Preparation of rice field for planting. Fokontany Vatoavo, Ankafina Tsarafidy Community. Photo by Mirado Randriambelo, with permission.

ASOTRY Quarterly

Report | FY16/Q1/Oct-Dec 2015

Awardee Name: ADRA International Country: Madagascar

Award Name: ASOTRY Award number: AID-FFP-A-14-00009

Start Date: September 29th, 2014 End date: September 28th, 2019

Reporting Period – Fiscal Year/Quarter/Dates: FY16, Q1/October-December 2015

Submission Date: January 31st, 2016

ADRA International Contact: ADRA Madagascar contact: Emanuel da Costa, Senior Program Manager Peter Delhove, National Director 12501 Old Columbia Pike B.P. 8218, En Face EPP Ambatomaro Silver Spring, MD 20904 Antananarivo 101, Madagascar 1.301.680.6380 261.33.23.872.77

[email protected] [email protected] ADRA International Madagascar ASOTRY

I. Program Overview Table

Geographic Focus: Region of Amoron’i Mania, Districts of Ambatofinandrahana, Ambositra, Fandriana and Manandriana. Region of Haute Matsiatra, Districts of Ambalavao, Ambohimahasoa, Lalangina and Vohibato. Region of Atsimo Andrefana, Districts of Betioky and Ampanihy. Program Goal: Reduced food insecurity among targeted communities in the Amoron’i Mania, Haute Matsiatra, and Atsimo Andrefana regions of Madagascar. Purpose 1: Improved health and nutrition status of women of reproductive age and children under five Sub-Purposes: 1.1: Improved health nutrition behaviors of caregivers and children under five 1.2: Increased utilization of health and nutrition services for women of reproductive age and children 0-59 months 1.3: Reduced incidence of water- and hygiene-related illnesses for children under five Purpose 2: Increased access to food for vulnerable households Sub-Purposes: 2.1: Increased agriculture production 2.2 Increased agricultural sales 2.3 Increased engagement of women and men in micro-enterprises Purpose 3: Improved disaster mitigation, preparedness, and response in vulnerable communities. Sub-Purposes: 3.1: Community disaster mitigation assets improved 3.2: Community response capacities improved Cross Cutting Themes: Environment, Gender, Governance, Sustainability Target Beneficiaries (Disaggregated by Program Element and Fiscal Year (FY) Program Element 1: 25,920 caregivers, 2,160 Leader Mothers and 1,440 CHVs; 24,695 children under 5; and 18,000 PLW and 9,000 children (6-23 months) receiving rations Program Element 2: 9,546 farmers in FFS and 7,125 farmers throughF2F; 4,442 members of VSL groups; and 2,766 farmers in FBAs. Program Element 3: 284 community associations; 26 communes committees for resilience Roles and Responsibilities: The ASOTRY consortium is led by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), who ensures overall coordination and management of the consortium and implements activities in the two regions of Amoron’i Mania and Haute Matsiatra.

Association Inter-Cooperation Madagascar (AIM) and Land O’Lakes (LOL) implement the program in the 10 communities targeted in the region of Atsimo Andrefana.

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II. Overview & Context

While FY2015 focused primarily on establishing administrative elements and training staff, FY2016 is focused heavily on project implementation.

The first highlight of the quarter was the reduction in the number of technical trainings for field staff and the increase in training done by field staff for direct beneficiaries. Some technical trainings for field staff were conducted, notably for M&E (all field staff), Essential Hygiene Actions (EHA; Component 1 field staff), and in Early Warning System (EWS; Component 3 field staff). These trainings were scheduled and managed to maximize the time field staff were able to be in the communities initiating and supporting activities. ASOTRY will continue to plan all trainings with these considerations for the life of the program.

A second administrative highlight of the quarter was the successful completion and submission of the FY2016 PREP. This was the result of the various efforts to revise the DIP, prepare the FY2015 report, and collaborate with the ADRA International technical team to verify and move forward with planning.

In terms of programmatic achievements and highlights, the following provides a brief overview of this quarter in each program area. More detail is provided in subsequent sections.  For Health and Nutrition, growth monitoring activities were firmly established in all targeted communities, as were food distributions to pregnant and lactating women (PLW) and children between 6 and 23 months of age. The issue of low registration of PLW for distribution in two of the targeted regions was addressed by a registration exercise started in November 2015. Training to CHVs continued during the quarter with training in Essential Hygiene Actions (EHA). The identification and training of Leader Mothers (LM) to participate in Care Groups also continued. The Health and Nutrition team also participated in monitoring the pilot phase of the CommCare initiative.

 In Livelihoods, the activity that took the most importance was the distribution of seeds through subsidies, as the approach of the main agricultural season of the year. Another key activity was the formation and training of FFS, VSL and FBA groups. As farmers were busy preparing for the agricultural season, there was less focus on livestock activities. This aspect will be emphasized and prioritized in the next quarter.

