and Vulnerable Children PEPFAR President’s Emergency Plan for AID Relief PDA Personal Digital Assistant PEPFAR U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief PMP Performance Monitoring Plan RDA Regional Development Authority RHM Rural Health Motivator RSP Royal Swazi Police SADP Swaziland Agricultural Development Programme SBCC Social and Behavior Change Communication SRH Sexual Reproductive Health SWAGAA Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse SWEEP Swaziland Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Program TbT Training-by-Trainers ToT Training-of-Trainers UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UNISWA University of Swaziland USAID United States Agency for International Development VC Value Chain WFP World Food Programme

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PROJECT OVERVIEW

USAID awarded FHI 360 the five-year Community Based Livelihoods Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) project on December 1, 2011. The project is led by FHI 360 with TechnoServe as its main implementing partner. This quarterly report is a requirement under this award and covers the period of January 1, 2016 – March 31, 2016. The goal of CBLD is to enable communities to advance the economic and social empowerment of women and children. To achieve this, CBLD has three program objectives: (1) to improve the livelihood capabilities of vulnerable households, particularly women and caregivers within these households; (2) to protect and promote the rights of women and children; and (3) to strengthen the capacity and coordination of government, communities, and organizations to protect and promote the social and economic well-being of women and children.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Project interventions reached 3,813 direct and 1,128 child beneficiaries (70% our FY 2016 target of 7,000) under OVC Serve. Linkages to HTC services occurred under OVC Access reaching 1196 OVC Serve participants (68% of our FY 2016 target of 1,750). Of that we confirmed that 247 completed the referral resulting in 10 positives found. CBLD suspended our more traditional Gender Norms interventions, which was linked to community dialogues, due to the difficulty of mobilizing men. In collaboration with traditional community leaders we started supporting the traditional Sidla Inhloko as a means to address mobilization issues. During this reporting period we reached 313 new individuals with 58 of those meeting the minimum 10 hour requirement at the time of the reporting (an additional 194 completed over 5 hours). Additional sessions are planned for the remaining two quarters.

To date the CBLD project has reached 14,350 individuals with interventions that aim to increase access to income and productive resources for women and children impacted by HIV/AIDs, 54% (7,728) of which were provided with economic strengthening services and reached 12,713 individuals with interventions and increased access to services that address the legal rights and protection of women and children.

The majority of Savings Groups completed their saving cycles in January with share outs and reviews of membership and constitutions. As of March 2016 CBLD’s saving groups, with a total membership of 678, have a cumulative SZL 395,021 saved and SZL 778,975 loaned. Eight saving group community facilitators were trained providing post CBLD support in the communities on monitoring, mobilizing, training and supporting saving groups. The saving group community facilitators are paid through a fee for service model which is paid by the saving groups at E20/meeting. During the initial training phase CBLD provides a nominal stipend to cover basic transport and phone costs, while the community facilitator is mobilizing groups and learning the proper training skills.

The Enterprise Development (ED) programs focused in Malindza and completed markets and finance and acknowledged the 394 participants that completed the enterprise development training with certificates of attendance. CBLD also began providing more hands on, and targeted, record keeping trainings to 83 participants that have an active business. Initial spot checks of 33 record keeping trainees has shown a 100% adoption rate of daily record keeping for the first 30 days. CBLD also participated in a Swaziland Women’s Economic Empowerment Trust (SWEET) radio show (about 45 minutes per week) to deliver Basic Business Management and Financial Literacy training, this will

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continue through April 2016. Past ED participants were found successful on their business plan submission to Microprojects receiving a grant of E400,000 to purchase a tractor and implements.

CBLD provided nutrition related programming to 250 beneficiaries, supporting 131 child beneficiaries, which includes 70 new households joining our permagarden training. The permagarden training provides a continual emphasis on nutritional needs and cost savings from these gardens. In our trainings we emphasize water conservation/management techniques and improved water management practices amongst households has been observed. The changes have been characterized by increased water harvesting practices, use of grey water and deep root watering systems. Linkages were made to sessions on plant propagation, to address the longer term issues of sourcing seedlings at a low cost. CBLD participated in two micronutrient events, attended by 170 people, presenting on permagarden techniques and nutritional benefits of the gardens.

The drought continued to plague communities throughout Swaziland at the start of the reporting period, with rains coming very late in the planting season. This impacted crop selection (horticulture) and planting (cotton and horticulture) with a number of farmers just not planting at all. The horticulture value chain saw 14 farmers that signed marketing contracts with NAMBoard, with 5 (F 3, M 2) who were able to plant despite persistent drought conditions in Ndzingeni, earning an average income of E1,605. The newly formed farmers associations Chakaza Matfuntini, which also received a grant for irrigation equipment, had a successful first harvested of their tomato crop to NAMBoard and received an income of E6 070. Our cotton value chain saw 89 out of over 500 supported farmers plant cotton this season, with expected mixed results due to the mealy bug and delayed planting. In preparation for program close out focus shifted from direct engagement at the farming level to high level mentoring and capacity building within the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce, NAMBOARD and the Cotton Ginnery.

CBLD reached 521 direct beneficiaries with small group sessions on human rights concepts and gender, the constitution, the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act (CPWA), Marriage law, Maintenance and Custody and the Administration of Estates Act. These sessions were complimented by legal education clinics where 58 referrals were provided. Main issues raised were maintenance, child abuse, marriage, rape and abduction, “widow evictions”, paternity, inheritance and divorce (customary marriages).

229 people were reached with our early childhood education and development programming. This programming has seen a number of shifts in how people think about their relationships with their own parents, as well as with their own children. During the sessions we have seen people openly discuss family relationships, abuse and positive discipline.

The project continues to strengthen OVC protection systems in four of our communities through training and mentoring of the Child Protection Networks (CPN) and community leadership. During the reporting period 767 children were provided with linkages to care and support services. In Malindza and Ka-Langa, where we started implementing the use of case management plans, we have seen children being consistently supported. In all four of our communities 54 CPN members, community leaders and OVC caregivers were reached on child protection in this reporting period with 129 OVCs referred for services, by the CPN/Leaders and OVC caregivers, to services which includes legal maintenance, birth registration (not inclusive of the campaign), health, HTS etc. Of the 129 cases referred at the end of reporting, 26 referrals were closed, with Khuphuka having the highest closure rate of 61%. The number of referrals made is encouraging as it shows that CPN and OVC caregivers are now aware of how services can be accessed and are using them. The rate of closure is still low, which is worrisome in terms of potential moral issues. The drought has severely affected and devastated families in the Lubombo region where, due to the absence of rain a lot of the families have little to eat and rely on handouts from the DPM’s office and other sources for their livelihoods. The CPN have reported that this has made it difficult for some of them to provide support to some of these households especially where there are terminally ill patients

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as their visit is always met with expectations that they will bring something to the affected family. The result is that some members are discouraged from conducting household visits. At the community level CBLD exited four of its six communities leaving CBLD active in Malindza (Dvokodvweni Inkhundla) and Ka-Langa ((Dvokodvweni Inkhundla). We conducted formal exit meetings, presenting our household survey data and program results in all communities, outlining our programming and exit strategies, to the Traditional Community Leaders. We will conduct our endline survey in Mpolonjeni and Khuphuka in May and will then present those findings to community leadership accordingly in May 2016.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:

CBLD conducted close out meetings in Khuphuka and Mpolonjeni. Presentations included our program timeframe in that specific community, community specific program results to date and household survey results.

In Khuphuka (January 29th 2016), the meeting was attended by CBLD staff, the Chief’s council members, the Bucopho, Gogo Centre Manager and Community Development Officer. In Mpolonjeni, (March 31st, 2016) the meeting was attended by CBLD staff, the newly appointed and the former leadership within the Bandlancane, Gogo Center Manager and the Community Development Officer.

Feedback from CBLD’s community leadership meetings was overall positive. In our communities we were commended by leadership for the role that we have played at the community level.

Feedback included 1. Leadership is now clear about issues of governance, means for leading the community and clearer about protocols for attending to community needs and transparent resource allocation, 2. Leadership enforced that they appreciated a better understanding of the Child Protection Network, who they are and how they work, 3. Appreciated the work on developing community based strategic plans that have allowed them to identify stakeholders and available resources and to better utilize local resources, and 4. Community leadership expressed their gratitude for the program that has brought about improvement in terms of community participation in development activities, decision making power and the ability to take charge of development issues.

1. LIVELIHOODS AND ECONOMIC STRENGTHENING

1.1. SAVINGS GROUP DEVELOPMENT

Objective Vulnerable households are characterized with little or no access to formal savings and credit facilitates. Through training and supporting the formation of savings groups, the CBLD project aims to improve the ability of vulnerable households to manage financial resources, smooth consumption, plan for seasonal expenses, and access credit for building household enterprises.

Results

 5 new groups formed during the quarter in the Lubombo region, with a current 50 groups formed (21 in Hhohho and 29 in Lubombo).  678 active saving group members. 152 (130 W, 22 M) from Hhohho and 526 (476 W, 50 M) from Lubombo). 217 new members were captured during the quarter.  E118,431 (E50,680 in Lubombo and E67,751 in Hhohho) saved during the quarter, for a cumulative total of E395,021.  E279,077 (E183,752 in Lubombo and E95,325 in Hhohho) was loaned during the quarter, for a cumulative total of E778,975.

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 8 community facilitators started or continued their six month training and mentorship under our Saving Group Field Officer. For those that started in Q1 they began monitoring, conducting health checks and mobilizing and starting saving groups on their own, through a fee for service model.

CBLD Saving Program snapshot as of March 2016 (since July 2014) Community # of # of Members SZL Savings Average Savings Groups Mobilized per member

Herefords 16 113 E205,211 E1,816 Ndzingeni 5 39 E32,010 E821 Khuphuka 7 138 E32,560 E236 Mpolonjeni 3 53 E16,990 E321 Malindza 6 109 E21,470 E197

Ka-Langa 13 226 E86,780 E384

Total 50 678 E395,021 E 583

Funds loaned: E778,975

1.1.1. HHOHHO (HEREFORDS AND NDZENGNI) SAVINGS GROUPS Saving groups in the Hhohho region are implemented through our sub implementing partner Vusumnotfo. All groups completed their share out activities and started a new saving cycle. Prior to starting the new savings cycle members renewed their membership to their groups and reviewed the rules.

1.1.1. LUBOMBO (MPOLONJENI, KHUPHUKA, MALINDZA AND KA-LANGA) SAVINGS GROUPS Savings group programming in the Lubombo region is done through direct implementation by FHI 360 through a Saving Group Field Coordinator that supports initial mobilization, training and monitoring of the FHI 360 supported saving groups while community facilitators work to support mobilization, monitoring, mentoring and training of new saving groups.

FHI 360 has trained eight Community Facilitators (CFs) who are initially funded by the project, through a transport and communication stipend, during the training and mentoring phase, then transfer to being fully supported by the savings groups through an E20/month/group fee. Training includes both in classroom training and on the job training.

During this quarter all CFs, as well as our legal literacy volunteers, were provided with Financial Literacy training by the CBLD Enterprise Development officer enabling them to provide those training modules to our saving groups in the communities.

