A Food Systems approach to Monitoring & Evaluation Dutch Committee for – Livestock programs Before we start…

An impression of Afghanistan’s Landscape, Livestock & People

Afghanistan 36.6 million 20.2 million dependent Urban: 24% on livestock

Rural: 76%

54% of population 13.2 million severely 41% of children below poverty line food insecure under 5 are stunted Dutch Committee for Afghanistan- Livestock Programs Established in 1988, when veterinary services were virtually non-existent in Afghanistan

Main focus establishment of Veterinary Field Units (VFUs) through training of veterinary para professionals

Headquarter in and training and support centers in Charikar, and Mazar-i-Sharif Veterinary Field Units (VFU)

VFU (Veterinary Field Unit): ”A small veterinary clinic staffed by a veterinary (para) professional to provide animal health care services to the farmers and animals of nearby villages”

Paravets are selected by DCA staff and their own communities and return to them after 6- month training to work in VFUs established by DCA and other NGOs Veterinary para professional deworming livestock VFUs supported by DCA (updated 29-10-2018)

16 55 32 27 44 19 27 29 10 8 Grade Number 35 15 7 3 17 4 DVM 17 78 1 22 32 24 Para-Vets male 595 10 19 18 Para-Vets female 13 19 Para-Vets Kuchi 28 15 9 10 Migrating Kuchi Para-vets 5 31 38 Para-Vets in training (Kuchi) 16 Total 674 Broadening scope of work

Veterinary service delivery 1988

Broader scope of work 2019 Main Project Focus Projects Main theme(s) Brooke Equine welfare & animal health CLAP-Kuchi Poverty reduction, income generation, value chain development, animal health FAO-FMD FMD prevention & control FAO-PPR PPR prevention & control EU-II Animal health, strengthening AH service provision (VFUs), raising livestock productivity, income generation, improving public-private partnerships RADP-North Income generation, food security, animal health, value chain development RADP-South Income generation, livestock productivity, value chain development Main themes in work of DCA

• Animal Health & Production • VFU Development & Veterinary (para)professional Training • Livelihood Resilience & Food Security • Gender • Animal Welfare Present state of Monitoring & Evaluation at DCA

• Individual projects each have their own M&E system based on donor requirements. • There is no uniform format or software program used across projects (e.g Brooke uses Access, Excel and Brooke software, CLAP-Kuchi uses Excel etc). • We can track progress of individual projects, but… • We don’t know what DCA as an organization has achieved (so moving beyond individual project achievements). Program level Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning (MEAL) • to have an approach that better represents and matches DCA’s mission and vision, • moving from short-term project impact focus to long-term DCA program focus, • to increase visibility and transparency of DCA work, • aid in adjusting and improving DCA work and planning, • to have a set of program KPIs readily available when needed (e.g. as a basis for project proposals, concept notes or other documents), • to create a sense of ownership and pride across DCA Afghanistan and DCA Netherlands staff of the achievements and milestones realized so far. DCA work from a food system perspective DCA wishes to develop KPIs related to Food System Outcomes and associated methodologies that are realistic, relevant and cost-effective and measure improvements in Food Security (i.e. access, availability and utilization) and Socio- economic Outcomes at household and/or community level across all DCA projects (i.e. program-wide). Challenge

Can we develop food system outcome indicators that can measure progress in food system outcomes at DCA program level? What would be the appropriate methods (quantitative, qualitative, mixed-method?), data sources and estimated time demands?