 In Resilience, creation and training of DRR groups continued along with the development of DPMP plans in communities. The first simulation exercise was also held this quarter. Infrastructure work, specifically 13 road projects, started in two regions, while Environmental Status forms (ESF) for more infrastructure and reforestation projects were submitted for approval to start next quarter. Lastly, tree nurseries were also created for reforestation efforts.

 In M&E, the main were the revision of the DIP and PREP and the preparation of the first annual report. This included the completion and submission of the PIRS and the translation of the M&E tools, which will be submitted next quarter. Development of the electronic database moved ahead, and it included a training of field staff in entering project data. Also, M&E led the beneficiary census in two regions of the project.

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 In food commodity management, reception of the call forward, transfers of food to consortium partners and regular distributions were the main activities. Administratively, much of the efforts were on supporting project implementation, including preparing a waiver for seed procurement.

Apart from the already mentions areas, the priorities for the coming quarter will include the implementation of the gender analysis, the conclusion of the CommCare pilot and the expansion of the project in all project areas, the barrier analysis in support of health and nutrition activities, the reception for the final FY15 call forward, and the initial preparation by M&E of the annual and mid-term evaluations.

III. Performance updates from the Quarter

a. Current activities by Program Elements:

1. Component 1 activities.

Results for the main activities:

Activity Target for the quarter Achieved % achieved Training of CHV 1,440 1,418 98% Identification of LM 2,029 1,475 73% Training of LM 552 637 115% Home visits 6,204 3,447 56% Participation in GMP Children 0-23 months 8,955 9,494 106% Children 24-59 13,434 10,331 77% months PLW receiving rations 5,783 5,672 98% CU2 receiving rations 2,431 834 34% Referral of PLW for 1,406 619 44% ANC

Growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) is now functioning in all targeted areas. Participation is as high as expected, except for the age group 24 to 59 months old. When children reach this age, parents feel it is less important to bring their children regularly for growth monitoring. In addition, many organizations, and the Ministry of Health implement growth monitoring for this age group only once every two months. Further analysis of the best way forward will be done concerning the activity for this age group, to decide if the project should make more efforts to encourage these children to come monthly for GMP or if the project will adopt the guidelines of the Ministry.

The formation of Care Groups is also proceeding as expected. While the identification of Leader Mothers to form Care Groups is slightly lower than expected for the quarter, it will be possible to reverse this trend in the coming quarter, by putting more emphasis on this activity. The number of Care Groups, on the other hand, remains high as many groups are smaller than initially planned due to the context of many remote and less populated areas. As smaller Care groups are more appropriate in these areas, the project will adapt to the situation and while the total target

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number of Leader Mothers will remains the same, the project will create as a result a larger number of Care groups.

This quarter, staff were trained in Essential Hygiene Actions (EHA). The staff then included this in the on-going CHV training. Additional staff trainings to be conducted include Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) and Community Complementary Feeding and Learning Sessions (CCFLS). CLTS training will take place in March 2016; CCFLS training will be conducted in the third quarter. Refresher trainings will also be conducted as required.

The CommCare pilot was implemented during this quarter with support from Dimagi. Fifty CHVs were selected from across the three project regions to participate. These CHVs were first trained in using smartphones and then trained in the CommCare application. During the pilot, the CHVs used this application during growth monitoring and promotion sessions and during household visits. By design, the CHVs use the application to record growth and health information and to support their nutritional counseling. During the pilot phase, ASOTRY is closely monitoring the use of the database, the capacity of the CHVs to use the application, the connectivity, and the appropriateness of the phone technology for the application. This information will help inform the scale-up in coming quarters. The pilot will be completed in the next quarter with the inclusion of health information in the phone application and with the final assessment of the pilot phase.

Meetings with partners working in health at the communal level were organized systematically in 16 of the 32 target communes. Additional coordination meeting were also held at district and regional level, notably in Atsimo Andrefana, where LOL and AIM met with local authorities and other implementers, including Action Contre la Faim (ACF). These meetings help ensure smooth collaboration and complementarity among organizations and projects and help avoid duplication of efforts. The meetings will be a regular activity in all target communes.