Social Fund As saving groups form they are provided with the option of starting a social fund. The fund consists of group determined amount but ranges from E5 - E10 contribution that every member makes during

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each meeting to be used for covering group determined emergencies. Most groups determined emergencies consisted of death of family member, fire and storm damage. To date groups have saved E 9,006 towards social funds.

Savings Group Plus Savings groups are not implemented as a stand-alone project but they are established in the context of a number of activities. The savings groups have become reliable and consistent touch points as they meet on monthly basis to do their savings and lending activities, provide consistent points for messaging and provide avenues for reinforcement of positive behavior including encouraging participants to manage their health by getting tested, adhering to medication leading to viral suppression and a longer life expectancy and encouraging preventative behaviors. They provide the best opportunity to distribute information and messages on health, nutrition, HIV and AIDS, legal protection information and information on children and women's rights.

Share Outs There have been no share-outs this quarter. Next expected share out will be in April 2016.

Lessons Learned No new lessons learned this quarter.

Program Sustainability The engagement of fee for service community facilitators, based at the community level, should allow for program sustainability in terms of monitoring and mobilizing of saving groups.

1.2. ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

Objective CBLD has been implementing community level Enterprise Development (ED) training programs to improve the ability of vulnerable households, particularly female-headed households, those caring for OVC or living with HIV, to allocate scarce financial resources among household and enterprise needs, while also improving the profitability of household enterprises and livelihood activities.

Results

Malindza  57 additional ED participants were evaluated as they were not able to participate last quarter.  83 ED participants and 3 community members, with existing businesses, were trained on record keeping and 77 record books delivered for recording cash transactions.  A majority of the existing businesses consisted of poultry, market vending and handcrafts.  Initial follow up to 33 participants that received their record books showed promising uptake of the training, with 100% usage.

Markets and Finance day  Markets and finance day was held in Malindza Umphakatsi on February 11th 2016, with 394 ED participants receiving certificates for completion of the training and passing the evaluation.  CBLD provided access to HIV testing services (HTS), through PSI, at the Markets and Finance day resulting in 19 people testing for HIV, with six testing positive found and were referred to health services.  Similarly PSI noted that they found a number of people that had previously tested but had defaulted on their treatment and were re-initiated and referred to health services for further treatment.

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 This activity was well attended by nice stakeholder guest speakers. These included Inhlanyelo Fund, Swazi Bank, Swaziland Building Society, NAMBOARD, FINCORP, Cotton Board, Imbita Women`s Trust, SWEET and PSI.

Financial Literacy Training  13 Savings and Legal community facilitators were trained on Financial Literacy. This includes participants from the four CBLD active communities namely Malindza, Khuphuka, Mpolonjeni and KaLanga.

Mpolonjeni

17 entrepreneurs who benefitted from Inhlanyelo Fund were trained on record book keeping and they were given proper record books where they will record their business transactions.

SWEET radio show

CBLD has entered into a collaboration with SWEET for a radio show broadcast on national radio for the month of March/April. During the show the Enterprise Development business advisor delivers Basic Business Management and Financial Literacy Enterprise Development Story training for about 45 minutes. SWEET credit officers requested CBLD to train listeners on the importance Beauty Shabangu is a CBLD ED participant in of record keeping when one is a business person, Malindza. She was also a trainer in her sub – particularly if listeners who are members of the bank community. She’s been running her small grocery want to take loans. The SWEET officers spoke very shop business for many years however, she was highly of one participant who had been trained in unable to calculate business profits before CBLD Enterprise Development and kept an excellent record interventions. of her sales, expenses and inventory that she very easily qualified for a loan from the bank. The show She buys rice and meat in large quantities and is funded by SWEET with various guests invited for packages it in smaller units so that it can meet her a variety of topics. customers’ needs. After attending the trainings she saw a need to buy a balance scale where she Challenges measures the mass of rice and meat that she sells in  The persistent drought is affecting most her shop so that she can price accurately. “Costing beneficiaries in conducting their businesses and pricing was a nightmare before CBLD as a majority of businesses are agricultural training. I am glad I got the opportunity to attend or livestock based. There has been a sharp trainings and this have been helpful to me and my increase in the price of feed and water business”, said Make Shongwe. She is now continues to be scarce in many communities. planning to grow her business from a spaza shop to  Business Record books were mostly printed bigger shop in English and some entrepreneurs have a challenge filling them in. ED Trainers have worked easily in both English and Siswati, however since the record keeping trainings are direct trainings to all participants who own existing enterprises, it has been found that most participants are more comfortable with Siswati due to varied literacy in some communities.  CBLD is focusing on training participants on the workings and recordings for cashbook and reconciling sales to income received.  It came to project staff’s attention that Mpolonjeni ED participants who attended training in 2014 and had not received certificates. This is being rectified.

Program Sustainability

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CBLD will conduct business clinics for those who have received the record books and the community will be encouraged to select suitable volunteers (credible, respected and technically capable) who were part of the training of trainers to continue to conduct business clinics once CBLD has exited the communities. It is envisioned that the clinics will be conducted on a pay for service modeled by the savings group community facilitators. The selected individuals will undergo a two day training to guide them on how to mentor and provide basic business diagnostics and how to develop a range of solutions and guide their peers to select the alternative most suitable for their situation.

1.1.2. ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT FUND Sibambene Multipurpose Society has had their E 400 000 Microprojects application for funding approved. The association is now awaiting fund disbursement which will be used for purchasing a tractor and its implements.

KaBen Multipurpose Cooperative Society was unsuccessful in their application because they were seeking to operate a tractor service within the same customer segment and in the same geographic area as Sibambene Multipurpose Society.

1.3. HOUSEHOLD GARDEN/PERMAGARDEN

Results  25 households continued programming in Herefords, supporting 82 indirect beneficiaries.  70 new households in Kalanga were supported by four demo sites in four sub -communities  110 households were monitored and went through Plant Propagation Training in Khuphuka  49 indirect beneficiaries are supported in the Lubombo region.

Success . Positive plant propagation training was carried out in Khuphuka as part of program sustainability. . Households showed an appreciation for the water cycle and the need to practice water conservation methods around the household. Deep root watering systems were well received as well as water filtering systems. . The rainfall received in March (even though sporadic) saw an increase in community member encouragement. . As we approach the cooler months, there was an increased rate of garden establishment/ success as there is less damage caused by pests and the weather is not as harsh. Challenges . Delays in mobilization due to leadership dispute in Mpolonjeni, and miscommunication between field officers and CPN members in Kalanga hindered progress in both communities and therefore deferred trainings dates. . In Khuphuka participants have found it challenging to continue gardens (after initial round) due to the lack of seedlings, either due to the willingness or ability to source additional seedlings despite going through the Plant Propagation training. Program Manual adjustments Initial program manual balanced both nutritional, cost and technical assistance in relation to permagardens. The project continues to find ways to increase the focus on the nutritional benefits of the intervention and ability to garden with reduced access to water, and thus focused initial trainings to include more information in relation to nutrition and water conservation. The current training module includes additional sessions on nutrition curriculum from the Nutritional Sensitive Agriculture (Trainer Manual) for Agriculture Development Agents- USAID/ Save the Children (Modules 1-3).

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The training modules carry out the process of identifying nutritional priority groups and needs within the household, therefore focusing on the need for nutrition as a main driver in promoting homestead gardens. Modules are very participatory, encouraging dialogue amongst participants. Modules were well received by participants.

During the quarter staff adapted the record books used for our cotton and horticulture farmers for use by the permagarden participants. The record books will be rolled out next quarter during the monitoring visits.

Program Sustainability CBLD has worked to ensure that each household has the technical skills, proper support/mentoring from our trainers and linkages to community members that are excelling. We are also providing subsequent sessions on nutritional uses of the garden, plant propagation to develop their own seeds and reinforcement of cost savings. The Ministry of Agriculture is mandated to provide support as well, as needed, but that support is subject to resource constraints.

Support Support was given in the form of donated seedlings for each household: 20 Spinach seedlings, 10 Green pepper seedlings, 10 Tomato seedlings and 10 Onion seedlings.

1.4. FARMING AS A BUSINESS

Objective The objective of CBLD’s Farming As A Business (FAAB) training is to increase the business skills of farmers in CBLD CBLD Farming as a Business (FAAB) Program programs. Unlike the broader enterprise development curriculum, this program focuses specifically on farming, drawing on The two-day FAAB workshop is delivered by project examples from specific value chains, and staff to small groups. The training covers the following was designed to complement the project’s topics: value chain development programs. 1. Introduction to FAAB 2. Farm Production Results 3. Sales, Price and Marketing 4. Farm Profitability  Reached 93 beneficiaries (5 M, 88 5. Farm Record Keeping F) with FAAB training. 6. Farm Budgeting  Supported the MoA with FAAB training for Hhohho sweet potato The training includes discussion about household producers and processors held at consumption for nutrition and health, where farmers the Lutheran Farmer Training are encouraged to ensure household plots are sufficient Centre. and healthy food is available and to consume or preserve the produce that does not make the grade for With the prevailing drought conditions, the the market. program adapted the FAAB trainings to focus on production for household consumption, prioritizing food security over income generation.

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Participants were encouraged to ensure household plots are cultivated with sufficient variety of vegetables to cater for the nutritional needs of the family.

CBLD’s horticulture specialist developed additional modules to allow FAAB programming to adjust to the impacts of the drought and to support a reduction of input costs for permagardens to improve the sustainability of both programs. The additional modules included topics such as plant propagation (specific to both), nursery techniques (specific to FAAB), plant establishment (specific to FAAB), seed harvesting (specific to both), processing (specific to both) and storage (specific to both).

FAAB trainings continue to be a good filter for participants who qualify to enter into horticulture or cotton value chains. Training can be applied for all crops and as a result there are high attendance figures. However, upon completion of the training, participants are able to critically assess their capacity to enter into a value chain or improve household level consumption depending on their capacity.

In all instances, trainings were used as a way to continuously mobilize and encourage participants to attend health related issues and provide messaging that reinforces access to health services, testing and adhering to HIV/AIDS medication.

Program Sustainability In order to ensure the sustainability of CBLD activities, the additional topics added to the FAAB modules will enable participants to use resources that are easily accessible to produce nutritious food for their families. Given the continued difficulties Swaziland is facing with the drought, the families who are able to cultivate sufficient produce to feed their families stave off the deleterious effects of the drought and are therefore more resilient to the negative impacts.

1.5. HORTICULTURE: HEREFORDS, NDZINGENI (HHOHHO), KHUPHUKA, MPOLONJENI, MALINDZA AND KALANGA (LUBOMBO)

CBLD’s horticulture program links capable farmers in Herefords, Ndzingeni, Khuphuka, Mpolonjeni, Malindza and KaLanga into a commercial value chain with growth potential, increasing farmers’ incomes and creating paid labor opportunities for women in the community. By establishing stronger market linkages and providing technical extension, CBLD focuses on increasing the amount of land farmers cultivate under horticulture, increasing the yields, achieving better prices through higher quality and more lucrative varieties, earning greater profits and job creation all with a multiplier effect in the community.

