Anemia, (2) Social and Behavior Change Communications, (3) Nutrition Systems, (4) Agriculture and Nutrition, (5) the Sahel, and (6) General Technical Assistance
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JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI) * Helen Keller International (HKI) * International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) * Save the Children (SC) * The Manoff Group (TMG) Quarterly Report October 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013 Cooperative Agreement Number: AID-OAA-A-11-00031 February 14, 2014 The Strengthening Partnerships, Results and Innovations in Nutrition Globally (SPRING) Project is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under Cooperative Agreement No. AID-OAA-A-11-00031. SPRING is managed by JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. SPRING PY3 Quarterly Report, October 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013 SPRING PY3 Quarterly Report, October 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013 Contents I. Quarter 1 Report Highlights .................................................................................................................. 1 II. PY3 Activity Matrix ................................................................................................................................ 2 III. PY2 Activity Matrix .............................................................................................................................. 12 IV. Country Updates ................................................................................................................................. 15 A. SPRING/Bangladesh Program Implementation ............................................................................. 15 B. SPRING/Haiti Program Implementation ........................................................................................ 22 C. SPRING/Nigeria Program Implementation .................................................................................... 29 D. SPRING/Uganda Program Implementation ................................................................................... 32 V. Knowledge Management .................................................................................................................... 49 VI. Operations, Finance, and Management ............................................................................................. 51 VII. Monitoring and Evaluation ................................................................................................................. 54 Appendix 1: Quarter 1 Travel ...................................................................................................................... 69 Appendix 2: Performance Monitoring Plan and Progress Tracking ............................................................ 72 Appendix 3: SPRING Website Activity and Outreach .................................................................................. 74 iii SPRING PY3 Quarterly Report, October 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013 iv SPRING PY3 Quarterly Report, October 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013 I. Quarter 1 Report Highlights During the first quarter (Q1) of project year three (PY3), SPRING solidified the project’s technical agenda, expanded the scope of operations to new locations, grew in staff at headquarters and country offices, and revamped the project management structure. This report details progress during the October-December 2013 period and is organized as follows: • Section II contains a table, “PY3 Activity Matrix,” reporting on SPRING’s portfolio of core-funded initiatives by the PY3 work plan focus areas: (1) anemia, (2) social and behavior change communications, (3) nutrition systems, (4) agriculture and nutrition, (5) the Sahel, and (6) general technical assistance. • Section III is a similar table, “PY2 Activity Matrix,” reporting on seven activities which carried over into this quarter from PY2. • Section IV contains detailed reports from SPRING’s four Mission-funded country programs in Bangladesh, Haiti, Nigeria, and Uganda. These reports offer narratives, photos, and data detailing each country’s current progress. • Section V covers SPRING’s knowledge management activities. • Section VI addresses the project’s operations and management and provides a quarterly financial report of expenditures (by activity, month, and funding source) and obligations. • Section VII and three appendices provide monitoring and evaluation (M&E) information for the quarter, covering both core and country achievements, according to the indicators from SPRING’s performance monitoring plan (PMP). Numbers alone cannot tell the whole story, of course, but in Q1 SPRING carried out 33 assignments in 11 countries; trained nearly 400 people; reached over half a million people through social and behavior change communication (SBCC) activities; produced 19 documents, tools, and reports; conducted three webinars; increased social media presence by 40%; and received over 10,000 unique page views to SPRING webpages. The project continues to grow in size, scope, and reach, and looks forward to continuing to do so in support of the imminent launch of USAID’s new nutrition strategy. 1 SPRING PY3 Quarterly Report, October 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013 II. PY3 Activity Matrix Initiative Initiative Name Activity Updates and Status Number FOCUS AREA 1: ANEMIA 1.1 Demonstrated effectiveness of In October 2013 SPRING held a National Anemia Stakeholders Workshop in Uganda in targeted, integrated anemia partnership with the Ministry of Health (MOH) to discuss and develop consensus programming process in 2 countries around the factors that contributed to the 2001-11 reduction in the prevalence of anemia. The workshop brought together over 100 actors from the various sectors and provided them an opportunity to review the evidence around the coverage of anemia prevention and control programs in Uganda in the past decade. During the workshop stakeholders also began the development of an action plan on “key intervention” areas based on available evidence and local knowledge and experiences as discussed around contextual factors in a transparent and informed manner. Following the workshop, a National Anemia Technical Working group was revitalized and tasked with revising the Anemia Policy of 2002 and tracking the progress of the action plan developed during the Stakeholders’ Workshop. The Commissioner of Community Health was appointed as the chair to the working group and to the Ministry of Health’s nutrition unit as the Secretariat. Manisha Tharaney and Laird Ruth also traveled to Uganda this quarter to participate in the second National Micronutrient Technical Working Group meeting. The workshop was attended by 36 participants that ranged from MOH, academia, UN agencies, USAID and its in-country partners, and other local and international NGOs. In Q2 of PY3, SPRING will continue to support the MOH in monitoring the progress around commitments made in the action plan, as well as the Anemia Consultative Group in developing a policy around Delayed Cord Clamping, as this was identified as a key action in the Anemia Action. SPRING will finalize the formative research protocol and tools for the MNP program in Uganda. Next quarter, SPRING will initiate dialogue with the MOH, the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) focal person, and USAID focal 2 SPRING PY3 Quarterly Report, October 1, 2013 – December 31, 2013 persons in Sierra Leone to identify their technical needs around anemia. Finally, the Multi-Stakeholder Action Plan will be finalized in Q2. 1.2 Increased access to anemia-related SPRING is collaborating with the SUN secretariat in PY3 to develop a template for a technical resources and data at global Country Anemia Dashboard to provide information to policy makers and program and country level managers on the multiple causes of anemia in an organized manner. In December 2013, SPRING and USAID held a call with the SUN secretariat to discuss the outline of the dashboards. The dashboards will be modeled after the Countdown to 2015 Maternal, Newborn and Child Health country profiles. The dashboards will present the status of key national level anemia-related indicators, as well as information on the anemia- related policy and programming in a country. The dashboards will be used to compare anemia prevention and control program progress and commitments across countries. The templates will be populated by a research analyst from the SPRING project with data from DHS, MICS, and other surveys under the guidance of the consultants in the next quarter. 1.3 Increased commitment and buy-in to SPRING supported the organization of the Multisectoral Anemia Partners Meeting that targeted anemia programming at was held in partnership with USAID and the Anemia Task Force Secretariat on October country and global levels 18, 2013. The objectives of the meeting were to share frameworks and evidence to guide integrated approaches to anemia prevention and control; to share/explore best practices and lessons learned in multisectoral anemia programming in selected countries; to identify opportunities for integrating anemia prevention and control activities into existing programs and to identify opportunities for further integration at global and country level. The workshop was attended by over 75 participants representing USAID and various partner agencies. In addition, SPRING actively engaged in supporting the planning and organization of the Micronutrient Forum (MN) to be held in Ethiopia in June 2014. SPRING reviewed 63 abstracts submitted to the organizers of the MN Forum and made recommendations for the abstracts to be presented as posters or oral presentations. SPRING developed a concept note to support two symposia - one on HCES and another on anemia at the MN forum. In Q2, SPRING will finalize