Two challenges were met in the distribution of food commodities to the targeted women and children. In Atsimo Andrefana, it has been a challenge to identify the children of mothers previously enrolled who have reached six months of age, which is the point of transitioning the ration from mother to child. In this region, when mothers give birth at home often they do not have an exact birth date for their children, even if they have followed ante-natal care (ANC) and births at home constitute the majority of the births. A monthly verification of all births will need to be ensured by field staff when verifying growth monitoring records from CHVs. This will help determine more precise birth dates, which will help future distributions. In the two regions covered by ADRA (Amoron’i Mania and Haute Matsiatra), the challenge has been updating the recipient list. Specifically, PLWs declared their status in order to qualify for rations, but as their household had not participated in the beneficiary census, registering them required steps, which created delays. The situation was remedied through a revised beneficiary census. This census involved verification door-to-door, including a verification of status of pregnant and lactating women. By the end of December, the census had been done in 8 of 22 communes and, so far, has doubled the number of women registered that qualify for rations. The census will be completed by mid-February 2016. As CHVs participate in this census to help identify PLWs, this process will also help ensure that ANC referrals reach its target.

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A final challenge met was the need to replace one of the Health and Nutrition Specialists. The previous staff member, who was responsible for Haute Matsiatra, resigned. A replacement was found and in place by October 2015.

At PMU level, in addition to staff training and monitoring of field activities, the following was achieved:  Scope of work was developed for the Barrier Analyses for submission to FFP  Coordination with CRS led to a sharing of efforts to develop lessons plans for Care groups training for leader mothers. The lessons plans for two modules were developed during the quarter and two more modules are to be developed next quarter.  The Health and Nutrition Coordinator also played a central role in the monitoring of the CommCare pilot phase.

2. Component 2 activities.

Results for the main activities:

Activity Target for the quarter Achieved % achieved Farmers receiving 1,039 5,440 524% subsidies for seeds Organize livestock 26 18 69% FFS groups Train livestock 518 117 23% producers Organize agriculture 114 129 113% FFS groups Train agriculture FFS 2,293 3,205 140% farmers F2F farmers trained 2,465 1,592 65% Organize FBA groups 34 32 94% Train FBA members 439 340 77% Organize VSL groups 73 69 95% Train VSL members 1,592 1,423 86%

The identification of FFS, VSL, and FBA groups has evolved as planned and farmer trainings are ongoing as scheduled. The distribution of seeds through subsidies monopolized the attention of the Livelihoods team during this quarter. The numbers achieved exceeded the quarterly targets, although still well within annual targets. The quarterly targets were underestimated, as these targets should have been higher for this specific quarter, taking the agricultural season (Oct-Dec) into consideration. ASOTRY’s annual target for seeds is to reach 10,132 farmers; 5,440 were reached until now, roughly half of the annual target. The rest of this target will be achieved for the dry season agricultural crops. In order not to miss the first agricultural season, the project delivered the seeds to farmers and received the 30% cost share. This made the funds recovery process slower. However, in the following cycle we are already putting in place the permanent system where the input dealers identified by the project are the ones that deal directly with farmers for the delivery of the seeds at subsidized price, and the project then reimburses the suppliers on the agreed shared based on purchases done by farmers.

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The focus on seeds and agricultural activities in preparation of the main agricultural season also diverted attention of the project away from livestock activities. As a result, the organization and training of livestock FFS groups are below targets. This will be compensated for in the next two quarters. The identification and training of breeders, though, was initiated as planned.

The quarter also saw the training of three seed producers with the support of the regional Ministry of Agriculture. Some of this training was reprogrammed for the next quarter due to the unavailability of Ministry trainers. As part of their initial mission to Madagascar, consultants from Tillers International organized training to project staffs and to some farmers on the use of ox-drawn improved technology. This training introduced the staff and selected farmers to these technologies, a ripper, a seeder, and a weeder, which were adapted from conservation agriculture. The Tillers trip also focused on developing improvements to these tools and identifying craftsmen to learn to produce and repair these tools.

As the beginning of the main agricultural season is over, farmers will be more available to join livestock activities, the connection between farmers and breeders, the provision of grants to procure equipment and animals and the training of Livestock Management group leaders will be intensified in the two next quarters. , Coming priorities also include efforts to increase the number of farmers trained through the Farmer-to-Farmer approach (F2F), which has been successful overall. In some cases, though, farmers participating in FFS groups are very selective about the farmers to train outside FFS groups, which slows the process and reduces the number achieved. Other aspects that will become priorities are the inclusion of additional trainings to FFS, VSL and FBA groups, such as literacy, resilience and natural resources, income generation activities and business management, leadership, and association management.

Coordination with District and Regional authorities has been on-going as engaging the relevant agricultural departments for training and technical aspects is a priority. ASOTRY also aims to garner their interest to monitor and become more involved in their relevant areas of expertise, as a first step to connect farmers to stakeholders, including input providers and potential buyers. A coordination effort with WFP has led to a first sale of rice from project farmers in one commune in Amoron’i Mania and more sales are being discussed between the farmers group involved and WFP. Building on these first collaborations, the project will see if it is possible to extend this to other farmers’ groups.