Results  Out of 14 farmers that signed marketing contracts with NAMBoard this quarter, 5 (F 3, M 2) were able to plant despite persistent draught conditions in Ndzingeni.  A total of E8,026 was received as income for Ndzingeni farmers, with an average income of E1,605  Chakaza Matfuntini successfully harvested and marketed their first tomato crop to NAMBoard and received an income of E6,070  22 marketing contracts (F 20 and M 2) were signed in Mpolonjeni and planting is expected to commence next quarter.  E14,096 was received as income for farmers under the Horticulture Value Chain (HVC)  Out of the 5 community gardens that were trained on FAAB only 1 garden with a membership of 22 farmers (W 20, M 2) signed a marketing contract with NAMBoard after the earth dam water volume assessment revealed that their earth dam has sufficient water for irrigation at least for one season.

Successes

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 Following up on CBLD’s close out in our Ndzingeni and Herefords programs the program continued monitoring the activities within production clusters. Encouragingly, production clusters continued functioning and are still active. Through the production clusters, farmers have the opportunity to pool resources, acquire agro-inputs, access services and marketing information. This has proved particularly valuable for vulnerable groups including women who lack productive resources to reach markets or services.  Chakaza Matfuntini harvested their first tomato crop for NAMBoard through a pre-signed marketing contract. The farmers received an income of E6 070, supported by NAMBoard marketing and MoA extension officers. This is the first harvest after they successfully received a E200,000 loan from FINCORP. Similar to other farmers’ challenges, the drought has negatively affected water supply, crop growth, yield, income and subsequently payment of the first loan installment.  The SMS program is showing to be an effective tool in conveying production and marketing information and assisting cluster leaders to mobilize members for the meetings at community level post CBLD’s exit. This tool will be shared with NAMBoard to enable them to better coordinate their activities within their sites, and in order for them to consider including such a system in subsequent programs.  Cluster leaders have played an instrumental role in ensuring that 14 farmers signed and complied with their marketing contracts obligation and ensuring supply of produce, income and improved livelihoods. It has been noted that farmers who sign contract agreements with NAMBoard at the inception of commercial production, do not keep the administration of contract renewal a priority. As a result, and similar to CBLD’s experience with Cotton Board, both organization’s databases list farmers who are no longer active, making it difficult to ascertain who is still in active production.  Collaboration with MoA and NAMBoard during an assessment of earth dam water levels showed a commitment from both institutions to assist and invest in farmers in those areas in the future.

Challenges

 Growing cycles: The drought has hindered the potential for pursuing the horticulture value chain in Khuphuka, Mpolonjeni, Ka-Langa and Malindza communities. Based on our learnings from Ndzingeni, several growing cycles are required to support uptake of good farming practices and facilitate linkages to markets. Through increased support from NAMBoard and MoA, CBLD had hoped to support linkages for farmers during the final months of programming, however, the reduced timeframe and drought, has made it difficult to engage farmers in vegetable production as they do not have a reliable source of water or at least an operational irrigation system which has proved challenging and impeded CBLD’s efforts to make formal linkages and contracts with NAMBOARD in Lubombo.

 Drought: Assessment of the current status of community gardens and water level in earthdams was conducted with MoA and NAMBoard Extension officers. It was observed that most dams were dry or the water level was low, making it difficult to pursue Horticulture VC goals as commercial vegetable production relies on constant and reliable water supply. Farmers in Mpolonjeni and Khuphuka were the hardest hit by drought, and natural water sources were limited, hindering successful commercial vegetable production which requires significant volumes of water supply for irrigation. There were five community gardens that received FAAB training in Khuphuka and Mpolonjeni and of the five, only three community gardens planted for household consumption rather than commercial production and the remainder did not plant at all because the earth dams had run dry.

 Crop selection: Most farmers shifted from contracted planting schedules and planted field crops such as maize, sugar beans and sweet potato. Those who managed to plant, significantly reduced the size/area cultivated and practiced monocropping as their mitigation strategy and their priority shifted from commercial to subsistence farming as a means to meet their

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 12

household food security. As such, employment opportunities were limited for farm workers and ultimately income due to farmers.

Capacity building focus with NAMBoard:  EFT and Mobile Money payment delays: NAMBoard has significantly reduced payment delays from 30 days to a targeted 7-14 days after produce collection from farm gate. CBLD will continue to monitor farmer payments, particularly as NAMBoard and farmers familiarize themselves with the new system.  Market Prices: Different collection dates fetch the same market price, not reflective of market price fluctuations. NAMBoard releases and circulates a price list weekly which informs farmers about the price for their produce during that timeframe. CBLD has found that most farmers are not aware of current market prices and have to communicate with the NAMBoard Marketing Officer before harvesting to understand market prices. To circumvent this apparent information gap, NAMBoard has been tasked with implementing an appropriate marketing information system under another program which is already underway.  Lack of payment code/reference number: When produce is received at NAMBoard, it is assigned a serial number that identifies the farmer name, produce, and price it fetches at the market, from which payment vouchers are filed at NAMBoard. Under previous payment modalities a confirmation slip matching produce collected and payment of that particular collection was provided to farmers. However, with the introduction of EFT and Mobile money, the detail is no longer part of the payment detail that the farmer receives. Therefore it is now the responsibility of the farm to keep track of production records and liaise with MEO to reconcile his/her records, again emphasising the importance of good record keeping. After reviewing the roll out of the EFT and mobile money systems, and giving NAMBoard the opportunity to rectify some of the issues, CBLD will convene a meeting with NAMBoard in the new quarter to share what has worked for our farmers and where we see opportunities for improvement.  Payment Delays: NAMBoard payment delays in the last quarter have caused significant difficulties for farmers who have taken loans for their businesses with the risk of penalties accruing as a result. This has the potential of placing farmers in bad standing with financial institutions. Financial institutions are cognizant of this challenge and have adjusted loan repayment schedules to best fit the farmers and their business interests. As such, FINCORP has readjusted Chakaza Matfuntini’s loan repayment schedule and no penalties were imposed and have extended this readjustment to other farmers as well. CBLD officers have also received questions regarding outstanding payments and have conducted follow ups with NAMBoard on behalf of the farmers.

Program Sustainability

Production Clusters: Clusters have played a pivotal role in ensuring that Horticulture VC is effective post CBLD, ensuring that farmers have the opportunity to pool resources, acquire agro-inputs, access services and marketing information by vulnerable groups including women. Cluster leaders have been able to call at least two meetings since CBLD’s exit, and from these, farmers signed renewed contracts with NAMBoard, accessed inputs and received peer to peer technical advice.

Payment model: Farmers have transitioned to the new payment model introduced by NAMBoard. Payments have been efficient allowing farmers to better manage cash flows. However, payments for different deliveries are still summed together making it difficult for farmers to determine which produce payment is still outstanding. Feedback from farmers shows preference for mobile money payment vs EFT models as it gives instant notification vs. requesting a bank statement.

NAMBoard and MoA collaboration: As CBLD partners, NAMBoard and MoA have been actively engaged in the Horticulture VC program activities including in FAAB mobilization and training and are continually encouraged to take ownership of some of the activities such as ensuring that marketing contracts were signed and production schedules developed for farmers who have access to water.

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 13

MoA has been instrumental in capturing donor funding that has been granted to NAMBoard for the implementation of the new HVCHP (High Value Chain Horticulture Produce) Program. CBLD has documented significant learnings throughout the four years of implementation and will share lessons learned in the farmer cluster model, lead farmer and SMS communication system.

1.6. COTTON: MPOLONJENI (LUBOMBO), KHUPHUKA (LUBOMBO/MANZINI), AND NEIGHBORING COMMUNITIES

The CBLD cotton program targets all 30 cotton farming associations in the Khuphuka and Mpolonjeni areas, and all association members are invited to participate in activities, receiving support either directly or through each association’s lead farmers. Cotton associations and their members are identified with information provided by the Cotton Board.

Activities CBLD provided institutional capacity building to Sikhulile Cotton Ginnery, a government parastatal and the country’s only formal buyer of cotton, in an effort to enable the technical staff to provide effective extension services to cotton farmers and effectively manage their farmer’s data base. CBLD’s cotton database includes the telephone number and sex of the farmers. The telephone numbers have been very useful for sending SMS messages to invite farmers to trainings, and the additional detail like the sex of the farmers has enabled the program to verify that cotton sale income is reaching the correct CBLD beneficiaries for our cotton farming program. Updated database files will be handed over to the Ginnery in the following quarter.

Successes  Mealy bug flier was developed, capturing the chemical application and how to avoid exposure to the chemicals.  In field mealy bug demonstrations yielded high efficacy of the trial mealy bug chemicals recommended by the mealy bug task force.  Program handed over farmers in CBLD program areas to Cotton Board, highlighting the need to continue to conduct cotton training for sustainability purposes. Although severely under resourced, Cotton Board was able to see the results and benefits of consistent technical assistance to farmers and is investigating using the SMS program to disseminate information.

Planting assessment Following a discussion with the Cotton Board and CBLD’s recommendation that Cotton Board play a more involved role supporting farmers who were able to plant despite the drought CBLD conducted an assessment to assist Cotton Board to ascertain the number and locations of farmers who had planted within the program area. The planting assessment confirmed that only 89 out of over 500 farmers had planted in CBLD communities.

With the availability of this information, the Cotton Board however delayed enacting some of CBLD’s recommendations and CBLD field officers had to step in to ensure that input suppliers had stocked necessary chemicals and decanted them into suitable measurement sachets for small holder farmers.

The last few years have been difficult for Cotton Board and the personnel seem somewhat despondent in what has become a lackluster sector. As a largely understaffed organization, it is increasingly difficult to stretch Cotton Board staff to conduct farmer trainings with as many touch points as CBLD has had in the past.

Mealybug

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 14

The last three seasons have been especially difficult for cotton farmers whose fields had been infested with mealy bug, mainly because there was no chemical developed to specifically eliminate this pest. Last season the team conducted trials and came up with two chemicals that were recommended as solutions to the pest. In prior seasons, farmers where educated on integrated pest management practices and this had excluded the chemical application for mealy bug as the team had not finalized the trial results. This quarter, CBLD produced a flier which covered chemical application, how to avoid exposure to the chemicals and how mealy bug is transferred from one field to the next. This flier was distributed and used by the Cotton Board to train farmers on mealy bug chemical application.

Challenges and lessons Drought and erratic rainfall continued to affect cotton farmers in the Lowveld. Farmers who had planted stopped managing their crop because they feared investing more money into their crops which had a significant likelihood of failure.

Input suppliers had not stocked the mealy bug recommended chemicals and decanted into smaller packaging sizes appropriate for small holder farmers in time. As such, some farmers complained that their crop was being decimated by mealy bug. The CBLD team took the lead and followed up with input suppliers and further steered in field spraying demonstrations.

2. PROTECTION, HUMAN RIGHTS AND ACCESS TO LEGAL SERVICES

2.1. BUILDING COMMUNITY AWARENESS OF RIGHTS AND LAWS AND IMPROVING ACCESS TO LEGAL SERVICES

Objective CBLD is supporting community institutions to promote and protect the legal, economic, and physical security of vulnerable women and children by increasing awareness of their rights and the laws pertaining to their well-being, promoting the registration of births and wills, and providing access to one-on-one counseling on specific issues.