Another effort at connecting farmers to potential buyers was the result of meeting with Lecofruit management with support from the USAID Mission in Madagascar. The initial discussions between Lecofruit technicians and technical specialists from ASOTRY led to only a limited collaboration in the short term, as many ASOTRY communities are outside Lecofruit’s priority areas. Three ex-SALOHI communes are within their current area of influence, so the project staff has shared with Lecofruit names of farmers and FFS leaders that they could contact to find more farmers interested in working with them. In one commune, ASOTRY staff actually helped in organizing a meeting with farmers. This commune could be a stepping stone for Lecofruit to then expand into neighboring communes that are ASOTRY communes. In early January, , the Lecofruit technician agreed to participate in exploration visits with ASOTRY Specialists in ASOTRY communes to assess the mid-term potential for them and to see with the project Specialists how the project activities could better prepare the farmers for such potential collaboration.

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3. Component 3 activities.

Results for the main activities:

Activity Target for the quarter Achieved % achieved Creation of IMA 11 11 100% Training of IMA 156 133 85% members Sensitization through 37 14 38% Nde Ho Maintso Establish tree 76 83 109% nurseries for reforestation Communities 3 5 167% participating in simulation exercise Identification of EWS 16 2 13% agents in communities DRR members trained 912 1,003 110% Road infrastructure 12 (completed) 13 (all between 40 40% projects % to 60 % realized) Irrigation 0 10 identified (for n/a infrastructure projects implementation during 3rd quarter Multi-use water points 6 (identified) 0 confirmed 0% projects

In the resilience component, the creation and training of DRR groups and the development of DPMP plans has proceeded as planned and will continue for next quarter. The first simulation exercise completed the training of DRR group members with a participation of five communities,. This first simulation, which was also used as a training exercise for staff, allowed the project to set a methodology for future simulations, adapted to the context of the target communities, and confirm the role of the ASOTRY project staff, of the community DRR groups and of the regional authorities in organizing future simulations.

Establishing ‘Early Warning System’ structures in communities has not happened as planned. EWS structures are communal and often follow the strengthening of existing DRR groups at village level. These DRR groups are currently being trained and formed. EWS will become a priority in the following quarters, when the DRR groups are fully functional.

Infrastructure work proceeded as planned during the quarter once the ESF were approved. Only 13 road projects were planned to start during the quarter while multi-use water points and reforestation activities are planned for the next quarter. The work using FFW is proceeding on these 13 projects until the end of March 2016. After March, the final physical structures (bridges, waterways, etc.) will be built by specialized labor. The projects will be completed and officially received in the third quarter of the year. The creation and training of the corresponding Infrastructure Management Associations (IMA) was done during the quarter as planned. Technical studies for multi-use water points projects are being completed for the work to start in

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the coming quarter and the studies for irrigation projects are now planned for the next quarter, along with the preparation of ESF for approval by the USAID Mission, so that irrigation project can start in the third quarter of the fiscal year.

The launching of the Nde Ho Maintso environmental sensitization activities were delayed as the communication material is still under preparation. These activities will be a priority in the next quarter with the aim of making the first Nde Ho Maintso competition in the last quarter of the fiscal year. The other environmental activities have proceeded as planned. The reforestation areas for this fiscal year have been identified as part of the DPMP preparation. The identification of sites for nurseries has also been completed, as has the initial training for nursery caretakers. The final number of nurseries is slightly above targets as it was more convenient in some cases to have smaller nurseries in more places to ensure that nurseries and reforestation areas were close enough to each other. Priority will be given to completing tree nurseries maintenance and management plans in the next quarter, and actual reforestation using the tree seedlings produced will happen at the height of the rainy season (March and April in most areas).

4. Other activities.

In addition to the activities planned in the DIP for each component, the following activities also marked the quarter:

- An intern from a bank in Holland came for a period of six weeks to be involved in the implementation of VSL activities, as part of her professional training on banking in developing context. While she learned much about how savings and loans need to be adapted to the context in poor and isolated areas like the target communes of ASOTRY, she also had valuable suggestions that will be considered in the project planning, especially in terms of connecting VSL groups to financial institutions. - Another intern from Andrews University in the US, joined the project for a period of ten months form October 2015 in support of livestock activities in the regions of Haute Matsiatra and Amoron’i Mania. While the livestock activities of the project are mostly concentrated in the region of Atsimo Andrefana, many activities including fish ponds, chicken raising, and bee keeping are also promoted in the two central regions. The presence of this intern will bring support to field staff in implementation. - Finally, as insecurity had been a concern during previous periods, the measures to be taken in cases of insecurity were reviewed and continue being enforced with all concerned field staff. There has been no notable incident during the reporting period.

5. Initial Environmental Evaluation (IEE)

The IEE was approved during the quarter, but the PERSUAP portion of it was not, as it needed more details. It was decided that the PERSUAP will be done jointly with the Fararano project, and that both projects would look for a consultant to complete it. A consultant was identified with the help of the USAID Mission and negotiations are underway to ensure that this consultant can carry the activity in the coming quarter for both projects.

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6. Gender study

Once the SOW for the gender study was approved by FFP, recruitment of consultants started with the aim of starting the study during the reporting period. In recruiting a consultant, the priorities were to find someone with sufficient knowledge of the Madagascar context and expertise in gender to design and carry the survey. Such a consultant has been identified and hired. The consultant will design and implement the survey. She will be hired for an initial period of nine weeks instead of the planned six weeks, which will give her time to complete the design of the study, meet stakeholders in the capital and review existing literature, before heading to the field. It is planned that she will lead the whole study, including the reporting portion and her contract will be adjusted accordingly.

7. Low tillage animal traction

As part of the livelihoods activities, the visit of two consultants from Tillers International explored the potential for using tilling, seeding and weeding tools respecting conservation agriculture concepts, in the three regions targeted by the project. As previously stated, the visit included training of staff and selected farmers on the use of these tools, which also served as test for the tools and led to suggestions for adaptations and improvements. For example, it was confirmed that in order to optimize the use of these tools further training in oxen use for pulling tools was needed so this will be included in the introduction of the tools.

b. M&E activities:

The M&E team has been busy during the quarter ensuring that the regular data collection activities are fully functional while preparing the compilation of the data for FY2015 in support of the annual report. The process of data collection is on-going and benefits from regular quarterly meeting discussions between project staff and M&E staff, which allow data verification of data and any necessary problem solving. The annual review of the data for FY2015 resulted in the insertion of the results for the fiscal year in the DIP and the IPTT. Although only a quarter of the IPTT indicators had targets for the fiscal year, the exercise of compiling results allow the field staff and the M&E team to consolidate the data management processes.

In addition, the data management processes were used to build in the electronic database being developed. During this quarter most of the forms to collect data were developed and a training was carried with field staff to train them in the use of these electronic forms. The training was also an opportunity further improvements to these electronic forms. It is expected that all forms will be fully developed by the end of the next quarter, and that all necessary training to staff will be completed then. This will allow for all project data to date to be captured in the electronic database. The population information will also be included in the database, for it to be fully functional by the third quarter of the fiscal year.

Another achievement of the M&E team was the completion of the PIRS for all the indicators of the IPTT and their submission to FFP for approval. The M&E tools (corresponding to the database collection forms mentioned above) were also all completed but need to be translated into English for their submission to FFP.

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The main concern that the M&E team had to tackle during the quarter was the problem of low registration of the population in the beneficiary census in the two regions of Haute Matsiatra and Amorin’i Mania. The low level of registration, resulting from an initial hesitation of the population to get involved, created problems as potential beneficiaries wanted to become involved in the projects activities but first needed to be registered, a process which delayed their participation. The delay especially disturbed distribution of food to PLW. A census of the beneficiaries, going from door-to-door to ensure that all households are given the opportunity to register was launched in November 2015 and will be completed by mid-February 2016. While less than half of the households were registered in the initial census, the current effort will capture the information for more than 90% of the population (people not wanting to participate in the project are not forced to register), thus solving the problems of registration for all people wanting to participate in the project. The census includes the identification of all PLW. All PLW not previously registered are encouraged to visit their CHV, and to join ante-natal care services of the local health centers, in addition to being registered for food distribution.

In the reporting period, the baseline results were also presented by the consultant firm that carried the baseline study, so these results allowed to update the IPTT with actual baseline data and to revise the LOA targeted for final evaluation indicators.

The priorities for the M&E team for the coming quarter also include starting to develop the SOW and the methodology for the annual survey and for the mid-term evaluation.

Project Annual review:

- A main activity planned for the quarter for the whole consortium was the review of the result for FY2015 and the planning of the DIP and PREP for FY2016. In order to achieve this, compilation of results and an initial review of the planning for FY2016 was done towards the end of FY2015, and a full review involving the technical leads from ADRA International took place in October 2015. - The ADRA International country support started with a monitoring visit to some communities targeted by the project in the three regions covered, and a review of the achievements during FY2015. Following, the team engaged in the review of the planning for FY2016 considering the level of achievement for the previous fiscal year. The two reviews provided the main inputs for the production of the annual report and for the development of the DIP and the PREP, which were all submitted for approval by FFP during the quarter.

c. Food Commodity Management:

As for the other project components, the food commodity activities of the quarter were mostly the management of regular activities, in this case the reception of commodities at the port, the dispatching of these commodities to consortium partners and the distribution of commodities for MCH programming and for FFA activities.