Results  Reached a total of 255 beneficiaries in Malindza, Ka-Langa and Khuphuka with small group sessions on human rights concepts and gender, the constitution, the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act (CPWA), Marriage law, Maintenance and Custody and the Administration of Estates Act.  One on one legal information and referrals was provided to 16 clients in this reporting period.  Identified 8 legal literacy volunteers with the appropriate skills sets to also provide intermediary support on OVC referrals in their communities in Malindza, Ka-Langa and Khuphuka and Mpolonjeni.  Child specific rights information was also provided to 125 beneficaries..

2.1.1. LEGAL EDUCATION CLINIC

CBLD continued to provide Legal education clinic in Malindza, Ka-Langa and Khuphuka in this reporting period. The table below summarizes the common issues raised during the sessions:

Legal education issues raised

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 15

Maintenance Many people especially women are struggling to receive child support from the (other) parents and the enforcement mechanisms of the social welfare department is poor and frustrating for most of these women and OVC caregivers. This is of concern where the parent defaults, payment of arrears is not enforced by the social welfare maintenance officers.

There also seems to be a prevailing perception that only ‘gainfully employed’ persons are responsible for maintenance, that where the child's parent is unemployed you are discouraged from pursing the maintenance claim by the welfare department.

Another perception is that claiming child support incites the defendants (most often the father) to harm or even murder the children to ‘eliminate’ the problem. So even when advised to do so, some parents and caregivers will not take the necessary legal steps to enforce this right, fearing the worst. This is a common belief in all three communities.

Enforcing There have been requests, from parents, for support in the enforcement of the damages for payment of damages for men who will have children with their daughters and not Child Sexual lawfully wed them or offer lobola (dowry) for their daughters. Abuse (Girls impregnated young)

Marriage Marriage by abduction is still an existing practice. Two different cases have been reported in Khuphuka and Malindza where the girls disappeared from home over a weekend. The girls were kept by her would be husband and his family, possibly raped and coerced into marriage. One woman actually confessed to having tekaed a 17 year old high school student but the police intervention failed when they were told that she was now a ‘wife’ and she insisted that she wanted to stay with her husband and not go back home to her parents.

Despite her awareness that this is illegal the woman said she felt powerless to address the issue of violating the minor child’s rights against her own son’s wishes.

Rape and In Malindza and Langa there have been a few cases of statutory rape which have abduction gone unreported as the caregivers or parents have felt that once a girl is sexually active it is her own fault for breaking their chastity vow. In one such instance, the girl 17 disappeared for four (4) months and the family did not even bother reporting her missing to the police.

In another case where a 16 year old girl disappeared from Kalanga and was seen around Matsapha industrial area the father did not bother to report same to the Matsapha police.

‘Widow’ Women’s security and access to land continues to be threated. A woman was evictions evicted three years after the death of her partner and father of her child who had been co-habiting with him and had khontaed (applied) for land in the his name.

Paternity It is very common for men to deny paternity in the Lubombo communities especially where the woman had a previous relationship. In most of this cases the families will also not encourage or discourage the mother from pursuing a maintenance claim against the father as it will publicly shame her and by extension her family.

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 16

Inheritance Another contentious issue is the inheritance rights of women in a polygamous marriage, for children born out of wedlock. Many participants find it unfair that husband should have a rights to inherit from his wife after a long separation

Divorce for Legal advice on procedure for ‘deregistration of customary law marriage customary marriages Observations: too many issues with following up on these cases as the service providers do not engage the clients on the next steps and communication procedures including case reference numbers. See below.

The following referrals were made by CBLD in this reporting period: Reported Number Referred to Number of children affected and their ages case of children

Maintenance 8 cases DSW siteki A number of cases of child maintenance where the fathers will also deny paternity Rape 1 RSP, Siteki Statutory rape Custody 1 RSP- Where the custody of a minor child is Magistrate for contested by the biological mother peace binding following the alleged ‘abduction’ of the order child by his father and stepmother. This is after she claimed child support. OVC support 3 DCS siteki, There have been a number of cases of OVC for education REO seeking assistance for high school Lubombo education especially those going to form 1 after FPE. Aggressive 1 Psychiatric behavior Centre Inheritance- 1 Umphakatsi Land Social welfare

2.1.2. CHILDREN’S RIGHTS EDUCATION

CBLDs Children’s Rights Education focuses on the Child Protection Welfare Act (CPWA). Topics discussed include: Definition of a child, the rights and responsibilities of children, children in need of urgent protection, children in conflict with the law, children living with disabilities, children with special education needs, orphaned and vulnerable children and vital registration, tibi tendlu (the duty to report any violation against children), the four principles of the CPWA, criminal liability of children and abuse of all kinds.

Issues raised by program participants include:

 Maintenance, especially for children who have been neglected or abandoned by fathers whose whereabouts are not known,  Paternity disputes and how they can be resolved in a cost effective manner;  The rights and custody of children when the parent marries (someone else) or remarries;  There is a concern that the CPWA has focused mostly on the rights of children and not their obligations or responsibilities. The perception at the community levels has been that because there are more sections in the law on children’s rights than there are on children’s obligations, children will take it for granted that they too have corresponding obligations in respect of

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 17

each of those rights. For example that while it is the child’s rights to get an education which the parents must pay for, children have a corresponding obligation to make the most of that opportunity by studying to the best of their ability.  Parents also misunderstood the CPWA to encourage early sexual activity – citing that children of 12 years and above can now access information and services, including technology on sexual and reproductive health.

Participants felt that there is need to have joint sessions with their children because the latter tend to not want to do anything often citing rights.

2.1.3. CIVIL REGISTRATION CAMPAIGN There were no core activities this quarter, but the program did follow up with households and continued to address questions related to civil registration.

2.2. CHILD PROTECTION AND REFERRAL SYSTEMS

Objectives

To strengthen community systems for protecting vulnerable women and children and improving their access to services and entitlements, CBLD is first building capacity of responsible community institutions through workshops, mentorship, and the re/establishment of a Child Protection Networks and second working to expand into a referral systems in each community. Functioning community Child Protection Networks (the foundation of CBLD’s referral systems outreach, which links to the health referral system) in each community will improve coordination and provide a comprehensive response to the needs of children and vulnerable individuals, and the referral system will improve their access to all available services.

Results:  CPN Members, in Malindza and Ka-Langa, have consistently supported the children identified.  54 CPN members, community leaders and OVC caregivers were reached on child protection in this reporting period with 129 OVC referred, by the CPN/Leaders and OVC caregivers, to services which includes legal maintenance, birth registration, health, HTS etc  Other the 129 cases referred 26 referrals were closed, Khuphuka CPN has a 61% closure rate  of referrals, which is encouraging.

2.2.1. IMPROVED CHILD PROTECTION SUPPORT

Improved systems for monitoring CPN (LL, RHM, NCP caregivers) support to OVC and Vulnerable Households During the quarter focus was on monitoring the support provided by CPN members to the children identified.

In Khuphuka and Mpolonjeni CBLD focused on the children surveyed in 2014 that had been linked to CPN to better understand if they were still visited. Meetings were held in each sub-community in Khuphuka where CPN members present identified the children, their Caregiver in the network and whether that child had been supported in the period under review as well as documenting the referrals, if any, for that child in that period.

Observations Overall

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 Some of the previously identified OVC have been actively supported by CPN and some have been linked to services including birth registration, health treatment in local clinics, ARV therapy, education support in terms of enrollment in the OVC registrar for exemption from payment of school fees reporting period.  More often than not children have been continuously supported even though they were not directly linked with services where such services were not available or unknown to the CPN members, the majority of these included access to food. Important to note: Due to the high poverty levels in this community almost every household received some form of food donations from the DPM’s office (Disaster Management Task For ce) in the previous quarter, but it is not sufficient for a number of households that are left with nothing.  Some of the children were not found but were said to have either dropped out of school due to pregnancy, marriage or related family responsibilities and some of children had relocated outside the community to live with family or relatives. A few of them had also attained the age of 18 though notably a number of those (who had reached 18) were still in school which means they are still highly dependent on their caregivers  Number of referrals made, without our continued assistance, encouraging community systems for follow up and documentation of referrals has been week due to the high illiteracy levels  In some sub-communities some of the CPN did not showing up for meetings and sent the guardians and caregivers instead to give updates on the OVC, leading to less information collected and issues of consistency.  Collection of data from the illiterate CPN members is a very cumbersome as individual attention must be given to each CPN member to go through the list of children and get a status updates. While illiteracy is seen as the cause we also had difficulty collecting this information by phone especially for those who missed meetings.

Mpolonjeni.  Due to prevailing community disputes CBLD could not hold a meeting with the CPN during the reporting period. Telephone calls were made to CPN to follow up on the children surveyed.  In most cases CPN reported that they had not been following up on those children and referred any further enquiries to the guardian or caregivers. The numbers of referrals made in this community were very low.

In Malindza and Ka-Langa CBLD focused on working with the core set of CPN members who completed 64 household assessments in the previous quarter.  This quarter we had difficulty with these groups in terms of attendance. We are working to identify if it is due to the low morale at community level, drought related (need to attend to matters) or if it is just individuals not attending. Weather impacted some meetings due to rain.  For those that did not attend we followed up with phone calls; for those that attended, if they did not submit assessment sheets, we followed up.

General observations  The number of referrals made is encouraging as it shows that CPN and OVC caregivers are now aware where services can be accessed and are using them. However; the rate of completing referrals, which is outside of the control of the CPN, is low.  Issues of GBV continue to be predominant in these communities. In Khuphuka a number of girls have been reportedly tekaed (married) or impregnated while still at school. The community members are now aware that this is a criminal offence, as it violates the Child Protection Welfare Act (CPWA).  Close out rates is very low. CBLD has identified intermediaries that can be trained to support the CPN in making make sure that all referred cases are documented to reduce fall outs, as

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 19

well as to note the turnaround time for the respective services e.g the police DCS responding to cases of child abuse, social welfare on disability grants and also in responding on issues of neglected children, Maintenance cases etc  A general sense or culture of submissiveness that restricts access to services. Some services though available and effective have been shunned by the CPN e.g issues of top up fees, where the caregivers fear that their children will be victimized if they do not pay top up fees.  High levels of emotional and physical abuse for OVC at the hands of their caregivers to the extent that this violence has been normalized in this community. Some of the caregivers have complained that these children are actually abusing them when they ‘demand’ necessities that they cannot afford to provide.