Reception of commodities has been efficient with with the Call Forward commodities arriving simultaneously,. The presence of insects in some facilities in Tulear caused concerns of infestation, however working in collaboration with the relevant authorities it was possible to clear the shipment and move the commodities quickly to avoid any infestation. By the end of the

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quarter, 95 % of the CSB+ allocation for FY2015 was received as well as small quantities of rice, beans and oil. The rest of the FY2015 allocation will be receive in January 2016.

In terms of distributions, the situation in the regions of Atsimo Andrefana, where Land O’Lakes and AIM are implementing, is very different than the situation in the two other regions, where ADRA is implementing, due to distances that separates the communities to the main organization warehouse Land O’Lakes and AIM maintain warehouses at the community level in order to organize distributions from the inventory stored in these warehouses. While the main warehouses are in Tulear, which is the closest place with facilities large enough to handle their volume of food commodity, it is simply too far to the communities. The two organizations have identified the necessary number of small community warehouses from which quantities can be dispatched for distribution. During the quarter, Land O’Lakes had to identify one more such facility to ensure that quantities planned for the coming year can be handled. In addition, Land O’Lakes increased the number of distribution points in order to ensure that walking distance for recipients between their home and the point of distribution is reasonable. In the two regions covered by ADRA, the distance between distribution points and the main warehouse is short enough for all dispatch to be possible from ADRA’s regional warehouses.The distribution staff have ensured that walking distance for recipient is kept to a minimum.

In terms of level of registration of PLW, the two organizations implementing in Atsimo Andrefana still have a level of participation of PLW higher that initially expected, and, as such, the level of use of food commodity for MCH distributions is higher than planned. In the short term, this situation is not problematic as stocks are sufficient to cover distributions, but as mentioned in previous reports, the situation will be monitored in order to discuss and decide the best course of actions to make the readjust needed. In this region, the children of the first PLW that have joined the program are now reaching 6 months old, and as a result, the distribution to children is starting. Both organizations have faced difficulties in the identification of children reaching 6 months old, as in many cases caretakers do not have the exact birth dates. The M&E teams have put in place a verification system that will address the issue.

In the two other regions, ADRA faced the opposite problem, with low level of registration of PLW following an initial hesitation of the population to join ASOTRY’s activities. As the population interest is now high, and a census of the population is being red-done, the level of registration of PLW for food distributions will increase during the next quarter. Once the census exercise is concluded in February, and the expected numbers of PLW for future distributions are more predictable, this information will be used to ensure that allocation of food for each region is programmed to serve optimally the intended target population.

d. Management, Administration and Finances:

As can be expected, administratively, most of the activities have focused on supporting the intense field activities of the various project components. Adjustments in support services were made and in some case have led to modifications in the FY2016 PREP. For example, fleet management was adapted to the level of activities in ITSH and in program activities. AIM and Land O’Lakes have expressed the needs to add a few motorcycles to support the work of the field staff. Some recruitment needed to be done to replace some people that have resigned (notably one Health Specialist for ADRA and one livelihood field staff for Land O’Lakes).

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Otherwise, most administrative and financial activities were routine activities in support of field activities. The trip from ADRA International for the annual review was also the occasion to bring further financial support and monitoring to the three consortium partner teams on the ground, and to consolidate regular support activities by ADRA Madagascar for operations throughout the year. In the case of seeds procurement, as the FFP regulation concerning such purchases was clarified during the quarter, the administrative team has also started the process of requesting a waiver to cover a few recent purchases and all purchases until the end of the project.

e. Other activities:

The various projects components have regular coordination activities with technical partners that were mentioned above in the various sections of this report. These include for Health and Nutrition, coordination with local health center and with district and regional authorities. For livelihoods, it includes the collaboration with district and regional authorities, especially in terms of training and technical support, the collaboration with Tillers International and collaboration with WFP and with Lecofruit on potential value chains. In Resilience, the collaboration is mostly targeted at regional authorities responsible for disaster relief and response.

In addition to these coordination activities, the following activities also happened during the quarter:

- Coordination with Fararano project on general management of both projects in order to identify areas of collaboration, some of which was facilitated by the USAID Mission. This collaboration resulted for example in both project adopting in October 2015 one single format for lessons plans for Care Groups and developing the material jointly. - Coordination with Mikolo project (financed by USAID) and ONN at community level, as both project are also working with CHVs in the target communities. The coordination mainly aims at increasing the quality of the work and the training to CHVs and ensuring that the CHVs are not over-burdened. Mikolo also expressed interest in following closely the pilot project with CommCare as they may adopt the same services for their project. - ASOTRY also participates in food security clusters at national and regional level through the representation of the Project Manager based in the concerned regions. This collaboration helps avoid duplication. During the reporting period, one cluster meeting was held in the region of Haute matsiatra and two clusters meetings were held in Atsimo Andrefana. None were held at national level. - The project has also been solicited through Land O’Lakes to participate in an initiative to improve the monitoring and evaluation of activities in the sector of nutrition, led by ONN. This initiative started in November 2015, and will develop in the coming quarters. - Coordination with ACF on complementarity of interventions was also held as ACF offers in clinic treatment of extreme malnutrition cases in some of the same communes as ASOTRY. - The OFDA funded and EAPRO-M project implemented by ADRA started during the quarter. This project was designed to respond to an emergency situation that developed in early 2015, when many farmers lost their crops during a prolonged drought. The project is designed to complement ASOTRY’s effort in agriculture.

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IV. Challenges during the Quarter

Commodity Management: (e.g., losses/theft/mismanagement, damage, distribution, transportation, warehousing, staffing, monetization) Challenges : Responses : Status Presence of insects and Close collaboration with Food commodities cleared for possibility of infestation in Commerce and Health distribution and evacuated warehouses close to reception authorities to test food from area close to insect of food in Tulear. received and authorized use. infestation.

Needs for additional Identify warehouses and Warehouse identified and community warehouse in evaluate needs for ready for rehabilitation. Land O’Lakes areas and rehabilitation. Repairs done in the case of repairs on existing warehouse AIM. in AIM areas. Administrative: Challenges : Response : Status Find reliable providers for Involvement of regional Solved. seeds procurement, as seeds agriculture authorities and test do not always meet of germination required prior requirements. to payment of purchase.

Scales purchased not working Return and exchange scales. New scales being sent to filed properly (70 scales) office by supplier. Programmatic: Challenge: Response: Status Identification of children as Monthly verification of birth On-going M&E verification. they reach 6 months old. date by field staff with CHV’s.

Monitoring the evolution of Number of PLW in AIM and the situation as stocks are Re-evaluation to be done LOL areas higher that initially enough. before next PREP exercise in planned case changes are needed in allocations. Door-to-door census under Low beneficiary registration way. Beneficiary registration issues in ADRA areas to participate solved in communes already in activities, mostly food covered by census (and distribution. number of PLW for food distribution doubled). Application of simple Low precipitations in Atsimo technique for water Issue of low precipitation to Andrefana. management in crops. be monitored in the region as could lead to new food shortage crisis.

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Various problems with phones As this is the pilot phase, long provided for pilot in term solution are looked for, Decisions on long term CommCare (short battery life, including transfer of data expansion of CommCare to one broken phone, slow data through staff tablets, provision consider problems met in uploading, provision of credit of solar chargers and pilot. to phone to connect to protection. Follow up with pilot phase internet). before expansion to all target areas. CommCare data reporting not Decision to ensure that pilot yet in place. phase also assess reports that can be produced through Distribution for first phase CommCare and their use for concluded, farmers program monitoring. participation collected, and plan for modified new phase Collection of farmers Change of system for next being developed. participation to seeds costs. time, so suppliers come directly to farmers to sell On-going. seeds at subsidized price.

Improving. Farmers have limited Continued training to farmers understanding of value chain in FBA and involvement of and potential buyer limited suppliers in training and trust in their capacity to meetings with farmers. supply commodities.

Other: Challenge: Response: Status Following a visit of a lead Suggestion to use cultivating Further research in the most technical advisor for Land fodder crops. appropriate approach to be O’Lakes on rangeland done underway. management, suggestions were made that a different approach may be more appropriate for Atsimo Andrefana than range land management.

V. Plans for Next Quarter

Coming activities by Program Elements (see targets in attached DIP, sheet # 2):

1. Component 1: a. Completion of census to identify food commodity beneficiaries. b. On-going food distribution to PLW. c. On-going identification of LM and training of Care groups.

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d. On-going Care Group home visits. e. Development of lessons plans for Care groups modules 4 and 5. f. On-going growth monitoring and promotion sessions. g. Impression of a recipe booklet. h. Training of staff in CLTS in March. i. Completing Dimagi pilot with 50 CHVs and evaluating for expansion. j. Training of CHV in EHA. k. World Water Day and World Breastfeeding Day. l. Develop communication material for Care groups, for nutrition and for hygiene.

2. Component 2:

a. Stronger efforts on livestock activities. b. Training of livestock workers and breeders. c. Provision of vaccines for livestock workers. d. Promotion of fodder production. e. Formation of livestock marketing groups. f. Preparation for provision of animals to livestock FFS. g. Continuing creation of FFS groups. h. Continuing training of existing FFS groups, in agricultural techniques and marketing aspects. i. Continuing of FBA and LMG groups and training. j. Launch building of agriculture collecting centers. k. Follow up of seeds for schools and leader mothers. l. Monitoring or rain situation, especially in Atsimo Andrefana. m. Continuing creation and training of VSL groups, especially in complementary aspects such as business skills, value chain, literacy, natural resources, nutrition. n. Development of literacy training for VSL. o. Continuing distribution of kits to VSL. p. Identification of village agents (VSL leaders, helping in supporting various VSL groups). q. Planning of initial exchange visits between VSL groups. r. Conclusion of sale between one FBA and WFP, and preparation for following sale. s. Exploration of potentialities between Lecofruit and farmers in communes of Amoron’i Mania. t. Preparation for participation in regional agricultural fairs.