Effects of the drought The drought has really severely affected and devastated families in the Lubombo region where, due to the absence of rain a lot of the families have absolutely nothing to eat and rely on handouts from the DPM’s office and other sources for their livelihoods. The CPN have reported that this has made it difficult for some of them to provide support to some of these households especially where there are terminally ill patients as their visit is always met with expectations that they will bring something to the affected family. This has discouraged some of them from conducting household visits. 2.2.2. REFERRALS

Referrals from members of the CPN has improved in the current period. The table below summarizes the number of children supported by CPN, the referrals made and those completed and number of services referred to.

e

ce

ARV ARV HBC

Toital Toital

Other

health Sexual School

therapy

Custody

Violence

Offences

Domestic Domestic

Education

Inheritanc

Counsellin counseling BR & legal

maintenan

FY 2016 Q2 Testing & g Adherence Made 7 5 5 16 2 4 3 3 11 10 12 18 5 21 122 Completed 2 5 0 5 0 0 2 0 3 0 3 7 0 0 26

And Through March 2016 Total CPN Members Consulted 54 CPN Children Seen 100

Challenges:  The low literacy rates continue to undermine any efforts to document referrals.  It has also been very difficult to follow up on some children as their CPN caregivers were not attending meetings and they are not accessible on their mobile phones.  CPN have also reported that following up on the referrals is also very costly. In some instances once they help the family to report it is difficult to get updates from the family, they are seen as interfering or prying when they ask for more details.  The acute lack of services for food, bursaries, shelter, and clothing has been highlighted as one of the major challenges affecting vulnerable households. Sometimes it is months after a referral before a caregiver will get the requested support.

2.2.3. HIV SERVICES All of CBLD’s programs support linkages and increase access to HIV prevention, treatment support. The role of CBLD is mobilizing all program beneficiaries to access services, requesting mobile

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 20

services at specific events and ensuring CPN members know of the services and provide referrals during their monitoring visits.

Results  813 beneficiaries were referred for HTS with 293 participants in Malindza, Langa and Khuphuka reached with HTS services which includes, Testing, Counselling, adherence, CD 4 count, pre-art initiation.  All HIV positive testing have been successfully linked to health facilities  52% of the men tested are within the age category of 15-49.  A strong partnership with PSI which has resulted in the successful linkage of beneficiaries with HIV services in 4 of our community mobilization interventions.

CBLD actively supports mobilizing its program beneficiaries, as well as community members, to access health services, specifically HTS. Topics discussed during the promotion of HTS include adherence to ART, the importance of knowing HIV status, breaking barriers to health for men, correct and consistent condom use. We provided mobilization of testing services at eight of our events: market and finance days (1) and gender norms programming (Sidla Inhloko) (5). At these events we reached 293 people, of which 21% or 65 tested (6 positive, 59 negative).

The shift to conducting our Gender Norms programming through the Silda Inhloko is a notable shift from other previous interventions that provided mobile services as most of the people that accessed testing were men of eligible age/target audience as opposed to old men and women.

2.3. GENDER NORMS

Objectives The objective of the Gender Norms discussion groups is to promote gender equitable principles, address harmful norms related to sex and gender, reduce stigma and discrimination associated with HIV, and reduce gender based violence

Results  238 M and 75 F reached with (at least 1 session) on gender norms. 52% were aged 15-49.  313 Gender norms beneficiaries referred to HTS services  Engaging community leaders for the mobilisation of men for this intervention has proved to be a very effective strategy as CBLD has been able to reach not only more number for less than the level of effort put into the same intervention over the past two years but the result also has been effective in terms of reaching the right target group.  The collaboration with PSI has been essential to access HTS at these gender norms sessions.

Discussion Highlights:

Prevalent harmful social norms:  Men having an uncontrollable sexuality,  Men having a right to multiple partners,  Men ‘owning’ their wives  Being aggressive and initiators of sex  Men being the head of households and decision makers  Men being providers and protectors in their homes  Women are minors and cannot be regarded as equal with men.  Men being invincible, will not cry or show any signs of weakness including being sick.

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 21

Prevalent healthy social norms:  That sex is always better when men “prepare” or talk to their wives about what they are expecting later.  Family planning is the joint responsibility of a couple, they must first agree how many children they want to have, based on how much resources they have to raise those children incl. education, upkeep, food etc.  Family planning is the men’s responsibility even in terms of the traditional ‘pulling out’ methods (kucencuka).  Real men make financial decisions jointly with their wives, such a home is likely to prosper as they can prioritize and work towards a common goal together. Where the man only makes the financial decisions the woman will always ask for more money that the man may not have as she expects that there is more where it came from.  A man who keeps secrets from his partner is not in a partnership as he lives an isolated secretive life. This destroys trust and creates a permanent wedge between the couple, they are not living as one but two separate people with different agendas, these secrets can really destroy men as well as it will cause him unnecessary stress.

Participants also identified strategies, and approaches, for addressing the different issues discussed in these forums:

How men can prevent violence Men should take responsibility for preventing violence against women because of the untold harm it causes to women in men's lives. Men can prevent violence against women by not personally engaging in violence, by intervening against the violence of other men, and by addressing the root causes of violence. This broad definition provides roles for all men in preventing violence against women.

Challenging Gender roles The main task is to challenge traditional gender-role expectations in their communities through personal change, testimonies and local community outreach activities.

Healthy behavior Participants have agreed that ‘It begins with you, once you take that first step of testing and knowing your status you are taking control as a man and leading by example”.

Mixing traditional and modern medicine has devastating consequences on your health.

It is better for a man to test and know his status so that he can begin to address his health needs whatever the outcome, not testing leads to a lot of anxiety and fear of the unknown.

Lessons Learned

 Using community leaders to mobilize was a very effective strategy. The numbers speak for themselves.  As a project with ‘young’ officers it was a great innovation to involve one of the more mature drivers in the dialogues as he helped the older participants to identify with some of the issues raised in the discussion because they had shared experienced in terms of how men are socialized. See Annex 5 Sidla Inhloko for the full report.

2.4. EDUCATION AND NUTRITIONAL CARE AND SUPPORT

Objective Parents and caregivers, PLHIV or other disabilities or diseases and vulnerable women will improve their knowledge on nutrition (and how it relates to economic development, health and education),

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 22

HIV and the importance of care and treatment, and tangible skills for food support relevant to our communities.

Results

 Reached 27 participants with in-depth nutritional information and Education and Nutritional Care and Support programming.

Motivating communities to attend nutrition education sessions was quite strenuous due to the effects of the drought, including different organizations organizing food distributions meetings. A few nutrition education sessions were held with community members who are participating in the perma- garden projects.

Through the nutrition education programs, community members have realized the need for participating in health screening activities, they can identify nutrition related illnesses and have requested for mobile health services. They have been referred to the public health unit in the region.

Most of the communities have been linked to the Ministry of Agriculture and are on the process for engaging on mushroom production, some are now working with the Home Economics officer on the preservation of indigenous wild vegetables after getting rains in March.

In the Langa community discussions discovered that there was one household where more than eight family members share one room as a bedroom. One infant (3) had contracted TB from a family member but is now on treatment.

Lessons Learned

None this quarter

2.5. EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION

Objective Parents and caregivers will understand the stages of early childhood development and will be equipped with the skills needed to raise healthy, happy, and well-adjusted children who are prepared for formal education.

Results  229 individuals were trained in ECD/E.  Session result in multiple issues from neglect, education, mental illness, maintenance raised, and referred.  CBLD staff have seen more open discussions regarding cases of child abuse, neglect and violence.  The Mpolonjeni, Malindza and Ka-Langa caregivers are now organizing themselves to register and join the Swaziland Network for Early Childhood development, they are now attending meetings for information, skills and resources sharing.

Community members have appreciated the need for applying positive discipline and the need to understand early identification of special cases amongst children. They have also requested expanded sessions on ECD, including sessions with youth, to further develop the parent-child relationships. They targeted discussions on gender norms relating to ECD, as key, after realizing that they affect parent-child relationships, leading to violence, neglect and abuse where children rely on favors when they are at loggerheads with their parents.

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 23

Discussions have included a better understanding of the importance of ante and post –natal care for mothers of child bearing age. In one session a mother was found who is was not willing to go for antenatal care and did not take any of her children for health monitoring because of her own convictions, CBLD staff reported this to the case to the Public health nurse to provide medical support.

The community members have requested that ECD be introduced to the chief’s council members seeing that they cannot attend the sessions with the rest of the community. They thought that the local leadership can help in designing strategies for addressing paternity issues if they would understand what ECD is about. This is mainly because most of the males assume that ECD is a woman’s issue. Most of the men who attended the sessions appreciated the program and are now requesting for more sessions

Lessons Learned

None this quarter

3. CAPACITY BUILDING

3.1. CBLD KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND LEARNING STRATEGY

Knowledge Sharing Session

During this quarter CBLD conducted one direct training, due to Incwala and Easter holidays, targeted at PEPFAR implementing partners, CSO and community structures. These trainings/workshops are designed to provide an understanding of best practices using evidence and examples that inform the design of programming for OVC caregivers, PLHIV, and other vulnerable populations and support efforts to integrate legal rights, gender and behavior change into targeting and implementation approaches.

Income Generating Activities, March 2016. The session shared with stakeholders the lessons learnt by CBLD on effective approaches in promoting and implementing IGA programs; support to organizations to have a deeper understanding of when to, or when not to implement IGAs; informed them where and how to provide key support for successful programs and gave an understanding of best practices on selection, planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluating.

Saving for Swaziland, Planned for April 20, 2016. Began preparations for the Savings knowledge sharing workshop. Developed training objectives, technical notes for use during the training and completed the development of a pre-training survey to allow CBLD to adjust training content.

3.2. NATIONAL LEVEL CAPACITY BUILDING

1. The Gender Consortium (CANGO): a. IWD – FHI 360 participated in the launch of International Women’s Day representing both the program and civil society. b. Sexual Offences Domestic Violence Bill (SODV) advocacy – Met with the members of the Gender Consortium to adjust the current approach to ensure the bill is passed. 2. The Adolescent Sexual reproductive Health and Rights TWG (MoH): Annual planning meeting was held, but due to scheduling conflicts FHI 360 was not able to attend. 3. The ECE/D TWG: Participated in monthly meetings. .

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3.3. ADDRESSING FOOD INSECURITY AT THE COMMUNITY LEVEL

The widespread occurrence of El Niño conditions lead to extensive crop losses and cattle deaths in 2015. The government and stakeholders’ rapid assessment of food insecurity estimated maize price to be increased by 66% by January 2016, about 60 days delay in the rainfall season making subsistence farmers unable to plant and increasing the number of families that need food assistance (WFP El Niño 2015-2016 Preparedness and Response Situation Report #2, 23 March 2016). Cattle production is the main source of income in all the four CBLD sites however, there was an increase in cattle deaths as indicated in the veterinary reports that in June the Malindza area had 7102 cattle deaths while at Mliba sub region that for includes Khuphuka there were 3904 deaths (Agrometeorological update reporting period 01 – 10 January 2016). The high temperatures have further left the communities with no vegetation, even the indigenous wild vegetables that were available are not available leaving the community with no form of relish.

CBLD has increased emphasized in all of our programming linkages to water conservation, nutrition and conservation farming. But this quarter saw attendance at our programs greatly impacted as some were only interested in attending events where food was provided, some were discouraged to try for homestead gardens or farming as a business and in a number of instances we had to cancel events to allow people to attend to food distributions, building of latrines or elderly handouts.

MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Routine Data Collection, Monitoring Through the addition of a M & E intern CBLD has improved in its management of data quality and ensuring that the database is more frequently updated. We have proactively assisted the project team in improved targeting of interventions at the sub community level (sigodzi) by providing relevant tracking data on a more frequent basis. We continually provide data on the status of program targets, actuals to date and work to identify projections with the team reinforcing both project successes and goals.

To ensure appropriate tracking of the output indicators, the M&E team is constantly working with the field team to make sure they use the data collection tools correctly. Close monitoring is done when forms are being submitted, before data entry, and the team is engaged in ensuring that we report quality data at the data collection stage. We have seen the field team successfully engaging in ensuring that direct project beneficiaries receive multiple project interventions (to ensure completion of services rendered to them).

Periodically, the M&E officer calls random participants to confirm attendance and also attends some field activities to observe how attendance is being registered and for activity verification. CBLD’s data quality management plan stipulates that for all small group and individual activities, the beneficiary must sign for attendance in order to be counted. Staff members are occasionally reminded on the importance of ensuring that all participants individually fill-in the registers, regardless of literacy. For participants that are illiterate, an ink pad was provided for all field team to allow participants to use them, this was initiated in an effort to avoid the crosses that are usually done by the participants that cannot write.

Quality Improvement (QI) Plan

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The CBLD QI plan captures the following areas for improvement that are key to the success and sustainability of our project: 1. Documentation of CPN house visits, at a minimum monthly COMPLETED 2. Community led M & E of community specific strategic plan in KA-Langa and Malindza UPDATED 3. Increased access to HIV services COMPLETED 4. Increased financial record keeping for all VCs UPDATED 5. Improved documentation of completion of referrals for HIV services UPDATED 6. Documented linkage between known OVC and CPN support (identify what has changed from 2013-2016, with CBLD support) UPDATED

The updated QI plan can be found in Annex 4.

Monitoring and Evaluation Presentations Regional Traditional Leaders Meetings The program managed to make presentations for Lubbombo traditional leaders meetings: giving a highlight on what the program is doing in the communities in the region.

PROJECT ADMINISTRATION

Staffing

FY 2016 Q2 JOIN: Thandeka Matsebula, CBLD M & E Intern (FHI 360) LEFT: Colani Magongo, Saving Group Field Coordinator (FHI 360) LEFT: Thabo Masuku, M & E Intern (FHI 360)

Cost Share CBLD recorded $492,826 in cost share activities as of the reporting period. These activities included donation of time for multiple volunteers, donation of training venues and cash donations.

FHI 360 continued discussions with the AOR in the area of cost share. On March 24, 2016 FHI submitted a formal request to USAID/Southern Africa to negotiate a revised cost share rate from the current 20% requirement to 12% of the total project obligation.

Close Out During the quarter CBLD/FHI 360 continued program planning for program close out, including a formal close out meeting with USAID/Southern Africa in March.

High level close out activities:  Review and submission of any outstanding documents to the Development Clearing house website;  Worked with vendors and service providers to ensure agreements/purchase orders were aligned with program closure; and  Continual review of staffing and management plan for both final program needs and close out needs.

CBLD/Technoserve, Inc will continue their own internal processes for project close out and have extended their expected programming to finish in June 2016. This date is in line with their Year 5 workplan and funding levels under the project. Current program focus is on high level capacity building of our main value chain actors and programming and mentoring support to the latest group of enterprise development participants. Technoserve, Inc will continue to try to find cost saving measures to extend additional capacity building and mentoring support through August/September

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 26

2016. This date is more in line with their original program timeframe which was reduced during final Year 5 work planning based on final year funding levels.

CBLD/Vusumnotfo, Vusumnotfo stopped their main programming during the quarter. Their expected close out date is June 2016 and will include support of most significant change activities and support on different knowledge exchange activities between permagarden participants in the Hhohho Region and Lubombo Region.

Environmental Compliance We participated in a monitoring site visit from Judith Mlanda-Zvikaramba, Project Development Specialist-Regional Environment. We visited one participant per value chain, and one permagarden participant per region (Hhohho and Lubombo).

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ANNEX 1: CBLD SUMMARY INDICATOR SHEET

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 28

SUMMARY TABLE OF INDICATORS

* FY 2013 and FY 2014 Annual targets may include duplicate data but CBLD ensures that all reporting of actual is based on de-duplication. This is based on the assumption that some beneficiaries will be involved in the project, throughout the project cycle.

Goal: To foster a positive enabling environment that protects and advances the social and economic well-being of women and children Objective 1: To improve the livelihood capabilities and economic security of vulnerable households, particularly women and OVC caregivers within these households ID Name Type Baselin 2013 2013 2014 2014 2015 2015 2016 2016 End Notes e Target Actual Target Actual Target Actual Target Q2 Line OVC SERV Number of active Output* - 7,380 3,907 7000 7,698 7000 4,941 18,000 To date we have met our Q2 target DSD beneficiaries served and are at 70% of our annual by PEPFAR OVC target. programs for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS

CBLD-C-3 Households reporting Outcome 20% 20% - - - 17% 16% - - 9% Household Survey to be conducted food insecurity in April 2016 for Mpolonjeni/Khuphuka and August/September 2016 for Malindza and Ka-Langa CBLD-C-4 Percentage of Outcome 30% 30% - - - 35% 38% - - 52% Household Survey to be conducted children (>5 years) in April 2016 for with adequate dietary Mpolonjeni/Khuphuka and diversity August/September 2016 for Malindza and Ka-Langa CBLD-C-6 Percentage of Outcome 69% 69% - - - 94% 86% - - 75% Household Survey to be conducted households able to in April 2016 for access health services Mpolonjeni/Khuphuka and when needed August/September 2016 for Malindza and Ka-Langa

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ID Name Type Baselin 2013 2013 2014 2014 2015 2015 2016 2016 Q2 End Notes e Target Actual Target Actual Target Actual Target Line CBLD-C- Percentage of Outcom 6.5% 6.5% - - - 15% 37% - - 25% Household Survey to be 7 households able to e conducted in April 2016 for access at least one Mpolonjeni/Khuphuka and non-health social August/September 2016 for services when Malindza and Ka-Langa needed CBLD-C- Percentage of Outcom .7% .7% - - - 10% 12% - - 32% Household Survey to be 8 households that are e conducted in April 2016 for aware of available Mpolonjeni/Khuphuka and legal services August/September 2016 for Malindza and Ka-Langa CBLD-1- Number of people Output 0 1,000 1,118 4000 3,907 1,893 3,973 1,893 5,352 8,786 To date we have met our Q2 P-1/ NGI: reached by target and are at 282% of our P12.4.D individual, small annual target. group, or community-level interventions or services that explicitly aim to increase access to income and productive resources by women and girls impacted by HIV/ AIDS

ID Name Type Baselin 2013 2013 2014 2014 2015 2015 2016 2016 Q2 End Notes e Target Actual Target Actual Target Actual Target Line CBLD-1-P- Number of eligible Output* 0 1,864 882 1,200 2,629 800 1,958 800 2,259 4,664 To date we have met our Q2 2 / NGI adults and children target and are at 282% of our C5.7.D provided with annual target. economic strengthening services

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IR 1.1: Increased protection of household assets through savings and financial literacy, access to legal services, and improved household food production CBLD-I-P- Number of clients Output* 0 1,000 30 1,000 27 600 579 600 463 2000 To date we have met our Q2 3/ (project target and are at 77% of our NGI participants) who annual target. C5.1.D received food and/or nutrition services during the reporting period NEW Number of Output 100 85 700 376 500 217 1,300 To date we are at 43% of our beneficiaries annual target. forming savings groups CBLD-1- Percentage of Outcom 0 0 - - 0 60% - - 80% To be collected in April 2016 C-3 savings group e members reporting improved cash flow and financial management CBLD-1- Accumulated Output* 0 0 SZL SZL 0 SZL SZL SZL SZL SZL To date we have met our Q2 P-4 savings through 80,000 200,000 158,260 200,000 236,761 480,000 target and are at 118% of our savings groups annual target. ID Name Type Baselin 2013 2013 2014 2014 2015 2015 2016 2016 Q2 End Line Notes e Target Actual Target Actual Target Actual Target CBLD-2- Percentage of Outcom 22% 22% - - - 42% 20% - - 60% Household Survey to be C-1 adults with written e conducted in April 2016 for wills or succession Mpolonjeni/Khuphuka and plans August/September 2016 for Malindza and Ka-Langa IR 1.2: Increased profitability of household enterprise through training and improved access to credit CBLD-1- Total lending Output 0 0 - SZL 0 SZL SZL SZL SZL SZL To date we have met our Q2 P-5 through savings 45,000 80,000 299,321 115,000 479,654 240,000 target and are at 417% of our groups annual target.

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CBLD-1- Number of Output 0 745 745 315 1,152 1020 972 720 494 2800 To date we have met our Q2 P-7 individuals target and are at 69% of our provided with annual target, but have exceed enterprise our end line target. development training IR 1.3: Increased access to income by improving farmer productivity and through integration into market-led value chains CBLD-1- Number of Output* 0 580 286 835 1649 1,220 1,430 240 1217 2875 To date we have met our Q2 P-6 individuals directly target and are at 507% of our trained or linked annual target. into value chains through project and partner activities

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Objective 2: To protect the rights and welfare of women and children ID Name Type Baseline 2013 2013 2014 2014 2015 2015 2016 2016 End Line Notes Target Actual Target Actual Target Actual Target Q2 OVC_ACC Number of active Output - 500 223 1,750 1,196 1,700 To date we have met our Q2 beneficiaries target and are at 70% of our supported to annual target. access HIV services CBLD-2-P-1 Number of Output* 0 2,400 2,107 4,880 1,534 1,200 7,748 1,200 1,324 6,041 To date we have met our Q2 people reached target and are at 110% of our by individual, annual target. small-group or community level intervention or services that explicitly addresses the legal rights and protection of women and girls impacted by HIV/AIDS CBLD-2-P-5 Number of Output* 0 125 161 125 633 120 452 120 1,981 490 To date we have met our Q2 individuals target and are at 1,650% of our receiving referral annual target. at clinic / hospital and other community institutions for health and non- health services

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ID Name Type Baselin 2013 2013 2014 2014 2015 2015 2016 2016 Q2 End Notes e Target Actual Target Actual Target Actual Target Line IR 2.1: Improved knowledge and protection of children’s rights and improved access to services for children CBLD- Number of people Output 0 387 92 120 756 120 433 120 227 747 To date we have met our Q2 2-P-2 trained in providing target and are at 189% of our child protection annual target. guidance and referral services

CW.14 Percent of caregivers Outcom To set Needs to be set who agree that harsh e in 2015 physical punishment is an appropriate means of discipline or control in the home or school NEW Number of parents Output - - - 575 410 550 338 1125 To date we have met our Q2 and caregivers target and are at 61% of our receiving annual target. comprehensive training in ECD/E

CW.11 Percentage of children Outcom 89% - 89% - - 96% PENDIN - 96% Pending reporting regularly attending e (Baseline G school )

ID Name Type Baselin 2013 2013 2014 2014 2015 2015 2016 2016 Q2 End Notes e Target Actual Target Actual Target Actual Target Line

NEW Number of children Outcom - - - 3,068 795 1800 71 1800 767 6,668 To date we met our Q2 target and receiving care and e are at 42% of our annual target. support through Child Protection Networks

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CW.9 Number of OVC Outcom - - - 250 283 250 71 100 630 600 To date we have met our Q2 facilitated to have a e target and are at 630% of our birth certificate annual target.