3. Component 3: a. Completion of formation of DMRC committees in communities and development of DPMP (Latest April or May) b. Further simulations. c. On-going distribution of kits to DMRC committees. d. Development of material in support of Go Green activities and implementation of activities e. Reforestation from seedlings developed in nurseries. f. Identification and training of EWS agents in communes. g. Completion of studies for multi-use water points.

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h. Multi-use water points rehabilitation activities. i. Preparation of ESF for irrigation project and monitoring of application of ESF measures for all projects. j. Development of communication material by radio and video. k. Training in natural resources management.

4. M&E activities: a. Translation of PIRS. b. Further training in database and operationalize database. c. Capture of collected data for database. d. Preparation of SOW for annual survey and mid-term evaluation. e. Further identification of food recipients for MCH (New PLW) and completion of census. f. Evaluation of community structures established by the project.

5. Food Commodity Management: a. Reception of last CF for FY15. b. On-going distributions for MCH. c. On-going distributions for FFW. d. Further rehabilitation of some community warehouses.

6. Administration and Finances: a. Procurement of phone for Dimagi expansion. b. Various procurements in support to project activities. c. Submission of seeds waiver. d. Follow up and support following recommendations of internal review.

7. Other activities: a. Gender study. b. Visit of FFP AOR in January. c. Organizing the bank of photos and stories documenting project. d. Training of community groups in good governance.

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VI. Annexes (as applicable)

1. List of Acronyms:

ACF: Action Contre la Faim ADRA: Adventist Development and Relief Agency. AIM: Association Inter-Coopération Madagascar. ANC: Ante natal care AOR: Agreement Officer’s Representative C1 Component 1 (health and Nutrition) C2: Component 2 (livelihood) C3: Component 3 (resilience) CCFLS: Community Complementary Feeding Learning Sessions. CHV: Community Health Volunteer CLD: Distribution committee (Comité local de distribution) COP: Chief of Party CRS : Catholic Relief Services. CSB: Community health center (Centre de santé de Base). CSB+: Corn-soya blend DIP: Detailed Implementation Plan. DPMP : Disaster Preparedness Management Plan. DRR: Disaster Relief and Rehabilitation. EHA: Essential Hygiene Actions ESF: Environmental Status Form. EWS: Early Warning System. F2F: Farmer to Farmer training to another farmer from a FFS farmer. FBA: Farmers Business Association. FFP: Food For Peace. FFS: Farmers Field Schools FFW : Food For Work. FY: Fiscal Year. GMP: Growth Monitoring and promotion. HQ: Head Quarters IEE: Initial Environmental Evaluation. IMA: Infrastructure management Associations IPTT: Indicator Performance Tracking Table. LM: Leader Mothers. LMG: Livestock marketing groups. LOA: Life of Activity. MCH: Mother and Child Health. M&E: Monitoring and Evaluation NGO: Non-governmental organization. ONN: Office National de la Nutrition / National Nutrition Office PERSUAP: Pesticide Evaluation Report and Safer Use Action Plan. PIRS: Performance Indicator Review Sheets PLW: Pregnant and lactating women. PMU: Program Management Unit. PREP: Pipeline and Resources Estimate Proposal.

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SALOHI: Strengthening and Accessing Livelihoods Opportunities for Households Impact, a FFP funded food security project in Madagascar from 2009 to 2014. SOW : Scope of Work USAID: United States Agency for International Development overall and Mission in Madagascar. VSLA/VSL: Village Savings and Loans Associations. WFP: World Food Organization

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2. Success Stories:

None reported this quarter.

3. News stories and/or Press Releases:

Not applicable this quarter.

4. Photographs:

Road Rehabilitation, Ambohimandroso – Weeding Ankazofady, Ambohimandroso - Ambalavao

Rice field with minimal quantity of weeds

Replanting of rice

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Growth Monitoring and Promotion session Training in a Maroarivo

Husbands collection the PLW rations for their wife already to close to birth to atten distribution.

5. Good practices and lessons learned.

None collected this quarter.

6. IEE: - PERSUAP under development for next quarter.

7. M&E plan: - PIRS submitted this quarter, tools to be translated next quarter.

8. DIP: - DIP results for quarter attached (First sheet). - DIP planning for next quarter attached (Second sheet).

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