IR 2.2: Improved knowledge of women’s rights and access to services, and increased acceptance and demonstration of practices and behaviors that recognize gender equality

GEND_ Number of people Output* - - 513 1,600 163 600 107 300 245 2,500 To date we have met our Q2 NORM completing an target and are at 81% of our intervention annual target. pertaining to gender norms, that meets minimum criteria

CBLD- Social attitudes about Outcom 64 64 - - - 70 62 - - 75 Household Survey to be C-2 gender norms e conducted in April 2016 for Mpolonjeni/Khuphuka and August/September 2016 for Malindza and Ka-Langa Objective 3: To strengthen the capacity and coordination of the government, donors, communities and other organizations to protect and promote the social and economic wellbeing of women and children IR 3.1: Strengthened capacity of governments, donor, community, and private sectors to identify needs and opportunities within communities, work with community structures, and design and deliver effective programs and services ID Name Type Baseline 2013 2013 2014 2014 2015 2015 2016 2016 Q2 End Notes Target Actual Target Actual Target Actual Target Line CBLD- Number of unique Output 0 60 94 70 901 170 158 320 68 620 To date we are at 42% of our Q2 3-P-1 participants target and are at 21% of our representing NGOs, annual target. government, donors, and private sector trained in one or more program areas

IR 3.2: Strengthened capacity of community institutions to provide services and mobilize and manage government, donor, and community resources

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CBLD- The percentage of Outcom 6.8% 6.8% - - 15% - - 25% Household Survey to be 3-P-3 households which e conducted in April 2016 for have reported cases of Mpolonjeni/Khuphuka and child abuse August/September 2016 for experienced by Malindza and Ka-Langa household members

CBLD- Household economic Outcom 16% 16% - - - 20% 26% - - 28% Household Survey to be 3-P-1 wellbeing e conducted in April 2016 for Mpolonjeni/Khuphuka and August/September 2016 for Malindza and Ka-Langa

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ANNEX 2: CBLD YEAR 5 TRAVEL SCHEDULE

Purpose Individual Depart Return Origin - LOE Travel billed Destination to CBLD

STTA - Savings Training Jill Thompson Feb Feb 2016 SA - Swaziland 6 Airfare, per and Capacity Building 2016 diem STTA - Savings Training Jill Thompson Feb Mar SA - Swaziland 6 Airfare, per and Capacity Building 2016 2016 diem

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ANNEX 3: IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

See attached excel file

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 38

ANNEX 4: QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PLAN

CBLD Quality Improvement Plan Date Developed: FY 2015 Q3 Date Updated: March 2016 Date for Next Review: June 2016 QI Plan Period: FY 2015 Q3 – FY 2016 Q4 Name of QA/QI Focal Point : Laura Muzart Improvement Goal Indicator to Activity/ies PoP Lead Resources Current Status Measure Needed & Improvement Source Documentation of Completion of 1. Training on new forms 6 mths NM New forms, COMPLETED CPN house visits, at monitoring 2. Work to develop forms that address once vetted, that a minimum form by 4 literacy issues address per child monthly. CPN members 3. Capacity Building meetings to focus monitoring and per community on benefits to CPN of record keeping staff time to meet with CPNs Community led M Records of 2 1. Participation in leadership training 9 mths PD leads Staff time for Training was & E of community activities which includes M &E M & E training delayed again as specific strategic progress being 2. Identification of point person in and ZB the project plan in KA-Langa tracked by community. leads prioritized the and Malindza appointed 3. Initial monthly visits for capacity leadership presentations of community building support post training and training the baseline person. then regular monitoring. modules results. Push to have this done in May Increased access to 100 referrals 1. Participation in Health Days in NZ 6 mths TM Linkages and COMPLETED HIV services made at 2. Support linkages for mobile health MoUs community clinics such as Luke Commission and level/communit PSI. y 3. Quarterly Meetings with health facilities to understand their services 4. Coordinating with Joyful Hearts (in Malindza) on HIV services

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 39

Increased financial 60% of VC 1. Refresher training on record keeping 8 mths MD for None as farmers Trainings record keeping for participants 2. Monthly monitoring at the start and Cotton; have access to completed on all VCs keep some then quarterly monitoring RM for Financial record books with form of written Hort and Diaries and a number for ED. financial ML for training is by Review post 1 records Honey staff training showed 100% response in participants completing the record books. Will close out in April after review of more EDs trained. Improved 50 referrals 1. Increased use of approved MoH 6 mths TM Determine how Met with URC to documentation of documented as community to referral forms to get sufficient discuss the use of completion of complete document closure of referral. forms to the the community to referrals for HIV /community 2. Determine how to identify those that community clinic tool .We services attended health services, if not using a without wasting discussed the MoH referral form. Address issues of MoH resources ability to directly confidentiality or identify print referral tools. alternate To date we have process, relied more Potentially heavily on direct through legal service provision literacy through PSI. volunteer or intermediary. Documented linkage Conduct review 1. Document 100 OVC in Khuphuka Throu NM Community Documented 118 between known of current OVC and identify if their HH is being gh specific referral OVC, through 54 OVC and CPN and document visited, and the frequency of the visit Aug tracking sheet CPN members in support their CPN point by the CPN. 2016 updated to our 4 person 2. In Mpolonjeni review, based on OVC document visits communities. survey, status of OVC, including if through more Documented 129 structured referrals and the

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 40

their HH is being visited, and the oversight to closure of 26 frequency. simulate non referrals. 3. Document HHs visited by a cohort of CBLD CPN in Malindza, and Ka-Langa interventions. document frequency of visits.

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 41

ANNEX 5: SIDLA INHLOKO

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 42

GENDER NORMS: SIDLA INHLOKO

April 2016

This report was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the terms of Cooperative Agreement AID-674-A-12-00003. It was prepared by FHI 360. TheCommunity contents and Based opinions Livelihood expressed Development herein are for theWomen responsibility and Children of the in programSwaziland and (CBLD) do not necessarily 43 reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

Contents ACRONYMS ...... 45 BACKGROUND ...... 46 INTRODUCTION...... 46 METHODOLOGY ...... 47 COMMUNITY DIALOGUES ...... 47 KHUPHUKA COMMUNITY DIALOGUES ...... 49 MALINDZA COMMUNITY DIALOGUES ...... 51 KA-LANGA COMMUNITY DIALOGUES ...... 51 RESULTS ...... 52

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 44

ACRONYMS

ART Antiretroviral treatment CBLD Community-Based Livelihoods Development for Women and Children in Swaziland CPN Child Protection Networks GBV Gender Based Violence HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus HTS HIV Testing Services LL Lihlombe Lekukhalela OVC Orphans and Vulnerable Children PEPFAR President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief PSI Population Services International RHM Rural Health Motivators SRH Sexual Reproductive Health USAID United States Agency for International Development

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 45

BACKGROUND

Community Based Livelihoods Development (CBLD) for Women and Children in Swaziland is a five-year cooperative agreement between USAID and FHI 360, which is supported through our implementing partner Techno Serve, Inc. CBLD integrates livelihoods, gender equality, and child protection interventions with community development approaches to achieve sustainable improvements in the social and economic well-being of women and children in communities in Swaziland.

CBLD implements and supports holistic programming that includes: Education (early childhood education and development, linkages to vocational training/education), Psychosocial support (community caregiver support including Child Protection Networks (CPNs), Rural Health Motivators (RHMs), Lihlombe Lekukhalela (LLs) and other caregivers; Household Economic Strengthening (savings groups, financial literacy, enterprise development, farming as a business and value chain support); Health and Nutrition (nutrition, education, care and support trainings, perma- gardening, community to clinic referral systems); Child Protection and Gender Based Violence (GBV) programs (education and advocacy for children’s rights and appropriate programming, gender norms and legal education clinics); and Legal Protection (birth registrations, improving access to legal services, legal education clinics and high level advocacy for children’s and women’s rights.). All programming incorporates systems strengthening, access to relevant HIV and Health services and capacity building as key outcomes.

INTRODUCTION

In Swaziland, a patriarchal society, men dominate the social, economic and political life and women are relegated to the status of second class citizens both under civil and customary law. This dual legal system creates a complex maze of law, custom and practice that works to marginalize women and girls. Under customary law women remain under the guardianship of their father or other male relative until marriage. Once married, they fall under the marital power of the husband (under civil law) or both the husband and in-laws (under customary law). Women thus lack autonomy to participate meaningfully, particularly in the civil and political sphere. Swazi women therefore suffer from systematic and legalized discrimination. Ignorance of their rights by ordinary women means that this discrimination can be and is perpetuated.

Gender based inequality does not only damage women’s physical and mental health but can lead to serious and adverse effects on men despite the fact that men wield the power, authority and control the majority of the resources. Men and boys are expected to behave in a certain way which increasers the risk to women and themselves through substance abuse, violence and other high risk sexual behaviours.

Community Based Livelihood Development for Women and Children in Swaziland (CBLD) 46

Addressing Gender Norms and inequalities is essential to reducing the HIV risk and increasing access to HIV prevention, care and treatment services. CBLD adopts a holistic approach and proactively confronts the changing demographics of the epidemic. Effecting sustained change to gender roles and relations requires addressing the forces that shape individual attitudes and community norms and practices. Gender is a factor in determining the level and quality of care, treatment and support that HIV positive men and women receive, the burden of care (taken on largely by women) and the negative economic and social consequences of HIV/AIDS. These realities demonstrate the necessity of comprehensively integrating gender considerations into all levels of programming in order to enhance the response to the pandemic. Integration will not only benefit women and girls- who are the most vulnerable- but men and boys who also experience gender related risks and vulnerabilities to HIV/AIDS.

METHODOLOGY

Objectives The objective CBLD’s Gender Norms discussion groups is to promote gender equitable principles, address harmful norms related to sex and gender, reduce stigma and discrimination associated with HIV, and reduce gender based violence.

This activity focused on using traditional leadership to engage community members, specifically men aged 15-29, on gender norms to enhance their participation on the topics and support leadership potential of traditional structures found in the community.

Mobilization Building on previous capacity building and leadership trainings the CBLD project approached traditional leaders in our communities to ask them how to best mobilize both adolescent boys and men (15-49 as the target audience). The Bandlancane of Malindza, KaLanga and Khuphuka were mobilized to take the lead and to speak to adolescent boys and men about the importance of gender norms sessions, which is intended to fostering healthier relationships and promote non-harmful gender norms in the communities – thus preventing GBV, encouraging HIV Testing as a benefit for men. Community leadership identified the Sidla Inhloko concept as a way to support the engagement, and motivation, of males; they identified dates and meetings areas (based on a sub-communities) and they supported the mobilization through community police and Tibondza to remind men about the different dates and encouraged them to participate during the discussions.

This report covers the first of multiple small to medium group dialogs that while varied, as they will be based on the engagement and involvement of the participants, the topics discussed included Power, Health and HIV, Finances and Gender Based Violence.

COMMUNITY DIALOGUES

Overall Prevalent Norms Prevalent norms that were raised by multiple communities during the discussions include:

Positive  The sex is always better when men “prepare” or talk to their wives about what they are expecting later.

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 Family planning is the joint responsibility of a couple, they must first agree how many children they want to have, based on how much resources they have to raise those children incl. education, upkeep, food etc.  Family planning is the man’s responsibility even in terms of the traditional ‘pulling out’ methods (kucenceka).  There is still hope, some of the younger men do seem to hold more gender equitable views about respecting a woman’s rights and assertion in sexual matters, men exercising self-control (no means no), not using violence against their wives etc.  Men have 100% control of their sexual urges, they do it all the time as they mostly work away from their wives in the cities, mines, plantations etc.  “All it takes is for you as a man to make a decision and tell yourself that you will wait until you get home and you will find that you even forget about sex”  “As a man you have to have dignity, you cannot go around sleeping with everyone, everywhere you go. It is not right or normal!”  “A man who has no self-control is not a man, he will go around sleeping with other men’s wives as his heart is always out. He is always lusting after every woman he sees”.  “It is very important for a man to have self-control, when a man does not have self- control he will even sleep with young kids, even his own children when his wife is away”.

Negative  Violence against women due to their minority status  In all the communities the woman was likened to a child such that for a man to beat his wife is acceptable and tolerated in the community. Men noted that a wife is a man’s first born, that is God’s law, therefore a man has every right to disciple her including using a little force where necessary.  Again, women’s rights were said to have made women disrespect their husbands which then leads to violence in the home when men retaliate by beating up their wives.  Rape is attributed to how girls and young women dress: In all the communities they hold the notion that adorning mini-skirts by young women is interpreted as an open invitation for men to have sex with them, hence it is one of the causes of rape. “The way some females dress contributes to rape because men are weak by nature and fail to control their sexual desires.” and “Revealing clothes worn by young women are an ‘application’ for sexual intercourse with men”  “Rape is not always the result of men’s bad intentions but women bring this upon themselves by being at shebeens late”

Consent The issue of consent on sexual matters was debated at all the sub-communities that we visited. The youth in particular believe that one has to ‘dig out’ the consent from a girl or woman sometimes using force. A young man from Nyetane pointed out that the ‘no’ in sexual advance by a man is always construed to be ‘pregnant’, it is analyzed and negotiated sometimes violently and manipulated such that in the end it is a yes or seen as a yes. Some male participants pointed out that before sexual intercourse takes place there has to be a struggle which is why a woman cannot readily say yes. One participant even noted that “By nature a man cannot control his sexual urges, once he gets an erection there is no going back.”

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Increasing domestic violence One of the issues raised by participants, and noted by both school nurses and the Royal Swazi Police (RSP) was the high incidence of domestic violence in Khuphuka which was increasing at this time due to the increasing poverty levels. All groups could not deny that while the drought affected everyone the implications for men’s identity were worse. They had lost their identity as providers in their homes due to the unprecedented death of cattle (which are highly regarded assets in this region), no crop production, lack of employment opportunities (a number of the men in these communities are retired minors) and as a result more and more men were engaging in delinquent behavior such as alcohol abuse and violence against women.

Men’s views on women, finances and decision making  Disclosing your finances to your wife/partner is asking for trouble as she will want to spend all of it and even obligate you for more because she knows how much to expect.  Men should earn more money than women as they shoulder most of the responsibilities in the home.  A home where the woman makes more money than the man is in trouble as the man is no longer a ‘man’ but a ‘male’ person. He has no power or authority in that household.

KHUPHUKA COMMUNITY DIALOGUES

The community leaders in Khuphuka were the first to take it upon themselves to mobilize men to come ‘esangweni kutodliwa inhloko’. This concept is from the cultural practice of how men were socialized in Lisango, a private space for men where pearls of wisdom are shared by elders in the household. The first event was well attended by the men in this community, with a resounding 43 men in attendance, a first in this community after two years of CBLD interventions. The sidla inhloko dialogues are said to be very popular with men in this community as the next session was attended by almost twice the number of men who participated in the first session and a majority of the men who participated in the first session were in attendance. It is also very encouraging to note that the community leadership has been very effective in mobilizing the right target group for the meeting as the numbers of especially young men participating, has also increased. The project team needs to work to ensure the consistency of participants.

The popularity of the dialogues has even reached neighboring communities. The Bucopho for Njobo, also under Hlane Inkhundla had heard about it and participated in the second session and he reached out to CBLD to support a similar activity in his community and he is quick to say “I will take the lead in mobilizing the men by sharing the insights from this dialogue, this was a first for me to participate and I can see the engagement of the men who are even talking openly about sensitive topics like HIV”.

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Magagula, a community leader, in Khuphuka after the dialogue was beaming Gender Norm Learning: Speaking about this, the as he observed that “CBLD is now Bucopho has observed that ‘once a thirsty horse has engaging in the right strategies for tasted the water it will always come back’. Men need this addressing social issues. The men are space to deliberate on these issues, the time for hiding in finally talking, they have not stopped the bushes is long over. Men must come to their peers talking about the issues we discuss here and say I have a problem, where can I get help? That is and that is how you know that these issues have really resonated with them. the only way that these issues will be addressed. If you It also helps that even the HTS services isolate yourself you will die alone. Men have really are here so that we can back up our appreciated the intervention and continue to approach words with actions, as community indlunkhulu to ask when we are meeting again. leaders we have talked enough with men about testing and knowing one’s HIV status. It is really encouraging to see them take the bold step of testing which will change their lives for the better. CBLD must keep the momentum now that the men are engaged”.

Community specific prevalent norms that were raised by the participants during the discussions include:

Positive:  Real men make financial decisions jointly with their wives, such a home is likely to prosper as they can prioritize and work towards a common goal together. Where the man only makes the financial decisions the woman will always ask for more money that the man may not have as she expects that there is more where it came from.  The sex is always better when men ‘prepare’ or talk to their wives about what they are expecting later.  Family planning is the joint responsibility of a couple, they must first must agree how many children they want to have, based on how much resources they have to raise those children including education, upkeep, food etc.  Men have 100% control of their sexual urges, they do it all the time as they mostly work away from their wives in the cities, mines, plantations etc. All it takes is for you as a man to make a decision and tell yourself that you will wait until you get home and you will find that you even forget about sex. As a man you have to have dignity, you cannot go around sleep with everyone, everywhere you go. It is not right or normal!  A man who has no self-control is not a man, he will go around sleeping with other men’s wives as his heart is always out. He is always lusting after every woman he sees.  It is very important for a man to have self-control, when a man does not have self- control he will even sleep with young kids, even his own children when his wife is away.

Negative:  Women are minors, a wife is a man’s first born child.  It is not manly for a man to seek medical attention at the first sight of something.  It is contraceptives that are making men age, they will kill the libido. So now men have become hopeless in the bedroom.  Men are providers

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MALINDZA COMMUNITY DIALOGUES

Malindza leaders have also been very effective in their strategies for mobilizing men. Once reported at umphakatsi, Sigodzi leaders were delegated to start organizing their own dialogues at the Sigodzi level. Gogo center managers were given this task to organize the logistics but the Sigodzi leaders, majority of which are male, have been visible in planning meetings and finalizing all logistics for the meeting. Hlatshwayo from Ntandweni speaking at the beginning of the dialogue said: “as a leader one of the main responsibilities is to ensure that people are able to access resources, that can be information or services that can change one’s life. When such an important opportunity is availed it is my desire that no one should be left behind, especially the men in this community who have formed the habit of not participating in health talks”

Prevalent norms that were raised by the participants during the discussions include:

Mixed:  Men being providers and protectors in their homes

Negative:  Men having an uncontrollable sexuality,  Men having a right to multiple partners,  Men ‘owning’ their wives  Being aggressive and initiators of sex  Men being the head of households and decision makers  Men being invincible, will not cry or show any signs of weakness including being sick.

KA-LANGA COMMUNITY DIALOGUES

The leadership in Langa have also taken the initiative to lead the men’s dialogues in this community through tasking the Bucopho and the Community Development Officer (who previously had not worked together) to organize the activity. One participant commented that he was pleased with the CBLD approach which was inclusive, prioritizing both men and women in their programs, and not polarizing one against another which is an approach in his experience that is used by past organizations. Some approaches set men against their wives/children such that children have been advised against staying home or spending time with their fathers. This cannot be good for the relations in the family. Community leaders in this community are very excited about this intervention and see it as the right step to address some of the prevailing negative attitudes and perceptions that men hold which have brought them into trouble. Speaking at the end of the dialogue the Community Development Officer, Ntshingila, remarked that lisango’ (men’s dialogue) provides the right forum for men to reflect individually and collectively on some of the perceptions they hold that not only affect women but also have serious consequences on their lives as men. A man who does not regard his wife as an equal cannot live a happy, balanced and fulfilled life. That is how men get into extra-marital affairs as an outlet to avoid dealing with his domestic demands and end up in even more trouble as these are a financial drain, taking even more of the little resources out of the family.

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Prevalent norms that were raised by the participants during the discussions include:

Positive:  Many participants were happy that the session was focusing on exclusively on men.

Negative:  Men should control significant decisions in the relationships  It was more important for a woman to respect her spouse/partner than for a man to do so  A man could marry a second wife if his current wife does not bear children or satisfy his sexual needs.  Men must make all the decisions at the household levels  Women are minors  A man should not disclose to his wife/partner how much he makes

Other observations:  Many people still do not have comprehensive knowledge about HIV, they still believe in traditional medicine.  They are still suspicious of SRH e.g. the belief that contraceptives make men lose their libido.  Willingness among men, once engaged to take the necessary steps to address these issues and admitting to the careless attitude men have in terms of their health and that some of these deeply held beliefs are misconstrued, is becoming evident. One man in Khuphuka said: ’As men, we realize how we got it wrong in these matters and now we want to know is there anything that we can still do now to change and take control of our situation’.  Unfortunately many men still believe in mixing modern medicine with traditional herbs.  In many instance even where religious and cultural texts support women’s rights, these are hardly referenced and if they are, they are narrowly interpreted to justify the negation of women’s rights.  There is still hope, some of the younger men do seem to hold more gender equitable views about respecting a woman’s rights and assertion in sexual matters, men exercising self-control (no means no), not using violence against their wives etc

RESULTS

 49 people tested for HIV within the age category 15-49.  238 M and 75 F reached with (at least 1 session) on gender norms. 52% were aged 15-49.  Engaging community leaders for the mobilisation of men for this intervention has proved to be a very effective strategy as CBLD has been able to reach not only more number for less than the level of effort put into the same intervention over the past two years but the result also has been effective in terms of reaching the right target group.  The collaboration with PSI has been essential to access HTS at these gender norms sessions.

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 Community leaders are leading by example as they are often the first to test publicly during these events at their own initiative and are able to show by example that testing and knowing your HIV status is the first step to taking control of your life.  Increasing public debates about HIV at the community level is working to reduce the stigma and discrimination faced by HIV positive people in their communities. Participants shared how they are living positively with HIV. This is breaking down the wall of fear held by men who did not believe that living positively with HIV is possible.  These forums have also created the right atmosphere for men to discuss issues related to gender and to encourage each other to test and live positively with HIV. It has also allowed a forum to dispel the many prevalent misconceptions about HIV and AIDS.

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